In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, members of our Hispanic Organization for Leadership and Awareness (HOLA) business resource group (BRG) came together for their 20th annual leadership forum at our corporate headquarters in Bethesda.
The atmosphere over the two-and-a-half-day session was celebratory and bold. This year’s theme focused on promoting the idea of paying it forward, staying active in BRGs, and most importantly, bringing your whole self to work.
"The energy at this year's HOLA leadership forum is at a maximum level. And that really enforces the purpose this BRG has and the value of connecting in person. Our BRG members will take that energy back to their work sites, it's contagious, and it will last us until next year's forum," said Yadira Rodriguez, procurement engineering manager.
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While Latinos at Lockheed Martin make up 11% of our employee population, the HOLA BRG is a network that any employee is open to and encouraged to join. HOLA helps amplify our culture of inclusion, allowing our team members to gain skills in career development, cultural awareness, and networking.
"HOLA gives you a sense of family," said Claudia Jara, HOLA leadership forum co-chair, "Being involved with HOLA has given me the opportunity to have senior leaders see me for who I am, and that I'm someone who wants to learn and grow.”
Yadira Rodriguez recieves Supernova Award.
The HOLA award ceremony concluded the festivities on day one of the conference, honoring those who dedicated their time to connecting people with common goals, common ideals, and committed to capturing the diversity of our teams to help build our authentic culture.
Yadira received the Supernova award at this year’s forum, "As a Hispanic female in the engineering field, I'm very proud to be able to bring my full self to work, and to have Lockheed Martin appreciate diversity and inclusion in such an amazing way, especially with HOLA as a vehicle to do that. This was a perfect way to pay it forward and inspire our peers and our community.”
External speakers included: popular San Diego Radio Host, Geena the Latina; Rear Admiral David Goggins, United States Navy, Retired; and keynote speaker, the Honorable Carlos Del Toro, Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV).
Under the theme for the forum, OneHOLA: Stronger Together ¡Juntos Podemos!, attendees were encouraged to leave Bethesda and continue to find balance and compromise in their work life, to be confident, to get involved, stay involved, and that it’s okay to be vulnerable and bring your whole self to work each day.
“My biggest takeaway from this year's forum is to continue connecting with people. There were many good points about connecting with different people to form mentorship relationships and allyships to learn how to support one another in our work," concluded first-time attendee, Ana Alba, systems engineer.
