SOMOS Summit Recap

Overview of SOMOS ERG

The SOMOS@Strava ERG celebrates the diversity of our Latiné/x/a/o, Hispanic, Afro-Latiné/x/a/o identifying teammates by bringing people together and investing in the development of our internal community. We have a wide spectrum of members including those identifying as mixed-race, of Spanish and Brazilian descent, those without Spanish or Brazilian-Portuguese fluency, or those who may be of any race but are ethnically Hispanic/Latiné/x/a/o.

SOMOS Summit Overview

For the first time in Strava history, we brought our Hispanic/Latinx teammates together in Albuquerque, New Mexico for a 2 ½ day summit to build camaraderie and foster a greater sense of belonging. This was time for the group to connect in a meaningful way, build stronger relationships with each other, and have a focused, meaningful personal and professional development experience. This event was also intentionally planned to kick off Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month. Moreover, this gathering served as an important way for Strava to walk the talk and demonstrate its commitment to advancing representation, belonging and equity for our Hispanic/Latinx employees at Strava.

Reflections from the Community

Here are a few reflections shared by those who attended the Summit. We hope these powerful words articulate what this time together meant to us. We also hope these thoughts help you find community or support. For others we hope they inspire you to be active allies to the Latinx/Hispanic community.

“The SOMOS Summit served as a powerful opportunity for individuals to come together, foster connections, and enrich their sense of belonging, community, and pride. This created a unique space where employees could engage with one another and learn from their shared cultural background while celebrating their individual differences. I felt seen and valued, recognizing the significance of our Latinx and Hispanic identities within the workplace. This summit allowed me to embrace my heritage and culture openly, fostering a sense of empowerment and pride in my roots. I enjoyed the chance to bond over commonalities, which helped strengthen my sense of community. The shared stories, traditions, and experiences, not only deepened our connections but also enhanced our understanding and appreciation of the diversity within our Latinx and Hispanic heritage. I feel content knowing this won’t end here and will continue to be an ongoing effort”! — Anonymous

“The summit was an amazing experience! Whether it was meeting fellow Straviolis from across the world, hearing our Somos M-Team member’s career journeys, or living the “mulch life” during our community service, I felt part of a larger community. The time and effort put into making this summit spectacular really showed, and was a great example of true allyship.” — Anonymous

“I feel so lucky to work for a company that would enable something like this. It was so important to connect with one another like this, and I left the summit with some amazing new friendships and deepened existing ones.” — Anonymous

“All and all it was a super positive experience, I felt connected to folks I normally would not interface with here and it’s amazing to hear how each individual uniquely impacts Strava.” — Anonymous

“I feel a deep sense of community which I did not have prior to this event.” — Anonymous

Reflecting on Our Time in Albuquerque

As we started to arrive and meet each other, we enjoyed a meal featuring local cuisine at the Hotel Albuquerque at Old Town, a New Mexico-based, minority owned hotel where we stayed for the duration of our summit. Our summit began with welcoming remarks from our two Executive Sponsors, Michele Bousquet, our Chief People Officer, and Rosamaría González, our VP of Community.

Our host and Albuquerque native, Elisa Valdez de Ramírez, a senior engineering manager, delivered a land acknowledgement, which read:

Today we have the honor of gathering on the land stewarded by the Tiwa, Tewa, Dinè, and N’de. We recognize that colonization is ongoing and it is our responsibility to work against Indigenous erasure. We pay respect and homage to the Tiwa ancestors who protected and loved this land before, the Tiguex, and those who still steward it today, the People of Sandia and Isleta Pueblos. We honor the human, plant, and animal kin belonging to this land and we recognize that this acknowledgment becomes meaningful through informed actions.

Shortly afterwards, we gathered in a circle, introduced ourselves and had an opportunity to answer questions that really helped us build connections that served as the foundation for our time together.

We each went around the circle and shared one person in our lives who is really important to us. A number of heartfelt, sentimental responses were shared and the feeling of connectedness began. The next critical question centered on where each and every one of us was at coming into this summit. We heard people eager to build community, get to know each other, and acknowledge their own journey in the Latinx/Hispanic community and their desire to have a place where they could talk to each other. There were many comments and some of the more personal ones centered around the notion of belonging. One of the things that resonated with several members of the group was this feeling of “ni de aquí, ni de allá,” a phrase frequently used by bilingual and bicultural people to describe the intersection of American and Immigrant identities.

