Empowering Latinx leadership with Oracle Latinos Alliance

March 23, 2022 | 5 minute read
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Empowering Latinx leadership with Oracle Latinos Alliance

Diverse experiences can make our ideas better and our teams stronger. We sat down with Isabella Garcia-Mendez from Oracle Latinos Alliance’s (OLA) leadership team (OLA) to find out what that has meant for her in her career. Isabella is a Communications Program Manager and a first-generation Mexican-American. In her time with Oracle, she has spear-headed professional development and mentorship programs, championed diversity, and found ways to share her pride in her Latinidad.

As a Latina in tech, Isabella has a unique insight into the role that diverse leadership can play in moving the tech industry forward. Read on to find out how connecting to the power of her heritage has helped her thrive at Oracle.

Owning her place at the table

Before joining Oracle as a Business Development Consultant (BDC) with Class Of, Isabella had never considered a career in tech. She was recruited on LinkedIn and when she saw how few of her cohort mates were Latinx, she made it her mission to pave the way for others. “That lit a fire in me,” she recalls. “It made me want to stay and really own my place at the table, to show other Latinos in college that a career in tech is possible for them.”

Her determination to take up space and champion diversity has deep roots. “Something that is really common among the Latino community is imposter syndrome,” she shares. At only seven years old, she remembers an instance when her little brother felt insecure, like he didn’t belong at an upscale hotel. Isabella’s mother firmly, but caringly, reminded him that she had endured hardships and racism when moving to the United States so that her children could feel welcome everywhere. That experience stayed with Isabella. “Whenever I feel that imposter syndrome creeping up, I remember the sacrifices that were made for me to feel like I belong wherever I am.”

Building her career – and yours

Reimagining the future calls for collaboration between people with different backgrounds and ways of thinking. From the beginning, Isabella wanted to give voice to the individual and cultural experiences of her colleagues. As a Class Of graduate, she started a digital culture magazine at the Santa Monica Hub, called “Faces of Oracle.” Each month, she and her team interviewed people about who they were as individuals – not just employees. The project took off, and quickly caught the attention of leadership and the Talent Development Team, where there was an opportunity for her to step into an open role.

Six months later, Isabella earned a promotion to Talent Enablement Program Manager, and from there to her current role as a Communications Program Manager. In her new role, she’s continuing to drive Oracle’s commitment to professional development by leading projects like Coffee Connections, BDC Career Progression, interview training, and mentorship programs, while also ensuring consistent and impactful communication across her organization.

Sharing culture and community

When she looked for connections and support in Oracle’s Latino community, Isabella’s experience with OLA was overwhelmingly positive. With 10 chapters and more than 700 members, OLA focuses on building cultural awareness, inclusive recruitment, and community engagement.

 “I was instantly welcomed,” she shares. “I felt a strong pull to get involved, so I joined the leadership team as a board member. Our goal is to celebrate the beauty, flavors, and colors of Latinx culture with our community and with the wider Oracle family. It’s a space for us, but it’s also a space to share who we are with everybody, and to shape conversations in a way that’s fun and really builds community.”

With OLA, she’s seen her colleagues come together and celebrate each other’s similarities as well as their cultural differences. She’s also found unique networking opportunities to help support her career goals. It is really important to me to have an international career in the near future, so I’ve started networking with some of the Latin American teams to see if there’s any future for me there. Professionally, speaking Spanish (and French) has opened many doors for me.”

Uplifting Latinx voices

Sharing your culture is even more important in the meeting room, where disrupting stereotypes can result in real change not only in thought but in actions as well. “I speak loudly and proudly. I want to shape the narrative,” Isabella tells us.

Recently, Isabella has been considering how mentorship and sponsorship programs help Latinx leaders succeed. She believes that sponsorship can have real benefits for Latinx employees, perhaps even more so than mentorship. “My sponsors speak up for my accomplishments. If there’s an opportunity being discussed in a meeting that I’m not a part of, they throw my name in the ring. I’ve been able to progress my career so quickly at Oracle because I’ve had some amazing mentors who have sponsored me along the way,” she shares.

Isabella thinks that this kind of advocacy really makes a difference for employees from cultural backgrounds that value and are accustomed to practicing humility. At Oracle, Isabella’s sponsors make sure her achievements don’t go unnoticed, even when she doesn’t announce them herself.

Advocating for diverse leadership

OLA is dedicated to developing Latinx leadership and supporting professional growth in order to drive innovation and elevate our Latinx communities. Isabella can see the power of diverse leadership in something as simple as a name. “I’ve read that CEOs with unusual names take unusual approaches to their business, and that might help their companies do better.”

She has first-hand knowledge of how different life experiences can shape how we tackle projects and make our ideas better. Isabella, who is multilingual, tells us that on one occasion she was able to see a problem uniquely because a French saying sprang to mind. On another occasion, she was inspired by the Mexican game, Loteria, to create revenue-generating contests for various organizations that have had huge success. A task that seemed previously impossible due to varying success metrics across the different teams, has been highly sought-after as each contest has produced impressive growth. “No one else at the table looks at things the way I do– it’s my perspective that helps bring unique solutions to persisting problems. That’s why we need to prioritize hiring leaders with different backgrounds.”

With some of the most influential Latinx leaders in technology on Oracle’s team, including representation on the HITEC 100, Latinx talent is creating the future.

Do you want to join a company that elevates diverse leaders? Explore our range of career opportunities and create the future with us.

Oracle Careers Editorial Team

The editorial team is comprised of members of the Oracle Talent Advisory group, with a wide-range of employer branding responsibilities. They partner with employees across Oracle to capture stories that showcase our company, culture and career opportunities, and help candidates envision their #LifeAtOracle.


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