Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated each year from September 15th to October 15th. This episode, we're joined by fellow Two Piers coach, Dr. Anthony Luevanos, to discuss the history and significance of Hispanic Heritage Month and answer some common questions.
Transcript below:
Erica D'Eramo 0:05
Hello, and welcome to the Two Piers Podcast. I'm your host, Erica D'Eramo. And today we'll be talking about Hispanic Heritage Month, which spans the dates from September 15 to October 15. We have a recurring guest joining us today. Dr. Luévanos, he'll be talking to us a little bit about his lived experience and some of the history around Hispanic Heritage Month.
So, thanks for joining us for this episode of season three.
Dr. Luévanos 0:49
Thanks for having me. This is a lot of fun to talk about, I guess a topic that is unfamiliar and familiar to me all at the same time.
Erica D'Eramo 0:59
Yeah, I mean, tell us, for folks who haven't heard your intro before. Tell us a little bit about yourself?
Dr. Luévanos 1:06
Well, my background extends into education. And so I have had been a teacher at one point. And then an administrator in K12 schools, and, you know, then I, I've been I've taught it at the collegiate level. And then now I'm a research scientist working with Texas A&M University. But you know, outside of that, I do a lot of work with school districts and equity. And it's been quite a bit of fun, but a really eye opening experience when you kind of step out of the realm of that K12. Texas space. You know, Texas is unique. And when you step out of the state of Texas, it definitely, other states definitely confirm how unique Texas culture is.
Erica D'Eramo 2:01
Tell us a little bit about your other, the other hat you wear as well, as a coach.
Dr. Luévanos 2:08
Yeah, the coaching experience. I'm an I'm an executive coach or coach. And it has been a lot of fun getting to know people through the coaching experience. I think, more than anything else, it's been therapeutic in many ways, not from not just not just for my client, but I think it's for me as well. Being able to dive deeper into identity, and equity and perceptions, not just in within, you know, organizations, but also just in personal lives of folks and how they begin to explore who they are, who they want to be. And then anything that kind of is, is just a barrier blocking them from where they want to go with their lives.
Erica D'Eramo 3:02
Yeah, that that description of coaching resonates a lot for me, it's definitely been a life changing experience for sure. So in the lead up to this episode, you and I were kind of chatting about the history of Hispanic Heritage Month and kind of what brought brought it about, and I didn't know a lot about the history. And I know I've always kind of been confused around why it was September 15. And so did you know previously why it was September 15? Through October 15. I think it's the only Awareness Month that I'm aware of that's like halfway through the month.
Dr. Luévanos 3:37
Honestly, I didn't know at all, I had no clue why it was halfway through. I thought we just got the short end of the stick and they just kind of forgot to include the other half of the month of September.
Erica D'Eramo 3:49
But I mean, at least it's a whole month.
Dr. Luévanos 3:56
Exactly.
Erica D'Eramo 3:58
Yeah. I mean, we googled it, that that ever elusive Google. And the government has some information. So we found some info, both through the... there's a Hispanic Heritage website, so it's HispanicHeritageMonth.gov. And then also quite a bit of info from census.gov with some statistics and history about Hispanic Heritage Month, and what I learned was that it was originally a week. So the week started in 1968, under President Lyndon Johnson, and I'm assuming that that's probably why it you know it. The week itself is significant. And then when it eventually got expanded to a month in 1988 under Reagan, they probably just continue to into October. And so the significance of those dates though were interesting, I hadn't really put two and two together on this, which just speaks to some of the awareness raising that happens during these awareness months. So the date of September 15, is an anniversary for independence for a variety of Latin American countries, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. But also, Mexico and Chile celebrate Independence Days in September as well on the 16th and 18th, respectively. And then the census.gov lists Columbus Day, also known as Indigenous Peoples Day, or Día de la Raza, which falls on October 12. So it kind of captures all of those significant dates. Did I say that? Right?
Dr. Luévanos 5:49
Well, I have to say that's, there were a lot of celebrations. And I think most people would agree, especially in Texas, Hispanic culture as well are known for the number of celebrations, I mean, any excuse to throw a party and have family over is always going to be on the list of "to do" for the year when you're thinking about okay, what else could we do there in the year? Let's have another party.
