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Hola. I'm Claudia Romo Edelman and I'm Cynthia Kleinbaum Milner and
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a La Latina, the playbook to succeed being your authentic self
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today, Marta, newer Ronquillo,
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former Chief Communication and Brand Officer for Westinghouse.
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Stay tuned because there are three key takeaways.
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The first is the importance of having your own board of advisors
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People that will help you navigate the trickiest moments in your
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how can we Latinas leverage the playbook and resources of other diverse
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communities who have broken the glass ceiling like the African American community
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teach yourself the basics of how to become a great communicator because
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great communication opens the door to better opportunities and even better relationships
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All of that and more here.
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an incredible guest, Marta Neer Ronquillo.
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Marta was the most senior Latina in three NASDAQ companies.
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Most recently, she was the Chief Communications and Brand Officer for
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Westinghouse. She has served in several boards including some government ones
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and the Special Olympics.
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And today she serves on the board of the Page Society which
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is a network of CS and Chief Communications Officers.
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Welcome Martin. Thank you it's wonderful to be here.
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We're so excited to have you here.
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Amazing. OK, let's get going.
01:34
Let's start with our favorite subject.
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How did you come to be who you are and what you
01:40
do? So, the family I grew up in was run
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by these really strong women and I thought all families were that
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way, but they're not,
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it's mostly the Mexican American families that really have a matriarch that
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runs them that everything my grandmother said we did,
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we didn't question it,
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we just did it and it made us better.
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It made us better at,
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we did and it made us stronger.
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And so she would get us to think about things that we
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wouldn't have thought about.
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Otherwise she got us to think about things that we should be
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doing not only better but differently.
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And she got us to embrace our Latina dad.
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She was a very important thing.
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when I was growing up,
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I thought everybody's household was run by really strong women.
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It wasn't. And so I grew up thinking women could do
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anything. Women were important.
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Women were central to everything that helped me in the corporate world
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It also kind of hurt me too.
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And the reason I say it hurt me was because the corporate
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world wasn't designed for that.
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The corporate world had another way of thinking.
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But the family I grew up in was all about the women
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and the strength of the women.
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So when I came into corporate America,
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you know, this is great.
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Well, in an all male dominated aerospace company that I first
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that wasn't the way they thought about things back then.
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Now it was different,
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but back then they didn't think about things that way.
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So I would say to you,
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it really helped me get to where I am.
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And then once I thought I got there,
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it kind of hurt me a little bit.
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So I had to navigate through that.
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It thought it reminds me of Barbie,
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the movie, you know,
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like for those that haven't seen it,
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It was great. They grew up,
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you grew up in Barbie world where women were strong and independent
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and then it's like you grow up and you realize that not
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everybody wasn't like that.
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So how did you deal with that when you arrived to Boeing
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I learned how to really think about when it was appropriate
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to show my Latina dad and when it was appropriate to think
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about things and have a perspective,
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I learned the hard way.
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I really learned the hard way because I worked with all men
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And most in the early part of my career was with
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Asian men. So that was a whole another level of having
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to navigate. So thinking through that,
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I had to think about,
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ok, I've got to have a perspective to maintain that seat
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at the table. But to do that,
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what really fits there,
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what really works there.
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So I had to think about that,
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you know, now is a different story,
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but back then I had to really temper that and that meant
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tempering. My Latina dad.
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Did you have somebody to ask advice from?
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Like, how did you know what to do?
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I mostly sought out mentors who were African American people because they
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were successful people in the organization that I worked in and they
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could cut a clear path through anything.
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You know, I would look around.
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I did not see Latinos,
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Latinas. I did not see people like us even a few
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layers down. I didn't see people like us,
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but I did see an underserved minority group in the African American
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people who could work through this and they were so loyal to
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each other. I really admired that because that was the community
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I came from where women were so loyal to each other.
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They would do anything for each other.
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You know, this phrase,
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my sister's keeper. They lived that you've heard this one,
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my sister's keeper where you will do anything for another Latina.
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A Latina calls you up and you say yes,
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Martha, I'll help you with that or you call me and
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And that's what I grew up in.
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And so I noticed with African American people,
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they were doing something similar,
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but in the corporate world,
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they were trying so hard to get ahead.
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They were helping each other with a playbook that was much stronger
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than any other ones I saw.
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So I sought them out as mentors and asked them for help
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and advice. Let's go into that African American community sense
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of community. How do you feel it is different to Latinos
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What was the playbook?
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I think any underserved community understands another underserved community.
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Maybe not the culture.
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But you understand the challenges.
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You understand the barriers,
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you understand the things you share.
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That's right. You share that.
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And so that's what you have in common.
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And because of that,
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they were so strong at putting together this playbook about how they
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could help each other succeed,
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not talk about discrimination,
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not talk about things that held them back,
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not talk about things that they couldn't do,
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but focus on what they could do where they added value and
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all of those things that would get them ahead in corporate America
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pause, not talk about discrimination,
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meaning do not waste your time complaining about how discriminated we are
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Let's focus on how do we take over that job?
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That's right. That's right.
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Because if you, if you focus on something negative,
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it becomes a part of you.
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You don't want that as a part of you because you want
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you want to get ahead,
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you want to push forward.
