On the final day of the 2022 Hispanic Leadership Summit, Claudia Romo Edelman, the founder and CEO of We Are All Human, talked with Christina Kolbjornsen, Senior Vice President of Corporate & External Affairs at NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, about the findings of Telemundo’s Latina Pulse survey. 

The survey was conducted to understand the mindset of Latinas in the U.S. and what issues are most important to them, a year into the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Telemundo surveyed 800 Latinas and 800 non-Latinas, who were 18 years old and older, in July 2021. The survey was conducted in both Spanish and English. 

The U.S. is home to around 31 million Latinas. They make the majority of buying decisions for their households, which means that they control how most of the Latino community’s $2 trillion spending power is utilized. 

“So there is so much we are responsible for and that we can advance. But one of the surveys that we also did, also reflected that nearly 80% of us are not comfortable with where we are in our professional journey, we all want more, we all want to advance,” said Kolbjornsen.  

In the workplace, 30% of Latinas have experienced discrimination from colleagues or clients. Over 50% of them believe that the wage gap between men and women should be closed. 

About 58% of Latinas pursue higher education—compared to 41% of non-Latinas—and are also two times more likely to own or plan to own their own business in the next 3 years.

“And so I think this is what the conversation is about, the sense of urgency is that we are there, we are visible. Now, we are finally being seen and we are hungry for more. So now is the time to really double down, tell our story, create our own narrative, and bring each other along,” explained Kolbjornsen. 

According to the survey, 70% of Latinas want to see more representation for themselves in media and senior production roles. 

The survey also found that 50% of Latinas have started to put away money for their children’s college expenses. 

When asked what Latinas can do at an individual level to make a change, Kolbjornsen said, “I will say be the change that you want to see. We have to own it ourselves.”

“Create your new narrative. Make it so that going forward, you not only own it, but you’re creating the story for the next generation of leaders. Take someone along with you, not just on a one-on-one basis, but in the rooms where they’re not, talk about them, support them,” she added.

The survey found that overall more than half of Latinas feel empowered to be and do what they want with their lives.

“Optimism is a sign of strength. Latinas are not satisfied with the status quo and are not afraid to speak up about it.”