Erica D'Eramo 6:13
Yeah, I mean, celebration of culture, right, like coming together? And certainly. I, I think it's, it's interesting to know some of the history around it. But I'm also particularly interested in like, what, you know, what does that mean, for for you speaking from this Hispanic community, I guess, can you just speak on behalf of all people within the Hispanic and Latin communities? That'd be... no, just kidding. Just from your lived experience?
Dr. Luévanos 6:53
Yeah, no, it's, uh, I would say, um, you know, first and foremost, the, one of the biggest issues that I think all Hispanic Americans face is the issue of belonging, and the sense of belonging, and in the wider context of American culture, and American identity. Um, you know, I've talked to tons of immigrants that have been here for, you know, a couple of days to, you know, several decades, and the struggle that they face inside, you know, it's kind of like, the expectations of being Hispanic. And then also taking on, you know, trying to make the transition from one culture to another. I mean, because we all, we all assume that, you know, Hispanic culture is, you know, has kind of this list of things that they, the likes and dislikes. You know, I think the thing that I think about is, you know, everybody, you know, all you know, all Hispanics love their food, for example, but, you know, one thing in particular is the assumption that's always made like, Wait, you're Hispanic, you should, you know, you love menudo. No, I don't, you know, like, I thought,
Erica D'Eramo 8:25
I feel like, the food is so different, right? From like, one country to another, it's just crazy to even say that, or even, like, one region in a country to another, like,
Dr. Luévanos 8:37
It's wild. I mean, I mean, it's, it's wildly different. And it's adaptive to, you know, to the different regions of Latin America, Central and Latin America. And well, Central and South America, Latin America, in general. Um, but yeah, you know, like I said, the expectation is that you would like a particular, you know, food, you know, cultural, you know, cultural food, or, you know, like a particular dish, or even speak a particular language. You know, the assumption is that, again, especially as, from coming from a Mexican culture, the assumption is that everybody speaks Spanish in Mexico. Well, there's a diversity in Mexico that, you know, maybe folks aren't aware of, but there are several indigenous languages that are spoken there. And some of those indigenous groups do not speak a lick of Spanish. And so it's interesting to see that, that expectation or that perception is still there. And then, you know, when you're dealing with, you know, in a coaching scenario when you're dealing with folks, or talking to folks with you know, those issues that are still inside your, you know, you're you're trying to figure out, you know, what it is that they're trying to identify as an issue that they're facing in terms of their identity. And you know, a lot of the time, it's just trying to, I guess, brush off all of those expectations. And then also brush off all of the stereotypes, right? Because when you're working within an organization, you want to be you want to be seen for you and who you are. And so when you're working with individuals, you're thinking, you know, the first the, one of the first thoughts that comes comes to mind. And you know, whenever when I'm, whenever I'm coaching is, this person is probably experiencing stereotypes and has had these expectations laid upon them. We probably at some point will need to explore that as a coach, in order to kind of free them up if they if they need it, and kind of speak to it so that they can know that they have that, you know, that they can feel free to say something or say whatever they need to in the coaching session, to get them closer to that sense of belonging.
