The power of being Latinx.
Celebrating our diverse Hispanic heritage. Plus, Spanish lessons on today's Entérate.
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“Hello everybody I'm Andrés Cantor. Welcome everybody to Entérate with Verizon.”
The man, the legend, Andrés welcomed everyone to the latest episode of Entérate con Verizon. The famed sportscaster is the feature story of this episode, a special Hispanic Heritage month celebration of El Poder de Ser Latino, or the Power of Being Latinx.
We’re feeling this power in so many ways: politically, economically, professionally and as V teamers showing up every day.
Afrolatino Culture
The 2020 census brought big news for the Latinx population in this country: it’s growing, and so are the ways in which Latinx individuals identify themselves, especially when it comes to the Afrolatino community. V Teamers Randhy Feliz, Senior Manager for New York Metro Wireless Engineering based in Yonkers, spoke of her Dominican roots and credits her family for instilling self confidence in her. “My mother always taught me to be really proud of my African roots. She taught me early on that the melanin of my skin was beautiful.”
Panamanian Gamal Caton, a 13-year Verizon veteran and a Senior Manager for Inside Sales in Columbia, SC, said he struggled with his identity when he first arrived in the United States. “There weren't many Hispanic kids that look like me as far as being Black. And then the kids that were Black didn’t speak Spanish. So I just didn't really know where to fit in.”
Randhy says she tries not to let colorism get to her. “There’s a concept of having lighter skin giving you more benefits or you were of a better class. So I've always been motivated by negative comments or somebody telling me you can’t make it because of the color of your skin.”
Gamal says he’s encouraged by how many more choices the Latinx community has now when it comes to identity. ”You have the option to select if you're Hispanic or Latino, and then it still wants to ask you if you're White or Black, right? So I think that the questions are getting better.”
Both Randhy and Gamal spoke on a SOMOS panel last year on Afrolatino culture, a panel they say helped participants find people with similar experiences. Gamal said, “You really would not know how many other people are going through some of the same challenges that you're going through. So by speaking up you are able to help that community, really create awareness and to even learn some best practices to help people overcome some of those colorism issues, microaggressions, that happen to us, too.”
Spanish lessons
We’ve noticed that some of you still have trouble saying “Entérate”. So we asked a few of our retail friends to give you some Spanish lessons. Rachel Villarreal, Miami Retail Specialist with Cuban roots also threw in some great Cuban slang. Argentine Flavio Verdun, an Assistant Manager, and Ecuadorian Michael Barahona, a Retail Specialist — both from the Orlando area — also contributed some great new Spanish words. Now we know to avoid getting “chuchaki”, and no te olvides de “textear” el mejor “brete”. And remember, with 5G, te vas “a las chapas”!
Gracias a Rachel, Michael y Flavio por nuestras clases de español.
Latinx entrepreneurs
Latinos know business and the numbers back that up. We’re the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs in the U.S.. In the past 10 years, the number of Latino business owners has grown 34 percent, according to researchers at Stanford University.
Verizon has partnered with many of these businesses during the pandemic through grants and technology support. Theresa Chavez, an entrepreneur based in Wyoming, is one of the lucky recipients. She owns Flowering Journey Wellness and is a certified sound healing practitioner. She says the pandemic forced her to change her entire business process, taking her classes outdoors and online. Theresa said the Verizon grant enabled her to stay afloat and continue serving her community. “It's allowed me to also provide a scholarship for individuals who maybe can't afford it because of the pandemic or don't have the money or the resources to be able to get my services.” To support Theresa’s business, click here.
Andrés Cantor
Is there anyone more famous in the futbol world when it comes to sportscasting than Andrés Cantor? It’s his voice we remember every time a big goal was scored: “Gooooooooooooooooool!” Diana grew up on his voice while watching the World Cup with her family, so this conversation was especially meaningful for her.
Andrés told us he got his big break while still in high school writing about sports for Formula 1 and boxing. “Then I got a call for an audition at the old Spanish International Network way back in February 1987. They hired me right away after the audition of doing color commentary on the first game I taped, then doing play-by-play on the second.”
What followed was a decades-long career calling the most memorable soccer games in history. Diana wanted to know where his signature saying — yelling “Goal!” — came from. Andres credited the sportscasters who preceded him. “I always say that I never invented anything. I grew up listening to it. All radio announcers yell the ‘Goal’ the same way that I do and if you flipped the channels nowadays, everyone pretty much yells the goals the same. I happened to help popularize a way of calling soccer with lots of passion back in the day when everyone was watching our broadcasts, especially during the 1994 World Cup when I was at Univision.”
Andrés went on to explain his current partnership with Verizon: “We are thrilled to have Verizon as one of our main sponsors for Futbol de Primera. We recently did an overall deal with Verizon which includes not only the radio sponsorships of the World Cup next year in Qatar. It will sponsor the daily show, our vignettes, our World Cup qualifying matches of Concacaf Mexico, us, El Salvador, Honduras.” He said his daily show will be broadcast from regional Verizon stores next year.
As for who’s better, Diego Maradona or Lionel Messi? You’ll have to watch to see which of his countrymen this Argentine picks! To watch our full interview with Andrés and to hear a crazy story involving Diana in the hospital watching soccer with her newborn son, download the Inside Verizon app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store for this exclusive.
SOMOS
We still have two more weeks in Hispanic Heritage month and SOMOS, our Latinx ERG, has plenty of events planned, including:
- Latinx Dancersize on October 6 at 11 AM ET
- Professional Pursuit on October 7 at 4 PM ET to help you grow your career
- My Immigrant Story on October 15 hosted by SOMOS sponsor Ronan Dunne, right after Up To Speed Live.
For more information, click here.
Global Choice
We want to help you celebrate this special month by calling family on us with free Global Choice. New wireless customers can choose one of 11 Latin American countries including Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala and more for free. Qualifying existing customers who add a line will also receive free Global Choice. To learn more about this offer visit our website.
What I love about being Latinx
To close us out, we asked Latinx V Teamers to tell us what they love about being Latinx. Thanks to SOMOS for giving so many reasons to embrace our community! Happy Hispanic Heritage month!
