This Hispanic & Latine Heritage Month, AEO is proud to recognize the important contributions of U.S. citizens whose ancestors immigrated from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. Throughout the month, we are spotlighting our associates as they share more on their heritage, culture and favorite traditions.
Viridiana, AE Sales Leader, is passionate about honoring her Mexican culture. Keep reading to learn more about how she celebrates traditions with her family and in the workplace.
Tell us more about your family’s heritage. How do you celebrate your culture and traditions? Why do you think it’s important?
We are a Mexican family living in California! It is incredibly important to keep our culture and traditions alive while being far away from some of our relatives who still live in Mexico. We like to celebrate special holidays, such as Mexican Independence Day on September 16 and Dia de los Muertos in November. We even try to incorporate our culture on birthdays by singing las mañanitas (instead of the happy birthday song in English!) because las mañanitas holds more sentimental value to us, and it is such a beautiful song.
Food is also a big part of celebrating our heritage and culture so we try to incorporate dishes like pozole, tamales, and buñuelos when celebrating holidays or special occasions. It’s important to continue to do these types of things, especially together as a family, because it keeps our culture alive and it reminds us of who we are and where we come from.
What does Hispanic & Latine Heritage Month mean to you?
This month means being able to highlight and empower not only myself and my accomplishments, but also other Hispanic & Latine people. It is a month of celebrating and also showing the world everything we stand for and are so proud of.
How do you bring your authentic self to work, including your heritage and culture?
I am grateful to work in an environment that empowers me to be my real, authentic self everyday and use fashion to express myself. I have the privilege to work alongside an amazing and diverse team who is always happy to learn about my culture and heritage, and also teach me about their own. Being able to share the wonderful qualities that we love about our cultures as a team helps us celebrate who we are every day
Do you have a notable Latino or Hispanic figure that you admire and why?
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is someone who I admire because of her dedication to advocating for the people. She is a prime example of fighting for what you believe in and that us Latinos can do anything we set our minds to.