Erica D'Eramo 11:10
Yeah, it's, it's an interesting topic, I think. This is one of the reasons that I felt like for Two Piers, we had to take this two pronged approach of both like the individualized coaching, as well as looking at consulting and a more systemic approach. Because so often with our coaching clients who are facing these work environments, where they're coming up against stereotypes, or system barriers, or limitations, or even just like straight up racism in the workplace, from a coaching perspective, there's only so much you can do, right, it's like, we can acknowledge the reality that they are facing and understand what is within somebody's control. But so often, so much of this is not within somebody's control how other people view you is not necessarily within your control. So, so yeah, giving them a safe space to explore, like, what is within their control, what they can control, what their options are their choices, how they can try to navigate the situation effectively, so that they can get the outcome that they want, while also keeping in mind that, like, we need to be changing things on a system level as well. And that's not always going to be within our client's you know, sphere of control, or even influence sometimes, you know, so
Dr. Luévanos 12:41
Yeah, you know, and another aspect to really take into consideration is the clash of identities, when you're coaching, it's always important to remember that Hispanic culture and without, without moving into a stereotype, Hispanic culture tends to, and, you know, I don't know, what the what the right would be, you know, if you kind of group all of your clients from a Hispanic background, but there is there is a sense with among Hispanic people, that their support network is heavily rooted in their family. And so since, you know, there's a collectivist mentality, you know, or collectivism in Hispanic culture. And so the American identity and identity of individualism and again, not to
Erica D'Eramo 13:38
Speakinh in generalizations
Dr. Luévanos 13:39
Yeah. You know, you just have to be aware of, and this is kind of your, your, your, you know, your own lens, as a coach, being culturally competent when you're approaching your client, it's important to consider these aspects and just kind of have them in mind or even, you know, research, you know, you know, you might even whenever you're collecting some data, some some pre-conference data or pre-session data, you might ask, you know, what, what ethnicities that they identify with, and kind of, you know, briefly research a little bit about, you know, maybe some common themes among those cultures. That way, whenever you approach your coaching session, you're more, you're more, you're more aware of where this line of questioning, because remember, as coaches, we're always curious. And we're always kind of pulling at the thread and, you know, trying to ensure we empower our clients to make them feel like they are accepted and belong, and you always want that with the client. And so when you do a little bit of that research, and, but you solicit the information first a little bit that research, I think you're better, you're a better prepared coach, and you're better, better prepared to provide your client with the best service possible.
Erica D'Eramo 14:56
Yeah, I like the curiosity element there. have, you know, having the awareness to ask the questions and being open to whatever those answers are. Because, like you said, we're speaking in generalizations here. And so while understanding that many times our our clients will be coming from cultures that don't share the individualism that we typically see in like this very capitalist American culture, and might be more community oriented or collectively oriented, that might not always be the case, right? Especially from region to region. I think even within the United States, people will make assumptions about like, oh, most Hispanics probably vote Democrat or something like that. That's definitely not the case. If you look into you know, if you look closer at different regions, even within Texas, right, I think we can see that within Florida, there's different pockets of political alignment, different pockets of like heritages and cultural elements. And so yeah, having the awareness like ask the question and being truly curious about what what that person's what we would call in MBA school, right there, VABES, the values, assumptions, beliefs, expectations. Where those fall for them. Yeah.
Dr. Luévanos 16:29
Yeah, and you may, like you said, you, then that's a good point. Because if you're, if you can take a little bit of an inventory with your, with your client, in that in a, in a pre session conference form, and if you don't get to do the pre-session conference form, you know, you know, be sure to take take note of these elements that kind of pop up with these, you know, these values, assumptions or beliefs. Because it's going to, it's going to play out in some way, right, it's going to play out in some way in a next coaching session. And if you want to be an effective coach, you want to be able to connect with those VABES, you want to be able to leverage those VABES, because it could be a place of empowerment, for a client, and incite change or cause change or, you know, initiate change, to the point where they might actually, with more freedom, accept who they are, you know, and remember, earlier, I said, you know, even though, you know, immigrants crossed the border into the United States, they still have that, that border inside their, their mind inside themselves, where they're still trying to negotiate identities, and they're coming in, and whether they like it or not, they're, they're creating this new identity, and this new value structure. And so in order to effectively connect with your client, and give and give them the power that they need to accept themselves for who they are, and, and, and, and speak from a place of power or move from a place of power in within their organizations within their family structures. You're you're going to have a better prepared client to face the world tomorrow.
Erica D'Eramo 18:29
I'm going to say something a little controversial, perhaps. But I think, aside from the Indigenous tribes here, we're all coming from away. And so just the term immigrant in and of itself can be like this hot button term. And we're, you know, you and I were talking earlier before this recording about retention of accents and kind of like how things get passed down from one family to another. And you know, we all had our different pathways through our families into, at least into the United States, what we call the United States now. And so there's like generations of that. So there's certainly like the first generation of folks who are coming within this lifetime, and then all of their descendants and how that you know, manifests and shows up within culture is really interesting and complex. So... So I guess I should ask for clarity then. When you talk about immigrants. What, what group of people are you talking?