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They were so strong,
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they could overlook that and turn it into a positive.
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You've only got so much mind.
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Share. Think about it.
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How much do you want floating around up there?
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Do you want these issues about negativity and challenges and all that
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floating around up there or to use your words?
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Do you want to flip the switch and think about what you
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can do, how you can overcome how you can get through
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because you know what's out there now,
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It's not surprising. And so I think that playbook for them
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was not only about helping each other,
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they took that notion of mentors and sponsors on steroids and they
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really helped push each other forward.
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So you know what a mentor is,
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right? Someone who can advise you the sponsor is the person
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that's not in the room that advocates for you when you're not
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there, that's what they would do.
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And I saw that and I wanted to be a part of
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that. Just compare that to me with being a Latina and
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seeing how we as a community interact.
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Have we done a little bit more of that community?
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And that sister, I am my sister's keeper,
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sister, keeper. Yes.
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Yes. No one does this better than Latinas.
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No one make no mistake about it.
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I really believe that Latinas are so good at doing this,
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that it feels like home,
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it feels so comfortable and you can meet a Latina for the
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first time. She's instantly your friend because you feel that connection
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to home. You feel that connection to something deeper inside of
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yourself that's loyal, that's an advocate that really pushes hard for
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someone else because, you know,
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they deserve it and you know,
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that they've probably been in an environment where it hasn't really represented
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all of their best skills and values and everything they can bring
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out. And so you want to help them do that.
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I think Latinas, I think our day is about to come
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if it hasn't already because we do that so well.
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So if you're listening to this podcast,
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you're obliged to be a sister keeper and support Latinas only because
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they are Latinas and only because we need to share the access
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code when you get it,
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share it so that we can take someone with us if you
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open the door, leave it open,
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leave it open. I think at the table of success,
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there are many chairs,
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there's room for everyone,
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there is room. So Martin,
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you've worked in several companies from early stages,
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start ups to public traded ones.
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So tell us about the journey in your perspective of how you
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have made the decision and the transition from one role to another
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giving the very different nature of bunny.
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You know, it's funny because when I started my career I
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would love to sit here and tell you Claudia that I'm very
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strategic. Some things just sort of happen.
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Right. Life just sort of happens.
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So when I graduated from the University of Washington with my undergrad
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degree, I interviewed or had three interviews set up,
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I had one set up at Boeing.
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I had one set up at Bank of America and one set
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up at Microsoft. So three big names.
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Right. And so I was,
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I I was ready to go and launch my career.
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So I went to the Boeing interview and I realized there was
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something that I could do.
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Well, I, I noticed it in interviews that people would
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really respond to me and I would get the job and I
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got the job, my first interview out of college,
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Here's the downside the next year Microsoft went public.
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So if I had gone on that interview,
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but you can't look back because of the experiences I had at
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Boeing. And so I started out in Asia Pacific Sales where
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you actually sell airplanes to Asian carriers.
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And so here I am a Latina in Asia Pacific selling airplanes
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and working with a very small group of men to make that
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happen. And I learned through that process very early.
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You have to know what you're saying,
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you have to hold your own and you have to be confident
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does this sound familiar things that Latinas can do.
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and so through that I,
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I realized there's something universal here,
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there's something that whether you're underserved or female or whatever you are
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there is a great equalizer and that equalizer is communication.
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If you can communicate well,
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it will change your socio-economic status.
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It will change where you are in the corporate ladder.
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It may even change who you partner with.
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So these things I started,
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they just started coming to me.
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Oh, that's going to change.
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That's going to get better,
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that's going to get better.
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So how can I communicate even better and keep climbing the corporate
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ladder? So that's where I found myself now in Asia at
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the time, I would say particularly China,
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they weren't really big on Mexican people.
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Let's just say it that way.
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They didn't really know too many.
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So they called me Saga,
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which means Spanish because when I would say to them,
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I'm Latino. They would say no,
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I am Spanish, you know,
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and so when you talk about is there,
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is there a time where you should kind of pull back on
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your Latina dad or you should push it out.
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That was one of those times that didn't feel comfortable to me
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But I did it anyway.
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I did it anyway because I was thinking more about what we
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needed to do. To be successful in Asia.
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And I didn't want to be the one person on the team
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who was not only female but was going to pull the team
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back. You spoke about being high potential at Boeing,
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but you left Boeing.
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You've worked in small companies,
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big companies in four industries.
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can you tell us why did you make the decisions that you
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made? And also what do you think were maybe key moments
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key decisions, key people that help you navigate the the
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journey I realized after so many years at Boeing,
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that I needed to take other risks,
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I had taken risks within Boeing to be an expat twice and
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to actually go from the sales organization into communications and that was
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a big risk. Actually,
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I just mentioned four really big risks that I took.
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And then I realized when I started to hear people talking about
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if you really want to grow at a faster or different
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level, sometimes you got to work at a different company in
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a different industry. It's really hard because the stereotype is if
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you don't know our industry,
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how can you do well in our industry?
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So I left the Boeing company and I was recruited to a
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company called COVID, which became Medtronic Metronic,
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actually purchased COVID Surgical.
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We were into all kinds of things,
14:43
but surgical devices was our main product.
14:46
So yes, and I went from being an E series director
14:52
which meant executive director to actually vice president on a global scale
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So it was a big step up for me and it
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was a really good step up for me.
