From September 15 to October 15, we recognized and celebrated the vast contributions of Latin American culture in the United States. Often referred to as Hispanic Heritage Month, in recent years this celebration has expanded to Latinx Heritage Month to recognize the lives and impact of indigenous, Brazilian, and other non-Spanish speaking people.

As part of our “employee spotlight” series, we caught up with Jimena Avila Melgoza to learn more about Samsara’s own Latinx employee resource group (ERG), Latinx at Samsara. Originally from Mexico City, Jimena has been at Samsara for nearly two years. Not only a co-founder and leader of Latinx at Samsara, Jimena is also one of the original members of Samsara’s Mexico sales team and is currently the team lead for our Mexico inside sales team. 

Read on to get a peek into Jimena’s experience at Samsara and her work as a co-founder of Latinx at Samsara.

Q: How did Latinx and Allies ERG get started?

Being one of the first Latina women within Samsara, I wanted to find a place where I could fully express myself, talk in Spanish, and share stories with others who would understand. I had been a part of the Latinx ERG at Meraki (my previous company), and I thought it would be fun to do it here at Samsara and be one of the first to make it happen.

We started Latinx at Samsara in the summer of 2019 with a kickoff rooftop party at the office. Before that, we thought maybe the Mexico Sales team were the only Latin American people at Samsara—but we were wrong! We have representation all across the organization, and to get to connect with them and realize we now have a place for everyone to go was such a positive thing. It helped us all realize we’re not alone.

Q: What would surprise people about starting an ERG?

You have to think bigger than your community—you’re not just sharing content with the Latinx community, but with everyone at Samsara. And you have to remember you’re part of something bigger.

When everything was happening this summer with George Floyd and the conversations around social justice, we came together as a community and asked each other—how can we help? Who do we need to talk to? We made donations, we educated ourselves, and we talked to leadership to make sure they knew we stood with Blaccsara, Samsara’s Black employee resource group. In other companies, you don’t feel like you can speak up—or if you do speak up, that you won’t be taken seriously. But that’s not the case at Samsara. Leadership supports us and asks us what we think, and we know they’re willing to listen.

Q: How did the Latinx at Samsara ERG celebrate Latinx Heritage Month?

We decided we wanted to share our history—to share why we’re here—and the history of Latin America from north to south. We partnered with an artist from Mexico (who now lives in the Mission District of San Francisco) for a Latinx history and culture presentation. He shared history, songs, and poems. Then, we moved into breakout rooms to share our reactions and learnings. We had way more people attend than we were expecting! More than 50 Samsarians joined us to learn about our community.

Q: What are you looking forward to for the Latinx community at Samsara?

Next year, we hope we can begin mentoring and tutoring kids in school from Hispanic backgrounds. We want to continue to be a bright light for people who join us, and we want people to remember Latinx at Samsara as a place where they’re always welcome. If you come to one of our events, you can expect that no matter what the focus of the event is, we will always, always, always will end up talking about food!

Pictured from left to right: Valentina Bustos and Jimena Avila Melgoza at a Samsara employee resource group (ERG) event.

Join the Samsara team: Make a difference, find your community, grow your career

At Samsara, we depend on the unique approaches of our team members to solve complex problems. We are committed to diversity across our company and ensuring that Samsara is a place where people from all backgrounds can make an impact. 

Samsara is hiring, and we’re looking for people who are interested in helping us build a safer, smarter, sustainable world. Check out our open roles and apply today.

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