Dr. Luévanos 19:41
I mean, honestly, it's it's everyone that has had a recent experience crossing the border, and recently, maybe first generation. Yeah, I mean, yeah, first generation that makes the most sense. Anyone that has had a recent, you know, experience with crossing the border is, you know, I would, I would say there's, that's the case to call somebody an immigrant, if they're not from the, you know, this this country or their, you know, their country of origin. And I would even make the argument when you're coaching clients abroad as well, because our clients aren't just limited to US citizens, right? We have, we have clients that are also in, you know, Mexico, Central and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia. Australia, forgetting anyone, I apologize, Antarctica, maybe. But, you know, you know, anyone with the recent experience of having to cross from, from a dominant culture, let's just say that from a dominant culture into a less, you know, into another culture that, you know, where their dominant culture does not exist, would be considered an immigrant? Because they're not, they may, they may be familiar with some of the cultural elements of the, you know, of their new country. But, you know, being there navigating, again, expectations of what it means to be an immigrant, the stereotypes that might come along with being in a particular segment of society, you know, and you know, that there's a case to be made with, you know, the socioeconomic strata that you come in, you know,
Erica D'Eramo 21:38
Yeah, for sure.
Dr. Luévanos 21:40
Immigrant versus, you know, less wealthy immigrant, I mean, they're going to have different experiences, and they're gonna play into different stereotypes, depending on the society in which they've kind of plugged into, and then New York versus Texas, I mean, completely different. And so those are, those are key considerations. When going into the coaching session,
Erica D'Eramo 22:06
Yeah, I think I my curiosity and linked pulling that term apart a little bit, it's just that I just feel like the term immigrant gets applied a lot to Hispanic communities, whether or not actually people have been here for like, generations and decades, and like, probably longer than, like, my family has been here. Whereas, you know, my friends from the UK, who just recently got their citizenship in the US, never hear them called immigrants, right? It's like, the term is often just like, used very loosely, when what we actually mean is, I don't know something different. And so that's why I find it interesting to see how, like the lenses that start getting applied as we use this different terminology.
Dr. Luévanos 22:58
Yeah, you know, that you make a really good point, because I think I think that that would apply for, like, white immigrants like class and then I guess, I don't want to sound rude, but, you know, folks from Europe, like European white immigrants versus, you know, maybe since, you know, Mexicans, central South American immigrants, versus even Black immigrants, you know, we're not, we're not talking like half, you know, we're talking to African immigrants or immigrants from Jamaica, I think, in you don't typically see the word immigrant apply to Black immigrants. Like it's not like white,
Erica D'Eramo 23:39
It probably depends on the where you are, right? Like in areas of DC, where there's large, Ethiopian populations, you probably would, right? Maybe maybe less than Texas. It's everybody speaking like from their framework, I think when they refer, just like, I think it's so interesting, when people assume, and this does happen in Texas, and it's, it's almost a, my generalization is it's almost always white people making this assumption, people will assume everyone who's Hispanic is Mexican. Like, Houston, you know, Houston, in particular is such an international city. There's so many different cultures there. But because there's like this association, just due to geography and closeness. People just assume that this Hispanic person or Latin person is, you know, Mexican. If you go to Florida, probably the assumption is different. Right? If you go to like different pockets where larger groups have collected then then those assumptions get put in place.
Dr. Luévanos 24:47
Yeah, and that's it's critically important for organizations that are dealing with or having to have, you know, like, wherever you're talking about human resources or and you're talking about how to be more inclusive or how to add just the diversity or how to leverage diversity, or when you're talking about, you know, leadership and organizational development issues. I mean, those are, those are critical aspects to consider when you're when you're trying to, you know, develop marketing materials for a particular segment of society. And you know, and as a coach, you're trying to think, Okay, well, I'm going to be working with folks, hopefully, from, you know, for this season, you know, from Fortune 500 companies, and I'm going to provide the services and then as a coach, your expectation is, okay, this is the behavior I should expect, this is what I should plan for. And then sometimes you just your your expectations just completely get demolished. And you're thinking, Well, wait a minute, I don't think I did my homework.
Erica D'Eramo 25:48
Yeah, I think the trickiest thing about our own biases is we can't see them. Right. That's why they're there. I mean, sometimes we can see them, like empirically, we can tell just from empirical evidence that they exist, but we don't see them in action. It's like the trickiest part about it. And then even when we are aware of them, even when we're made aware of them, the research shows that there's only so much we can do to counteract them without explicit help, which is why I'm such a big proponent of diversity on a team. Because if you have a diverse marketing group, if you have a diverse set of executives, you have all those different viewpoints that are coming in and seeing the blind spots that the other people can't see. Right, that they are inherently blind to.
