Comcast and NBCUniversal Ranked Among Top Employers for Latinas by LATINA Style

For the eighth consecutive year, Comcast and NBCUniversal are being recognized as a top employer for Latinas, with a 4th place ranking on the 2014 LATINA Style 50 Report. 

The LATINA Style 50 Report is published annually by LATINA Style Magazine, a prominent publication in the Latino community that reaches more than 600,000 readers. It is a respected source of employment and career information for Latinas across the country, as companies are ranked based on the recruitment and promotion of Latina employees.  Personally, I am thrilled to see that Comcast and NBCUniversal has been recognized, again, as an employer of choice for Latinas, because I have benefited from my company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, and to Latinas.  

I joined Comcast in 2007 as a Vice President of Operations in Denver as part of the West Division President’s "boot camp" program to recruit and develop diverse leaders.  In this role, my division president gave me the opportunity to lead various cross-functional projects and present to the company’s executive leadership, while at the same time work side-by-side with cable technicians, call center representatives, dispatchers, engineers, sales, and finance teams.  Within two years of joining Comcast, I was selected for the company’s signature leadership program, the Executive Leadership Forum, where I was part of a team that developed a business case to present to our senior executives.  I gave the graduation speech, and about a month later, I was selected to build the Corporate Diversity and Inclusion Department and lead the company’s strategy. 

This new role provided heightened visibility and access to the company’s senior leaders.  After moving to Comcast’s global headquarters in Philadelphia, I worked under the stewardship of Comcast Senior Vice President of Administration, Karen Buchholz, and Comcast Executive Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer, David L. Cohen.  I partnered with many leaders at Comcast and NBCUniversal, including NBCUniversal’s Executive Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer, Craig P. Robinson, and his team.  Together, we forged the company’s master strategic plan for diversity and inclusion, and formed an external Joint Diversity Advisory Council of 42 civil rights and business leaders to provide advice on our strategic plan.  Our plan spans five key focus areas: governance, workforce, supplier diversity, programming, and community investment.  

Our diversity strategy and plan is not static, nor is it focused on particular "projects" or "programs," instead it is focused on embedding diversity and inclusion into the fabric of our business. 

Since acquiring NBCUniversal in January 2011, I am proud to say that our company has achieved the following significant results across all five of our key focus areas: 

• Our Board of Directors is one-third diverse, including a Latino.

• Our workforce is 59% diverse, with women representing 35%, people of color 22%, and Latinos 12%.  In terms of our leadership, women represent 36% of all leaders at the VP level and above, people of color 18%, and Latinos 7%.

• As part of our supplier diversity efforts, our spend with female suppliers increased by more than 45%, and our spend with Latinos increased 22%.

• In terms of our programming, we significantly increased the number of Latino networks to millions of customers, increased our Xfinity Video on Demand and online hours by more than 100% each, and we developed new Latino packages for our English, Spanish, and bilingual customers.

• We also increased diversity in front of and behind the camera at NBCUniversal. Anchors and reporters are more than 45% diverse at local NBC owned stations and more than 25% diverse at NBC News, MSNBC, and CNBC.  Directors, writers, and producers are 35% diverse at local NBC owned stations and more than 20% diverse at NBC News, MSNBC, and CNBC.  

• Finally, our contributions to Latino-led and -serving organizations has increased by 112%, and, our signature broadband adoption program, Internet Essentials, which is dedicated to eliminating the digital divide, has a take rate of 72% women and 52% Latino. 

As a woman and a Latina, it gives me great pride to be entrusted with the responsibility to develop and drive the company’s diversity strategy, because I know that the company is committed.  Further proof:  the company has continued to invest in me.  

Since taking on my current role, I’ve been a part of another "boot camp" for diverse leaders, I’ve participated at an industry executive program at Harvard Business School, and I’m currently part of an operations executive leadership program.  You might think that I’m the "exception to the rule," but I am not.  Our company has over 100 leadership and development programs, from entry-level to senior management, that provide our employees with the opportunity to develop and grow. 

For me, part of my success at Comcast has been opportunity, and part of it has been "owning" my value as a Latina executive.  There’s no better strategy than having a vision, dedication, humility, hard work, collaboration, and a non-negotiable commitment to excellence. With my leaders’ support at a company that really "gets" and celebrates my value, I will continue to take on various opportunities to become a better leader, a better Comcaster, and a better Latina. 

Thank you, Comcast and NBCUniversal, for your commitment to Latina women, our employees, partners, communities, and to me.  

And thank you, LATINA Style, for continuing to recognize and celebrate the significant diversity impact that Comcast and NBCUniversal is making on its Latina employees and on the broader Latino community. 

¡Fecilidades!