After a break and some socializing, we headed to a fireside chat with Rosamaría and Mateo Ortega, our VP of Connected Partnerships. During this intimate chat, we heard about their upbringing as members of the Latinx community in San Francisco and growing up in nurturing environments that were filled with pride. We also heard about their professional journeys, from their first jobs to their time at Strava. It was a fun hour of conversation, reflection and honesty between our two most senior Latinx executives and a source of inspiration to us all.

Closing our first day, we headed to the wonderful Church Street Café, Albuquerque’s oldest residence, first built in the 1700s, where we tried a variety of local cuisine, from Navajo tacos to carne adovada, and New Mexican enchiladas.

Day 2 started with a 06:30 run around Albuquerque, in the best Strava tradition. Over a dozen of our teammates headed out early for a 10km run around Old Town and Bosque which included views of the Río Grande, which crosses Albuquerque from north to south.

Later, after breakfast, we heard from Michael Horvath, our CEO and cofounder, Michele, our Chief People Officer, Michele, and Glenn Newman, our director of DEI. During this conversation, we heard about our leaders’ personal convictions that lead to Strava’s antiracism and DEI commitments.

We also heard more about the plans to specifically invest in our Latinx/Hispanic community and teammates at Strava. Much is being done behind the scenes to increase our representation in the company, uplift our sense of belonging, and support this community of employees throughout their careers at Strava. We left this session understanding leadership’s commitment and plan of action while also feeling empowered to take an active role in building our community.

This is a good segway to the next session we had, aptly titled ‘Discovering Your Secret Salsa’, provided by Dr. Lizette Ojeda. This professional development opportunity focused on career pathing through leveraging strengths, cultural pride and self-advocacy. Our team was visibly engaged during this conversation, as Dr. Ojeda’s own journey resonated with everyone. Growing up Latina in the United States, being a first generation professional and fighting impostor syndrome were experiences that were all too common for us. We felt Dr. Ojeda was able to put in words what we have all felt in relation to our identity as Latinx or Hispanic people, something that in many cases has been a silent, isolating experience.

After this wonderful moment of self-discovery, we headed to the Albuquerque Museum, the leading institution for art, history, and culture in New Mexico. Here we explored the state’s history through art, from the local indigenous tribes to the more modern developments in the area. One highlight of the exhibition was a big map of Albuquerque you can walk on, which helped us explore the city and surrounding areas, as well as a gallery of significant objects and memorabilia from New Mexico. The museum asks of its visitors: As you explore our past, we hope you will think about what role each of us plays in shaping our future.

During the rest of the afternoon, we explored the Old Town, and ended up walking to a delicious culinary experience at the Golden Crown Panadería. That evening, the culinary experience continued with another traditional New Mexico dinner at our host hotel. Some of us also spent time with each other in the evening dancing the night away to salsa, bachata and merengue. This was another way for us to continue building connections and just have fun together.

Entering our final day in Albuquerque, we completed a service project at the beautiful Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge, the Southwest’s first urban wildlife refuge. Here we admired a tremendous effort to re-wild 570 acres of farmland. We wanted to give back to this community, so we spent the morning volunteering in the grounds of the refuge — mulching, watering and protecting native plants. We felt lucky to visit such a beautiful place and experience this extensive transformation.

We headed back to the Old Town for a farewell lunch together, where we shared our closing thoughts (once again, in a circle) as the Summit came to an end. We talked about appreciating the new community we had found and feeling empowered to participate in our efforts to continue growing and nurturing our Latinx and Hispanic community at Strava. It was just shy of three days, but we left with new friendships, ideas, and goals. We felt proud to be Latinx, Latiné, Latina, Latino, Hispanic, Afro-Latin(é/x/a/o). We felt proud to work at Strava. We felt like we had a renewed sense of belonging and community and there are few words that even describe what this meant to us.

Written by Andrés Roughan and Nefi Acosta