Dr. Luévanos 26:41
Yeah, and you're missing out on, you're missing out on some really great opportunities, right? You're missing out on some really great opportunities to leverage that diversity to work for to, you know, to work for your company, and, you know, into for businesses that are focused on a bottom line missing an opportunity to leverage those strengths, or those different that those diverse aspects of your workforce to meet that bottom line, and to connect with your your market.
Erica D'Eramo 27:13
Yeah, I think one thing that I wanted to this, this is backtracking a little bit, but one thing I wanted to explore is the difference between some of these terms, so we have talked about Hispanic Heritage Month, but I think a lot of people get confused between Hispanic versus Latin versus Latino, Latina, Latinx. And when we were talking about Central and South America, Latin America, some of that it brought it to mind for me. So maybe we can help our listeners understand a little bit of the difference between that.
Dr. Luévanos 27:59
Yeah, so there's an article that I recently that I'm working on, that will hopefully be published soon. And it explores a little bit about this issue of, you know, Latinx, Latino, Latina, typically Latin x is going to be used in academia. It's not, it's not a widely accepted or widely used term. You know, if you're going up to, you know, recently arrived, individuals, they're not going to know what that is? They're honestly not, I mean, they're gonna identify with their nationality more often than not, you know, Costa Rican, Salvadorian, or some other way Salvadoreño, Mexicano. It's not, it's not a term that's widely used. And there's, you know, there's been debates on, you know, should we should we just use Latin, it has no, you know, as gender neuter has. So, you know, it doesn't offend anybody. Or even the, the term Hispanic, you know, like, well, who came up with that? You know, not all of it. Not all of us are from Hispaniola, you know, like, we're not even considering the Indigenous populations that are located in Central and South America.
Erica D'Eramo 29:20
Yeah.
Dr. Luévanos 29:20
And so
Erica D'Eramo 29:21
It's very, it's very colonial oriented. Yeah. Yeah.
Dr. Luévanos 29:26
I mean, you know, you you're, and then this is why I said, you know, it's important to get to know your client a little bit better. But, you know, the, is it safe to use Latinx? You know, I can't say for certain that you can just go around and say, Hey, you're Latinx, you know, like, they might associate that with Malcolm X. I mean, they don't know,
Erica D'Eramo 29:51
We should always just ask people, I think how they identify but like how the terms are used my understanding and maybe correct me if I'm wrong. Is that Hispanic, the term Hispanic is referring to people from Spanish speaking countries. So if we think about that, that would include Spain, any other countries that speak Spanish, it would not include countries in South America like Brazil, even though we kind of try to lump everybody in together. Because in Brazil, they don't speak Spanish. And I'm, I'm sure there are other countries as well that don't speak Spanish that kind of get lumped in there. But then, when we talk about Latin America, we're talking about Central and South America, because speaking Portuguese in Brazil means that that's also still part of that Latin America, the Latin based languages. So that was my basic understanding of like, the difference between Latin culture, Hispanic culture, you know, where people originate from still based in these, like colonial concepts and terms and not necessarily inclusive of Indigenous populations?
Dr. Luévanos 31:16
Yeah, I mean, it's a, it's, it's, yeah, that's a really good take on it. And there's been, you know, there's been articles out there, about, you know, that all these terms that a kind of popping up, you know, whether, and I think a lot of it has to do, not just with your ethnicity, or nationality, but now the issue of gender, you know, comes into play here like, yeah, among members of the LGBTQ community community. And, you know, I mean, of course, the term is, is trying is trying to, or people are trying to engineer a term that would be inclusive of all groups. But, you know, Latinx is today's flavor. Who knows? Maybe this, you know, this, there's another term that's invented to be more inclusive? Or maybe we just go with the people of x? I don't know.
Erica D'Eramo 32:22
Yeah, I know, it's still kind of, it's still kind of creating these like groups and boundaries. But that's this is why Hispanic Heritage Month exists so that we can have these conversations, acknowledge some of the the diversity and variety within these different cultures that we kind of refer to with one big blanket term. And explore it a little bit. But I don't doubt that the language will evolve. I do think, and I have heard criticisms that I know, Latinx is intended to be inclusive of nonbinary individuals, kind of the gender spectrum. And also, it's a term in which, like, the X in Spanish is not even pronounced that way. So it's kind of kind of ironic that we've added a letter on that can't actually be pronounced in Spanish, that like, how would you pronounce that in Spanish?
