While Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15, Nielsen actively supports Hispanic causes and organizations year-round. This support is closely aligned with our core business values and is near-and-dear to our Latinx* associates.
“As a global business, diversity and inclusion (D&I) is critical to the success of our business, our clients and our industry,” says Myriam Vidalon, VP of Diversity and Inclusion at Nielsen. “We owe it to ourselves, associates and the communities where we operate to be agents of change and advocate for diversity of people, ideas and opinions while fostering an environment of inclusion and belonging.”
Our Latinx employee resource group (ERG) HOLA (Hispanic Organization for Leaders in Action) leads our Hispanic employee engagement and is a critical component of our Diversity & Inclusion efforts. In fact, HOLA was the first ERG to be founded by Nielsen in 2006. We launched HOLA as a way to empower associates interested in creating an inclusive work environment that leverages diverse backgrounds to build high performing teams and make an impact on the Nielsen business. HOLA focuses on:
- Increasing participation at all levels by creating an open environment where everyone at Nielsen can participate in an ERG and their efforts are incorporated as part of their day-to-day and performance review.
- Enabling associates to reach their full potential by offering a variety of development workshops and networking opportunities with senior leaders and ERG executive sponsors.
- Accelerating representation at all levels by helping foster the professional development of Latinx college students into Corporate America and external partnerships. Nielsen employees encourage young Latinx students to pursue higher education in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines, research and marketing.
- Growing an inclusive culture by hosting internal diversity dialogues to deepen the conversations at the office level.
- Driving business growth and innovation by sponsoring client-focused seminars and reports in our Diverse Intelligence Series (DIS).
“We want to recognize the amazing work that all of our Latinx associates do to serve our clients and drive growth to our business,” said Amilcar Perez, Chief Revenue Officer, Nielsen Gracenote and Nielsen Sports and Co-HOLA ERG Executive Sponsor. “We also want to thank our HOLA ERG members and the leadership team for their dedication to promoting our values and culture at Nielsen and creating opportunities for growth for all our Latinx associates. Muchas gracias a todos.”
We engage in many efforts throughout each year that encourage and drive diversity and inclusion for our associates and our communities. This year, we’re especially proud of several initiatives that support Hispanic inclusion and representation nationwide:
- Supporting the Exclusion of a Citizenship Question to 2020 U.S. Census: As a market leader in consumer and market research, Nielsen needs a balanced workforce, as well as data that is accurate and representative of the entire U.S. population. For this reason, Nielsen advocated for a fair and accurate U.S. census by filling a ‘friend of the court’ brief with the Supreme Court supporting the exclusion of a citizenship question to the 2020 decennial census. Christine Pierce, our SVP of Data Science, also shared the importance of an accurate census count at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) Policy Conference opening plenary session “Census 2020: You Count! ¡Tú Cuentas!”
- The Hispanic Promise: As a company, we have signed the Hispanic Promise, which aims to increase the number of Hispanic employees at Nielsen in order to better reflect the U.S. population, while also assessing the sentiment of Hispanic associates to ensure an inclusive workplace.
- La Oportunidad Latinx: Cultural Currency and the Consumer Journey: We released our seventh annual Diverse Intelligence Series report on Latinx consumers, which explores the social, circular and non-linear path to purchase of this powerful consumer group. Latinx consumers represent one of the most sure bets for future growth, and are projected to control $1.9 trillion in annual buying power by 2023.
- National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts (NHFA) Noche de Gala: We sponsored the NHFA Noche de Gala and several of our most senior leaders—including David Kenny, CEO and George Callard, Chief Legal and Corporate Affairs Officer—attended, showing their commitment to advancing diversity and inclusion at Nielsen. Stacie de Armas, our VP of Strategic Initiatives and Consumer Engagement, gave remarks highlighting the growth opportunity Latinx consumers represent for companies in a variety of industries and calling for greater Latinx representation in media.
“At Nielsen, we use our voice, data and resources to advocate every day for true representation and inclusion for all people,” said Laura Nelson, Chief Communications Officer, Nielsen and executive committee champion of our HOLA ERG. “Our Latinx associates and their voices allow us to stay true to our clients, our business and the industry.”
*Nielsen uses the term Latinx to connote unspecified gender. The decision is a nod toward greater inclusion of women, LGBT+ and non-binary Hispanics and the growing popularity of the term in social media and academic writing.