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What they wanted to do was change the brand.
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They realize that there's equity in a brand that you can hold
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on the balance sheets.
15:11
And so when companies go through M and A,
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that's something they look at.
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What is the value of your brand.
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A good example is Apple.
15:19
So Apple year over year increases by several billion dollars,
15:23
the value of their brand.
15:25
In my case, I worked with them to actually change the
15:30
brand of COVID to think about it,
15:33
more surgical devices and less of some of these other surgical products
15:38
and things like that,
15:39
that weren't really having an impact on the value of the stock
15:45
I actually went to a start up company,
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there were some former Boeing executives including the CFO that started a
15:54
solar photo vic company and this company took non rare earth elements
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and turned them into a semiconductor.
16:03
The vision was not only solar panels made out of these non
16:07
rare earth elements but also a semiconductor that you could paint on
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a car. So now your car is actually a solar powered
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all of these things.
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Yeah. So the technology was really strong,
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it was really interesting and it came about the time of Sora
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Do you remember Solander?
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Where the Obama administration invested in solar companies.
16:31
And so a lot of investors got really resistant to solar companies
16:36
because of this. Well,
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we had a printer we had in the Kodak factory,
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we were using their printers to actually print the semiconductor.
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So it was a brilliant idea,
16:49
right? We were ready to commercialize and then the solar market
16:54
was seen as not really a good thing at the time.
16:56
And we had brought in a lot of money.
16:58
So we ended up actually selling the technology,
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selling the patents and going through that whole process of closing it
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up small companies like that,
17:09
especially when you have an idea that is going to disrupt an
17:13
entire industry or where you can learn so much.
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I learned more through that experience,
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I think, than any other corporate experience I've had.
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And here's the learnings,
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everything you bring to the table,
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you're going to work hard anyway,
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everything you bring to that table,
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So you're going to work 18 hours a day anyway,
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why not do it for something that you really feel that you
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believe in the other thing is you don't wear a lot of
17:38
hats, you wear every hat,
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you are everything, you're investor relations.
17:43
You're the CEO you are the person who fixes the printer and
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sometimes you're even the person who takes out the trash,
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you're all of these things and you've got to be prepared whenever
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a new investor comes in to actually present to them,
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get them to invest in what you're doing,
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show them the market,
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show them the potential all these things because that is in the
18:05
sustainability world, the energy world Johnson Controls called me and said
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you know, we really like this whole energy piece of
18:13
it. Johnson Controls is actually a very high tech company that
18:19
works on everything in your building.
18:21
They have controls for everything,
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heat, solar, HV ac all these different things,
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cleaning the air in your building.
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And they wanted that experience and they wanted that brand work so
18:35
that they could change their brand from being an automotive and a
18:39
buildings brand to more of a true multi industrial.
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Why? Because multi industrial multipliers on the market are 25% higher
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And then I went to a company called Carpenter Technologies that does
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specialty metals and then back into energy again with Westinghouse and each
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one of these experiences built on the last and each one I
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was able to take something from what I learned from the last
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one and bring to the table to the next one.
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The one skill I would say every company needs every company values
19:18
and every company should have at the table.
19:21
Are people who know their business,
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know how to make money for their company and can articulate it
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in a way that anyone can understand.
19:30
I want to follow up on something you said you said that
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if you can communicate well,
19:34
basically the world of opportunities open up.
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They didn't say how you became a good communicator.
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Ah, yes, that's really important because there wasn't really a
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playbook on how to do that.
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I really listened to people who I thought communicated well,
19:53
in the corporate world we value people who can give a really
19:56
good presentation and convince you that their idea,
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their business model, their business,
20:03
whatever they're trying to accomplish is the right one.
20:06
Now, there's ways to do that.
20:08
You have to show the business case,
20:10
you have to show the abi that you have to show the
20:12
margin expansion. You have to show all these things and the
20:15
market and the headroom in the market.
20:18
So I learned very early on that the way to really learn
20:23
good communication is to listen to those that were perceived as good
20:27
communicators. So how did they do that?
20:30
And there were several people that I saw a lot of CEO
20:35
S, a lot of ceos are really good communicators.
20:39
You listen to them talk and you think,
20:41
that lady, she's so smart,
20:43
they're really good communicators.
20:45
They can take their thoughts and communicate them to you and you
20:50
know exactly what they're doing.
20:52
So, one of the things I learned was from my,
20:56
my family storytelling, storytelling.
21:02
We didn't know this was a thing in business.
21:04
And here I am sitting in Asia working with everyone not using
21:11
this tool that I was given that is very effective.
21:17
The best storytellers are the ones that bring you into the story
21:23
story living. We call it story,
21:25
living, story living is where you see yourself inside the story
21:29
and where you can really identify that in a way if you're
21:34
a consumer and I'm a brand and I pull you into the
21:37
story. I hope corporate America is listening right now because this
21:41
will make you money.
21:43
When you see yourself in that story,
21:45
you're not only loyal to that brand,
21:47
but you're going to buy from that brand and it's going to
21:49
create an emotion in you.
21:52
they get me. There's ways of going about that.
