TODAY, SEPTEMBER 16 (not Cinco de Mayo) marks the anniversary of Mexico's independence from colonial rule.
And fitting, I just received the latest Nordstrom catalog that features a full page dedicated to Hispanic Heritage Month and highlights regional winners of their art contest. Nordstrom actually does some neat things in multicultural marketing. In addition to an annual nationwide arts-related contest, the department store chain also holds a local Latina Empowerment Summit right here in their downtown Seattle store.
This year's Summit takes place this coming Saturday, a half-day event en inglés that attracts 100 or more Latinas and Latina wannabes (although I won't be able to attend this year) for learning and mingling. An expert in the filed of crosscultural communication, Nanci Luna Jiménez, will be speaking, and there will be an education panel: Creating a Pipeline to Higher Education for Latinos in Seattle. Lunch will be served, and of course an opportunity to shop, shop, shop following this cool event. Attendance seems to grow each year, and we're thrilled Nordstrom has continued the tradition.
Anybody interested in attending should call 206-628-1690 ¡ya!
Hi Lauri,
ReplyDeleteLove your blog; I'm very interested to learn about he change of management at Radio Sol. Dang, I missed the festivities last weekend. Best Wishes,
Marcos Martinez
Entre Hermanos
About the Nordstrom Summit - It was a terrific event, with around a 100 or more women networking and connecting with each other. But I have to admit that the topic that was chosen “Latinas Unidas: Working with Our Hermanas, Overcoming Barriers and Basura” (quite a long title) didn’t really resonate with me. I was expecting an “empowerment” talk (the ones that make you want to go out and start fighting for your rights or build your own company), but no, this one was more of a mental exercise to exorcise your personal demons (the ones regarding the difficulty to interact with other Latinas) and to learn how to listen (I think). Since I don’t have these issues, my mind started wandering, and one idea came to my mind. Latinos who were born and raised abroad don’t have the same cultural experiences as Latinos who were born or raised in the U.S., I know it’s pretty obvious especially as marketers but sometimes we forget these details when it comes to our own personal experiences. While growing up I was never racially or culturally different -more or less we all looked the same and shared the same “costumbres”- and the differences were the same ones as in any other group of people “aquí o en la China” (meaning everywhere): money, looks, popularity and so on. Though I understand that Latinos growing up in the U.S. may experience racism and machismo in huge amounts. People who study human social behavior in depth tend to generalize from their own living experience, forgetting that the same way we all don’t eat tacos as a national dish, we don’t share the same world view.
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