Dr. Luévanos 33:26
Well, if you take it, if you take it as to be like the X and Mexico, then I guess it would be lateen Ho, no, that's not
Erica D'Eramo 33:34
It doesn't see it doesn't, it doesn't really work. Like you wouldn't create that in Spanish. So, so I don't know. I mean, I'm, I wait with curiosity to see how the language evolves. And I don't necessarily have any great suggestions sitting from my perch. So what do you think maybe leaders should be aware of as we kind of explore Hispanic Heritage month or what are you think, what are some topics that you think folks can be focused on?
Dr. Luévanos 34:03
You know, leaders especially need to take into consideration just the diversity spectrum within Hispanic culture. It's important not to generalize, you know, when, whenever whenever you're dealing with cultures, a great way to approach it is, you know, getting to getting to know individuals on you know, getting to know individuals, right? One on one and celebrating the diversity that's within your organization. You know, kind of staying curious again, with your, with your employees in population and I don't mean you know, leaders you know, leader as in that dynamic of, "I'm supervisor, your supervisee" but just getting to know even your, you know, co leaders or co-managers or you know, how, you know, however, that plays out in your organization. Because again, it's important, it's important, it's important, because you never know where some great ideas are just sitting there waiting to be explored. And I don't mean this to sound opportunistic or anything, but, you know, those of you out there, those are the leaders that are out there, looking for fresh ideas, you know, explore those areas, because they may offer some really good repositories of novel processes, novel ideas, that could benefit the team, you know, sometimes, you know, these ideas don't have to deal with the bottom line. So you know, directly, but they could, they could help the cultural or the corporate culture, and the workability of a team. And so, take the time, it is it, you know, schedule it, you know, if at all possible, put it you know, put it in your schedule. Whenever you're you're trying to plan out your week, put in your schedule, to get to know someone different talk to someone that you haven't talked to before, ask questions and share, you know, don't be afraid to share what you know, what your background is, where you come from, and, you know, there might be some commonalities that you never thought would ever exist between you and a co worker. And that's, that's, that's a really fresh and enriching experience, to find commonalities, you know, within the team, and so explore all of those avenues.
Erica D'Eramo 36:39
Yeah, I definitely second, those recommendations. And I think your point about kind of cheapening, it or, you know, the bottom line or exploiting, certainly, we don't want to exploit people just for what they can contribute. But I always, it's always interesting to me, it doesn't need to be an either or when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion, right? Like, it's both that it's both the right thing to do to someone to have diverse or groups or we remove barriers to access, you know, like barriers, opportunity, is the right ethical thing to do. And also, it happens to be good business, like, it's good for your... we've, like, we've seen this time and time again. So then the only reason not to is because of our own either misconceptions or our own fears of change, or our own fear of losing, you know, our, our place on the totem pole, our own privilege. But it's inherently a net benefit, not a net cost. And so, yes, whenever somebody says like, well, if you're talking about the bottom line, it's cheapening. diversity, equity inclusion. I'm like, when we talk about safety, we talked about how having like, a safe work environment is both good for business and ethically, the right thing to do. And it doesn't cheapen it. Same for the environment, right? Like all of these things, good for business and the right thing to do. So. Yes.
Dr. Luévanos 38:14
Yeah. One more thing. Yeah, they're totally there. I think there, there is something great here to explore whenever you're thinking about your products, you know, business leaders, business owners, when you're thinking about products, or services, you know, maybe even, you know, not for profits, it's, it's hard to imagine, it's hard, it really is hard to imagine that everybody that is just new, like, let's just say just just for as an example, just new to America, that they would understand your product or service. And if you're not leveraging the diversity, you might be closing yourself off to a market you know, for that product or service. Don't just assume that because you have a commercial out there because you've ran some ads on the page or yet, you know, so you have a Google ad online, that people will just readily understand, you know, you as a company and what you're trying to do for other people you could have you know, this this product or service that is going to benefit the world and you know, and everybody should have it you know, at the end of the day, but don't just assume
Erica D'Eramo 39:35
I mean, wasn't there the Nova car but that hilarious like, do you remember that car that was like developed called and they they named it Nova and they tried to market it in?
