Airport Experience® News - Retail Innovation Issue 2024

INDUSTRY INNOVATORS

A COMMON CONNECTION Latinos In Airports Group Seeks Networking, Visibility And Advancement

BY CAROL WARD

began by me sensing a gap,” she says. “I saw a need for greater representation of the Latino community in the industry.” Martinez began some outreach, identifying and connecting with other Latinos, and realized many had a similar desire for community. Fast forward to today, the Latinos in Airports group is a thriving community of active participants who network, exchange ideas and advocate for more visibility and influence for Latinos in the airport and concessions industries. The Early Stages Martinez says her first step was making sure she wasn’t alone. She connected with longtime industry consultant Mario Treviño of Innovative Strategies . Together, they sought to identify other Latinos in the airports and concessions spaces. As a test to see whether their goal of more representation and visibility resonated with others, Martinez and Treviño hosted a Latinos in Airports networking event at the 2023 AMAC conference. “It was done independently, just us putting it together,” Martinez recalls. “We invited the Latinos that we were able to identify on the roster of attendees, and to our surprise, there were about 100 people that we were able to identify, and about 40 of them showed up to the event. That’s not a big number, but what was very powerful was that people were very excited to have received an invite.” That first meeting was cathartic, Martinez says, with participants expressing their appreciation for a group that recognizes their identity. “They started sharing how excited they were to connect with others that were culturally alike,” she says. “Even though the group itself wasn’t big in number, it was extremely powerful. After that we just knew we were on to something,” Martinez continues. “It wasn’t a

couple of years ago, Maria Martinez, a Mexican-American who serves as senior director,

Above: Maria Martinez (second from right) of SSP America, founded the Latinos in Airports Group with the help of Mario Treviño (left) of Innovative Strategies. Desiree Nazario Bucobo (second from left) of Sweet Mango Hospitality Corp. and Laura Mauricio (right) of Half Moon Empanadas, are active volunteers.

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brands and concepts for SSP America , had the thought that she’d like to see more representation of the Latino community within the airport world. She was involved with Airport Minority Advisory Council (AMAC), which represents minorities and women, but Martinez also wanted something more focused specifically on her community. “It

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AX NEWS SEPTEMBER 2024