21:57
But I learned that storytelling was one of the most impactful
22:02
tools in business. It's one of the most impactful tools for
22:06
getting your customer to not only interact with you and buy from
22:10
you, but to be loyal to you and to keep that
22:14
relationship going. And I think that naturally we Latinas are great
22:20
communicators. We love talking.
22:23
The question is whether we know how to do storytelling and how
22:26
to craft the art of communication.
22:28
You're a great storyteller.
22:29
Can you teach our audiences the basics of great storytelling?
22:33
How and Latinas particularly become great storytelling and craft the art?
22:38
And I think there's this whole body of science out there.
22:42
There's data in science that shows that this is the way it
22:46
works. There's data and science that shows when you see yourself
22:50
in the story that you're going to feel differently and you're going
22:53
to act differently. And the person who's telling you the story
22:57
is going to have a greater impact on you.
23:00
The number one thing is to really understand what are you trying
23:03
to communicate? What is the core of what you're trying to
23:08
That sounds really simple,
23:09
doesn't it? I want to get this across,
23:11
but it's really hard for people to do to focus on what
23:14
is it, you're really trying to get across.
23:16
The other thing is when you're building the narrative,
23:20
what is the narrative that actually supports that point?
23:25
So let's say the point is Claudia wants to get rid of
23:30
the injustice in our community.
23:33
So what is that point?
23:34
You want to make things more opportunistic.
23:37
So you have to think about how are you showcasing that in
23:41
a way that your audience is going to resonate with?
23:44
So those are three very simple steps.
23:48
is you can't forget human emotion and psychology.
23:53
We talked a little bit earlier about the reaction to a story
23:57
We talked about how you can see yourself in the story
24:02
What comes next? And if you think about what you're trying
24:06
to get people to do and you think about that psychology,
24:10
you will make it even simpler simple is hard.
24:14
It's very hard. So you have to think about the core
24:17
of what you're trying to communicate.
24:19
What is it you're trying to impact,
24:20
what are you trying to make different?
24:22
And then what is that platform?
24:24
And your audience will resonate with?
24:27
I want to tell a story that I use when I want
24:30
to illustrate a point.
24:35
I have a four year old son and he was like two
24:38
and he woke up in the middle of the night and screamed
24:44
So I go in and he says,
24:45
there's a gorilla in my closet.
24:48
And I'm like, there's no gorilla in your closet.
24:50
Of course, there's no gorilla in your closet.
24:52
Look, I opened the closet,
24:53
show him there's no gorilla.
24:54
No way he would go to sleep,
24:55
right? So we took the crib,
24:57
they like travel crib to our room.
24:59
The second night. He didn't want to go to sleep in
25:00
his bedroom because there was a gorilla in the closet.
25:03
After a week of not sleeping in his room.
25:06
We were pretty desperate and I come home and his,
25:11
his nanny had put him to sleep in his crib.
25:14
So I asked the nanny,
25:15
how did you convince him?
25:17
There's no gorilla in the closet.
25:19
he told me there's a gorilla in the closet.
25:21
I opened the closet.
25:22
I grabbed the gorilla.
25:23
I left the room with a gorilla and I took the gorilla
25:26
out of the apartment and I just saw a more gorilla and
25:30
I thought there is another way,
25:33
like sometimes your way is not the way that's going to work
25:37
and you have to be open to asking others for their perspective
25:40
And even if sometimes their ideas are insane,
25:43
sometimes they work. So this is a story I tell when
25:46
I want to illustrate like being open to somebody else's crazy idea
25:52
I want to give you mine.
25:53
So I am a data driven person probably because I've been a
25:57
marketer always in organizations that don't have budgets and I always have
26:02
to know as opposed to try,
26:04
I have to know where things are.
26:06
So every story that I give is data driven evidence based sticky
26:11
memorable and personal but never intimate.
26:14
That's where I think we cross a boundary.
26:18
When you think that you're telling something that you have to be
26:21
personal, you have to create empathy in everything you're saying and
26:24
doing but never cross a line in which you're like,
26:27
oh, that's too much information like that.
26:29
I never want to know more than I want to know.
26:34
And I think that we do that mistake.
26:36
So much confusing what's personal,
26:37
what's intimate and and being personal is being able to share something
26:42
of your person. But being intimate is something that you wouldn't
26:45
share with anyone that is not your closest friend.
26:48
great So OK, let's continue doing this communication,
26:52
storytelling a little bit more.
26:53
So many Latinas might want to be like you and getting to
26:57
brand communication and getting to storytelling.
27:01
What advice would you give them?
27:02
What tools, resources,
27:04
podcast, books, choruses where to start.
27:08
There's a lot of things you can do.
27:09
There's amazing books out there.
27:11
The Storyteller Secret. That's a really good book on how to
27:16
think about the construction of a story.
27:19
Another really good book is smart brevity.
27:22
So smart brevity is really about saying less.
27:27
Just think of it this way,
27:29
less is more. So when you say less,
27:32
you have a bigger impact,
27:34
you know, these stories that we're telling,
27:36
they were very short and they had three thoughts and they had
27:41
a superhero. Your nanny,
27:48
the gorilla was the villain.
27:50
And so see how there's,
27:52
there's formulas to these stories I hire.
27:55
So I'm the superhero.
27:56
There you are. You're the superhero.