Dr. Luévanos 39:52
That's right.
Erica D'Eramo 39:55
In Spanish speaking countries, and it just meant like, doesn't go well. is a prime example of like, do your do your market research with a diverse set of people on your marketing team, but at the managerial level, like just all of this, you're just giving yourself big vulnerabilities in your entire structure if you are not leveraging diversity, right?
Dr. Luévanos 40:25
Oh, yeah. And people come with their own baggage, right? People come with their own baggage, their own perceptions of, you know, different what a how I don't want to say this, there are different socialization pieces, like, you know, the perceptions, on church, on business, on government on health care, I mean, they come with their own perceptions and their own biases from their own countries. And then they, you know, whenever they whenever they get here, and I know, I've been talking a lot about, you know, immigrants, but even even, you know, the Hispanic culture that's here. You know, depending on your socio economic strata, I mean, you know, you have a more cautious buyer, less cautious buyer, a more cautious client, less cautious client, so to speak. And you've got to, you've got to really explore that, as an organization as an individual, in order to, you know, reach the people on the other end, right, the people that you want to work with the people you would like to work with, and the people that you may even need to work with, you know, especially if you're in health care, because so many times in health care, you know, for those of you potential clients in the healthcare field, I'd like to coach, you know, you know, some health care clients and talk about this issue, because you just, you just never know, how to talk through these issues, and how to really access, you know, to provide access, you know, you need to access, you know, these different backgrounds and what they mean and those experiences of those individuals. So, stay curious.
Erica D'Eramo 42:14
Yeah. And do your research about the different terms. We didn't even talk about the term chicano or Chicana here, which is like, it's a whole separate set. And I thought about it when you were talking about like, other generations. So for anyone curious, my understanding is that that term is specifically for Descendants of, you know, Mexican American descent, people of Mexican American descent, born in the US and its own culture and a movement that started in the 60s and another kind of sub pocket. So again, just a lot of terminology out there a lot of different identities that people may or may not, you know, welcome or identify with, so
Dr. Luévanos 42:57
And espite the myth, Chicanos, the word Chicano did not come from Mexican, Mexicanos from Chicago. It's not true.
Erica D'Eramo 43:06
Is that a myth? I didn't even know that that was a myth. Do you know where did it come from?
Dr. Luévanos 43:14
You know, as far as I know, it's it was a term that was kind of birthed in California as a social pollutical socio political movement.
Erica D'Eramo 43:22
Yeah.
Dr. Luévanos 43:22
But, I could be corrected, I am ashamed. I don't know exactly where that term comes from. But I think that's
Erica D'Eramo 43:30
Well, you the intention of having you on was not to be a font of all knowledge about all things Hispanic it's to speak about your, your own lived experience and thoughts.
Dr. Luévanos 43:44
Thank you. I appreciate that.
Erica D'Eramo 43:47
Yeah, I think, you know, according to Wikipedia, it kind of developed in the 60s, as a movement, and then has been, I think, reembraced more recently, like in the 2000s. I know, there's quite a few documentaries right now. Lots of, you know, media and material that we could be educating ourselves with. And yeah, there's even some gender nonbinary terms related to that as well, using the letter X again, so. So yeah, I guess maybe closing thoughts are, do your research, stay curious. And embrace your discomfort?
Dr. Luévanos 44:30
Yeah, I feel I feel that that's probably the tag of that's a good tagline. Do your research. Curious. Yeah,
Erica D'Eramo 44:38
I agree. Thank you so much for coming on and sharing your thoughts today. We appreciate your input always. And, you know, your contribution is part of the two peers team.
Dr. Luévanos 44:51
Oh, thank you. It was wonderful talking about this topic. Thanks for having me.
Erica D'Eramo 44:56
Yeah. And for anyone else looking to work. With us, whether in a coaching capacity or consulting can find more information on our website at two piers consulting.com. And both Dr. loveliness and myself have our coaching profiles up there that you can access and hear a little bit more about ourselves and who are our clients are, and you can find us on all those social media platforms. So we look forward to hearing from you, and we'll see you next episode.