How we’re celebrating Hispanic communities beyond Hispanic Heritage Month

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To celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15), we’re shining a light on the Hiscox Latino Employee Network (HLEN) and the work they do at Hiscox and in local communities. 

However, we’re not stopping there. We’re committed to covering the work that HLEN does on a regular basis because the contributions of Hispanic communities should be recognized year round, not only during this celebration. The Hiscox Hispanic initiative, a project to provide services and support to Spanish-speaking small business owners, will play a big role in keeping the conversation going, but more on that to come. 

Meet the Hiscox Latino Employee Network

HLEN is co-led by Angie Holmes and Andres Pineda. Angie is an IT Business Analyst and Andres is a Finance Program Manager at Hiscox. Andres helped found the network in 2018. In Andres’s words, members of the network are “committed to making a difference using their time and best efforts to make Hiscox a better place to work based not only on diversity of thought, but by using their personal experiences and backgrounds to build a rich culture in our company.”

The network is made up of individuals from various departments at Hiscox and across multiple Latin countries, however, the network underscores the fact that you don’t need to be of Latin heritage to join the group. 

“We encourage people to know that this network is not only for Latinos to join it is for everyone who would like to become part of the familia and get to meet other people outside of your department,” Angie says.   

Network events and community involvement

HLEN hosts many events (virtual ones for now) to bring its members together and to celebrate different cultures and food. “We’ve had two virtual events this year: Cinco de Mayo Lunch and Havana Nights Happy Hour. They were both awesome events. It's a great time to spend with people within our network, learn about our Latin culture and get to know everyone on a personal level,” says HLEN member Dianne Paliouras. 

The network also has deep roots in the community. To achieve its mission of fostering cultural and professional growth, HLEN consistently works with non-profits and charities to push their message forward. Here are some of the ways HLEN is working within the community.

1. Partnership with the Junior Achievement program in Georgia. Members of HLEN volunteer to put on simulated economic situations that teach middle and high school students the groundwork of managing personal budgets. “I volunteered with 3DE, a joint venture with the Junior Achievement program, dedicated to reengineering relevant and experimental real world business concepts,” says Angie.
   
   
2. Partnership with Hiscox Special Risk in the UK to help raise money for Comision Unidos Vs Trata (CUvT), a Mexico-based non-profit organization focused on eradicating human trafficking. The network surpassed their goal of raising £4,000 for the organization. Hiscox employee Jess Rawlings, even had the opportunity to spend a week in Mexico with survivors. The money they raised will go towards shelter, education, medical care, and psychological help for survivors.
3. HLEN works closely with Atlanta Mission to help those in need by providing donations such as food and clothes in the month of December. 

What’s on tap for NHHM

To celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month this year, HLEN has some exciting ideas to bring people together and share in our pride for Hispanic communities.

Artist interview

On October 15, “we are going to have one of the most exciting virtual events!” raves Angie Holmes. HLEN will host a virtual, live stream interview with Venezuelan artist Leandro Comrie. Much of Comrie’s inspiration for his paintings and collages comes from the stories he heard from his aunt and grandmother as a child. You can discover more about Comrie’s work on his website.

Spotify playlist

The network created a Spanish Spotify playlist to celebrate NHHM. The playlist includes bachata, salsa, merengue, Spanish pop, rock, and more. You can listen to the playlist here.

Why we’re not stopping here

The conversation around Hispanic communities isn’t stopping here, at least not for Hiscox. 

Hiscox has been chipping away at a new initiative to create a landing page exclusively in Spanish and equip our call center with Spanish-speaking customer service representatives to support Spanish-speaking customers. This was an important decision for Hiscox to ensure that we’re supporting the large community of Hispanic-owned small businesses in the US. 

We will continue to update our blog with more exciting news from HLEN and developments on our Spanish initiative. Make sure to visit Hiscox.com in Spanish and call our call center at 1-855-744-2300 if you are a new or existing customer looking for service in Spanish.

To find out more about things going on at Hiscox, our employees, and customer stories, visit the Celebrate Courage page.