27:58
And let me give you one more point because Claudia was asking
28:03
watching people, somebody I've watched who has been dead for 100
28:07
and 50 years, you think?
28:08
OK, now, where is this going?
28:10
Is Frederick Douglas? So Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in
28:15
the United States. Frederick Douglass had some things going for him
28:19
Frederick Douglas was very handsome African American male and he figured
28:25
out that great communication is just not the vocal word.
28:29
It's the visual. So in the 18 hundreds,
28:33
photography was just coming into its realm and he wanted to be
28:39
photographed the same way white men were sitting up straight,
28:44
looking, dignified, you know,
28:46
wearing nice clothes, having their hair coiffed all of these things
28:51
He became one of the most photographed people of the 18
28:55
hundreds because not only did he give great speeches,
29:00
but he made sure because he knew this is going to change
29:03
the way the African American people are viewed.
29:06
Because if they see me sitting this way being photographed this way
29:12
think about that kind of communication,
29:14
no cell phones, no microphones,
29:16
no TV. Nothing that you could communicate better than the visual
29:25
I do that. I have to say I absolutely overdo that
29:28
because I know that images travel faster than words.
29:32
And every time that I'm invited to a Hispanic event or an
29:36
award or whatever it is,
29:37
I try to overdo the royalty.
29:40
So looking like a princess,
29:42
like a queen, like dresses,
29:43
not quinceanera. But I like,
29:45
like going royal. So I think that we need role models
29:49
where you can just like start imagining yourself the way that I
29:52
would have liked imagining myself.
29:54
But also when I don't go to Latino events for like more
29:57
non Latino events, I try to overdo the Lan so that
30:00
you know, like it's a flip,
30:02
it's a flipping image all together,
30:04
everything communicates exactly. That's why now I'm wearing earrings because Claudia
30:08
has told me that I that I used to wear earrings,
30:11
they look really nice.
30:12
And so one thing that I would love for you to give
30:15
me as advice or learn how to do it.
30:17
And she always takes this personally,
30:20
you know, like this is my mentorship session on camera with
30:26
all of you. And that's why we're here.
30:29
That's why you're all here.
30:30
This is your personal for me.
30:33
But I hear you speaking and the pace with which you
30:38
speak, it's like so perfect.
30:41
You don't speak too fast that it's hard to follow or that
30:44
I think sometimes people think that people that speak very fast are
30:47
not as smart or nervous or they,
30:50
they're nervous. You speak so slow that you're like,
30:52
is she acting like she wants to see this going on?
30:56
How did you, how did you get to the speed at
31:00
which you, you you speak because that's trained you,
31:04
you, you guys know for Latinos everything started at the kitchen
31:07
table. So everything started there.
31:11
It was all about food,
31:13
it was all about participating at the kitchen table and my kitchen
31:16
table. There's all these kids,
31:19
there's my parents, my grandparents and maybe some stragglers that came
31:24
we're all sitting there and everyone called me Martita and when my
31:30
mother or my father would ask me something,
31:33
they expected a really good answer,
31:36
they expected it. And so I would answer,
31:40
what did you do today?
31:44
No, no. Perfect English,
31:47
Martita. Perfect English.
31:49
And then you get the look,
31:52
So there was pressure to speak in perfect English.
31:55
They didn't talk about pace,
31:56
they didn't talk about any of that other stuff.
31:59
They just said perfect English because they wanted us to have communication
32:04
skills because they knew that would help us get ahead in life
32:07
They knew that would be important in,
32:10
in the lives that we were about to lead.
32:12
And so that's what really pushed me to speak that way.
32:15
I've also studied a lot of speeches from people who I think
32:20
speak very well who John F.
32:23
Kennedy is a really good example.
32:25
I think Obama is exceptional and some people would say,
32:29
well, he's just a good orator.
32:30
No, he's a really good storyteller too and he was able
32:33
to impact people. So following them and seeing how they did
32:39
it. And there's also I I was just watching a documentary
32:43
on Frida Kahlo and they have Yes,
32:47
yes. Now there's very little audio of her because of the
32:51
time, right? Because she was born in the 19 1900
32:55
So there's very little audio.
32:56
So they brought in someone else that they said spoke the way
33:00
she did. She was as clear in her speaking as she
33:07
everything was very clear,
33:11
the agony. Everything was crystal clear and you couldn't help but
33:16
love her. You couldn't help but like it.
33:17
And so I think it's important that we learn the art and
33:20
craft of communication, storytelling,
33:22
but also be able to be yourself being authentic.
33:25
And I think that one of the most important pieces of feedback
33:28
I get is that people trust me because I,
33:31
they can see through me.
33:32
I'm authentic, I'm genuine.
33:33
The way that I speak,
33:36
the way I speak really comes as a genuine.
33:39
And I do think that we have heard from all of our
33:42
guests that pretending to be someone you're not,
33:45
is not gonna get you to success.
33:47
So I would like to know a little bit more in the
33:50
context of communicating and public speaking.
33:54
storytelling, I think that there's very few Latinas and Hispanics that
34:00
like really great public speakers that are really great at that craft
34:04
even if we're so naturally prone and good to that.
34:07
And I think it is related to self confidence.
34:10
Can we talk about that piece of communications,
34:13
public speaking storytelling when,
34:16
with respect to the being comfortable being yourself?
34:21
Well, what do they say be yourself because everyone else is
34:25
taken. It's the easiest way to get across an idea.
34:30
A thought, a business notion,
34:32
something like that if you embrace who you are.
34:35
And this is why I think it's so important that Latinas embrace
34:38
who they are. You know,
34:39
we were talking earlier that 70% of Latinas don't really express that
34:45
in their current work environments because they're not comfortable with that.
34:50
Here's why it's not a good thing because if you embrace who
34:54
you are and you appreciate the roots in the place that you
34:58
came from. And you think about all the people that were
35:02
part of how you got here,
35:04
all the Latinas that were part of how you got here,
35:07
that gives you that inner strength.
35:10
It gives you that notion of I can hold my own because
35:16
we call them trailblazers,
35:17
right? I call them Chingonas.
35:20
It's the same thing they had to do it in a stronger
35:26
It's a little bit easier for us.
35:28
Our stage is bigger though.
35:30
Your stage is much bigger and you have to think about that
35:34
So Latinas, if you embrace who you are,
35:37
you embrace your Latina dad.
35:39
And you think about how that brings value.
35:43
That's what every corporation wants.
35:46
That's what every board wants.
35:49
The minute you see that you are going to appreciate and have
35:54
confidence in everything you bring to the table and you're going to
35:57
look at people from other ethnic backgrounds and think I'm here because
36:04
I have the strength to be here.
36:06
There is no reason why I shouldn't be here and that confidence
36:09
is going to come through and it's real,
36:12
it's real. They just aren't opening the door to let it
36:15
out yet. But how can we get Latinas to believe what
36:19
you're saying? When just like it happened to you?
36:23
Sometimes they, people say to us things that totally crush us
36:27
like you were told when you were younger.
36:30
Thank God, you don't look Latina,
36:32
what did you do when you heard that?
36:34
What impact did it have?
36:36
And for anyone in our audience that has ever been told that
36:40
what would you say they should do with that message?
36:43
And you feel erased,
36:44
you feel as though somebody has erased who you are.
36:48
But think about the other side of that and the other side
36:51
of that is bringing that out.
36:54
The story that you're talking about was when I was early in
36:57
my career at Boeing,
36:59
I was considered a high potential and there was about 15 of
37:02
us that were pulled into this organization,
37:06
every corporation has them,
37:07
they call them high post that we were pulled in and we
37:10
got to meet with all the senior leaders of the company.
37:13
And so this one meeting that we were having was with the
37:16
C hr O, the highest ranking hr executive in the company
37:20
And he came in and we were all sitting around the
37:22
table and he went to different people around the table and were
37:26
asking them questions about themselves.
37:29
And when he got to me.
37:33
Marta, you, you're somebody right?
37:37
And I thought to myself naively,
37:40
well, of course I am.
37:41
I'm a hypo, this is what was going through my head
37:44
That's why I'm here.
37:46
And he said, where are you from?
37:50
What's your ethnicity? And I said,
37:52
I'm Mexican American just like that.
37:55
I'm Mexican American. And he said,
37:58
thank God you don't look like it.
38:01
Now, I think this is what you mean when you say
38:07
why would you come out as,
38:09
as a Latina when something like that can happen?
38:12
Here's the thing, we are the fastest demographic growing in the
38:19
United States today. There is a market,
38:21
there is a value to that market.
38:24
There is all kinds of things associated with that,
38:27
that is not slowing down,
38:29
that is a freight train that is taking off and gaining steam
38:33
And so if you are a Latina and you embrace your
38:37
Latina dad and you bring that to the table without saying you're
38:42
sorry and telling who you are in authentic way,
38:46
you're going to succeed.
38:47
You can't help but succeed.
38:48
Companies need you, corporations need more and more Latinos to help
38:54
them get ahead. And this is something that there is a
38:58
way for Latinas to not only embrace but to think about how
39:03
they're going to be part of the future.
39:05
Yeah, but why do you think that person told you that
39:08
Like why did an accomplished and professional and successful C hr
39:13
O thought it's better not to look like Latina.
39:18
we're in 2023 and this was many years ago.
39:22
And so at that time,
39:24
it wasn't accepted. What I'm saying is today it's accepted.
39:27
So, so let's talk about it.
39:30
Let's talk about who you are and what value you bring to
39:34
the table because I think it's more accepted than ever.
39:38
And I think that's important,
39:40
especially for younger Latinas to know several months ago.
39:44
I was in Washington DC talking to five female senators and I
39:48
said to them, you know,
39:49
we've got an immigration problem in this country and you need to
39:53
figure out the policy.
39:54
I'm just here to tell you that within one generation,
39:58
this is what you get.
40:00
And I think for a lot of them that was an eye
40:03
opener. It was like,
40:04
whoa, wait a minute,
40:05
what are you talking about?
40:06
I said I, this is what you get after one generation
40:10
And so if you think about that,
40:12
you're going to think differently about the people coming over the border
40:17
The reason I bring this up is because if we look
40:20
at where we are today versus where we were,
40:24
then we realize what we can do what God is here won't
40:28
get us there. But we do realize Kalia,
40:30
what we can do to get ahead.
40:33
And I think for a lot of very young Latinas,
40:36
if you think about what your mother and grandmother went through to
40:40
get ahead and you realize those shoulders you stand on,
40:43
you know, but you know that you can progress if someone
40:47
tells you. Thank God you don't look Latina.
40:51
What's an appropriate response to flip the script in a normal
40:54
elegant and positive progress looking way?
40:58
That doesn't get you fired.
40:59
That doesn't get you fired.
41:01
Well, what I said was if you go to Mexico
41:04
City, you will see a lot of people that look like
41:07
me. Yeah, that's one answer.
41:09
Yes. That is one answer.
41:10
And that is the opportunity to share the diversity of Latinos,
41:16
you have to broaden their thinking.
41:18
So you're not going to solve world peace in one meeting,
41:22
but you can chip away at it.
41:24
You can make those baby steps.
41:26
If you go to a certain area of Mexico,
41:30
you will see people like us.
41:32
So talk to us about the inverse.
41:34
Where has been your Latinidad appro for you in your career?
41:37
How, how has it helped you take you further and go
41:41
more? It's really helped me in negotiations.
41:44
I watched my mother and my grandmother negotiate anything and I watched
41:49
them barter and I watched them do things and say things that
41:53
would help them get what they needed,
41:55
whether it was groceries or clothes or whatever it was,
41:58
they negotiated everything I think that way.
42:02
So from the very first job I had to even today,
42:06
I negotiate salary I negotiate.
42:09
And I heard you guys talk about having a whole section on
42:12
negotiations. This is really important because you have to be able
42:16
to negotiate not only for a better salary but for what are
42:20
you being asked to do and what is appropriate for you to
42:24
And also you were talking earlier about the naysayers if you can
42:30
negotiate with a naysayer and convert them into being a proponent,
42:35
that's really good negotiation skills.
42:37
And so you have to sort of pull yourself out of that
42:41
environment that you're talking about and be able to communicate it very
42:45
objectively. What am I trying to achieve?
42:48
I'm trying to achieve a higher salary.
42:51
How am I going to get that?
42:54
the, the basics of how I got that was what is
42:58
it they're asking me to do?
42:59
Exactly. And then what is that worth?
43:02
And then what is my experience worth?
43:05
And then how do I have something they can't get somewhere else
43:10
And so those things contribute to your negotiation,
43:15
this comes back to that confidence.
43:17
You've got to know your worth,
43:18
you've got to know your value because if you don't know what
43:21
those things are, you can't negotiate for yourself.
43:24
And so I really applaud you if you have another session
43:29
just on negotiation because I think that's one of the most important
43:33
things, one of the gifts that you can give to the
43:36
Latina community. We should do some workshops.
43:38
Yeah. Yeah. You also mentioned that it was later
43:43
in your career that you embraced your last name.
43:48
So I got married when I was 18 and I'm still married
43:56
He's also very handsome.
43:57
So that helps. Right.
43:59
And his last name is Newhart.
44:02
When I was younger I wanted to be a news broadcaster.
44:06
I wanted to be that lady you saw on television that was
44:09
giving you the news every night.
44:12
I can see, you can see that.
44:14
And so his name was perfect.
44:16
I didn't choose him for the name I chose him because I
44:19
was in love the look of the.
44:23
And so I, I took his name and so for many
44:28
years, a few decades in my career,
44:31
I was known as Martha Newhart.
44:33
And then I have a very famous cousin who is an activist
44:39
and she's also considered the best Mexican American chef in America.
44:44
Her name is Silvana Sido Esperanza.
44:46
So the Salcido are our cousins and she is in Phoenix.
44:52
And if you go in downtown Phoenix,
44:54
there is a big three story bank building and they have a
44:57
mural of her. So Sylvana said to me many years ago
45:02
when you look around corporate America,
45:05
do you see people like us?
45:09
No, the next level down.
45:12
Do you see people like us?
45:14
No. How about the next level below that?
45:18
No. What are you gonna do about it?
45:22
What are you gonna do about it?
45:25
And I thought about it and I was thinking about it.
45:30
I have this platform,
45:31
I'm in corporate America.
45:33
I'm here. I don't care what they think at this point
45:39
I'm gonna use my family name.
45:41
When was this? This was about five years ago.
45:45
It's very recent. Yeah.
45:48
Now what did that lead to it leaded to people saying to
45:53
what is going on here?
45:54
Are you getting a divorce?
45:56
What is, what is happening?
45:58
You know what happened to that 18 year old guy?
46:04
What's going on here?
46:06
So there's something really good that comes with age.
46:09
Well, there's many things,
46:10
there's many good things that come with age and one of them
46:13
is wisdom and the wisdom to know what is important and what
46:17
doesn't matter and the way other people see you sometimes it just
46:21
doesn't matter. So I use my name.
46:24
It's very important to me and I get asked to speak out
46:28
on the Latino community.
46:30
I get asked to speak about our demographics.
46:33
I get asked to speak about what do we do?
46:35
What is the future for us?
46:37
Why is it important that we look at Latinos as employees,
46:41
as people in the C suite,
46:43
people on boards, all of those things.
46:47
It's really important that we use the platforms that we've ascended to
46:52
in a very productive way.
46:54
So Silvana uses food and I use my voice.
46:59
Now, you've been in corporate America long enough to probably understand
47:03
what are the stereotypes of Latinos that just we need to,
47:10
to flip. Can you talk to us about one in particular
47:15
that you feel like it's misunderstood,
47:16
like one Latino characteristic that is seen in a,
47:19
in a negative light that we should say.
47:22
we are. That but that's a good thing for corporate America
47:26
I think the one about being loud,
47:28
I think what's really good about it is we have a perspective
47:32
and we're confident in what that is and that's able to move
47:36
companies forward. If you think about the most competitive companies in
47:41
the world, they are going after markets that their competitors cannot
47:45
get them in, they're going after different things that their competitors
47:51
just can't compete in.
47:53
So when we talk about being loud,
47:55
you know, Jennifer Lopez has a song,
47:57
let's get loud. That's where we are loud in music in
48:03
And we're really conquering the the music world in corporate America that
48:09
doesn't really work. We are not loud.
48:12
We are confident and we are going to take risks that are
48:16
good for the company.
48:18
These are risks that we've thought about.
48:20
These are risks that are good for our markets and these are
48:23
risks that are good for our portfolios.
48:25
That is one that I would flip the switch on from loud
48:29
to from loud to confident and knowing what you're bringing to the
48:34
table. It's going to be good for companies.
48:37
Yeah. Amazing. And I hope that by flipping the script
48:40
we can get Latinas that maybe are choosing to change
48:44
their name, their names and their last names and so on
48:48
to use it in half the time that we have been are
48:50
coming to this realization.
48:52
That's right. One of the questions that we ask for our
48:55
guests is to tell us if you were talking to your 30
48:58
year old self, you have been married for 12 years by
49:01
then. With what advice would you give yourself now that you
49:07
have the perspective, I would say your day will come.
49:11
It will happen. You think that because of who you are
49:15
or where you came from is a detriment.
49:18
It's actually an attribute and that's what I would say to my
49:21
my 30 year old self.
49:23
But why do you think that's something you need to tell your
49:26
Were you insecure? I didn't know,
49:29
I didn't know I was,
49:31
I was in a world that didn't embrace that.
49:34
They didn't embrace who we are.
49:35
They didn't embrace Latina Dad.
49:37
They didn't embrace those kinds of things.
49:39
And that made you doubt yourself.
49:42
Yeah. Well, I'm glad they will come as in belief
49:47
belief in yourself and belief in what you can do.
49:51
And belief in what your capability is.
49:57
Thank you. Thank you.
49:58
I didn't tell you the story of the ruby slipper.
50:01
I see. It's a little pump.
50:05
I love it. Does it have a story?
50:08
There's a piece of advice I would give any young Latina and
50:12
I would say it's really important to find your home.
50:17
Find the people who will be honest with you,
50:20
find the people who will tell you like it is and will
50:24
never judge you and will never hold things against you.
50:27
I have three really close friends and we really sort of just
50:31
met each other a couple of years ago and we're all in
50:35
the executive VP level of corporations.
50:38
And one of them called me up one day and said,
50:42
when something goes wrong,
50:46
Who do you, who gives you advice?
50:48
I mean, you're sitting there in the boardroom who's telling you
50:52
what to do and that sort of thing.
50:55
it, it's really hard,
50:56
it really is because everybody's coming to you for advice.
51:00
She said I want to start this little group of people for
51:03
women that we meet regularly and we do this for each other
51:08
And I want to pick this woman.
51:10
I won't tell you the names,
51:12
but I want to pick this woman because she's really strategic and
51:16
she knows how to do things in a very strategic way.
51:20
And I want to pick you because you're very courageous and you're
51:24
somebody who can really stand up for yourself and your community.
51:28
And then I want to pick this other woman.
51:30
whoa, wait a minute.
51:31
This sounds like the wizard of Oz.
51:36
Yeah, it sounds like the wizard of Oz.
51:43
We are the ruby slippers.
51:45
Remember? Dorothy clicked the ruby slippers three times to get home
51:51
So one of the rubies gave each one of us a
51:54
necklace with a ruby slipper on it.
51:57
We talk about all things life,
51:59
we talk about all things career.
52:01
We talk about all issues.
52:03
Now, remember we just met each other a couple of years
52:05
ago. There is nothing off the table.
52:08
We are our own boardroom and we help each other that way
52:13
I've talked to my husband a lot about how we all
52:17
need a board of advisors and like sometimes it's your partner,
52:21
but you need a board of advice too that that's more in
52:25
your space. So I know like Claudia put together a little
52:29
group of Latinas here in,
52:30
in New York. I think it's gonna become our board of
52:33
advisors, but everybody needs it.
52:34
So look for you've got your own.
52:37
Sounds like we're building it,
52:40
Yeah. Amazing. Thank you.
52:43
This is really my mentorship session in front of everyone,
52:46
communication, storytelling, negotiation skills.
52:50
That we need to leave Latina.
52:53
Don't forget to rate and review the podcast.
52:56
Also, follow us on social media.
52:59
And more importantly, if you know,
53:01
a Latina Trailblazer who is killing it in corporate America or in
53:05
any other industry and is opening the door and leaving it open
53:09
for the next generation.
53:11
Nominate her in our website Ala latina.com.
