Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month

By Geraldo Barron · September 17, 2024

Hola! My name is Geraldo Barron, Trellix Director of Global Deal Desk and a leader in the Trellix Hispanic Heritage Voice (HHV) Employee Resource Group. It is my pleasure to welcome you to Hispanic Heritage Month!

In case you’ve been swamped (like I have), this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebration kicks off on Sunday, September 15 and goes to Tuesday, October 15. At Trellix, we have a lot of things planned for the month that I’m proud to share with you. But before I do that, I want to share a bit about my professional journey, and how Trellix has supported the Latino community this past year.

Earlier this year, the Hispanic Heritage Voice group welcomed a new executive champion - Trellix CFO, Yuneeb Khan. He brings a positive and fresh perspective to Trellix. Yuneeb’s energy and organization for the HHV is great for us and we look forward to his leadership!

Speaking of leaders… our very own Trellix CISO, Harold Rivas, was a mainstage speaker alongside our CEO Bryan Palma, at this year’s RSA Conference. They presented on CISO Confidential: What Separates The Best From The Rest. It was great seeing Harold represent himself and the Latino community so well in front of a live audience of over 41,000 people, with thousands more tuning in virtually. Harold continues to shine in blogs and cybersecurity articles throughout social media. !Estamos muy orgullosos de él! Keep up the great work, Harold!

Harold’s success is just one example of the incredible talent we have in the Latino community at Trellix, and it reminds me of the opportunities we’ve had to share our expertise with others. Late last year, several of us (including myself) received a personal invitation to present to professionals from various industries at the Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement’s (HACE) leadership workshop. These professionals were learning about a number of topics - including cyber security - and wanted to hear directly from those in the industry. What an experience it was to reflect on my almost 20 years of cyber security and sharing it with others wanting to get in this field! Sometimes we’re working so hard it’s easy to forget we’re in an amazing industry doing #SoulfulWork!

In April, the HHV leadership team attended HACE’s Avanza National Leadership Summit in Chicago, themed “Advancing Positive Impact”. On a side note, thank goodness it was in April and not January! I’ve lived near Chicago and still have family there, but I have never experienced it quite like this. There were industry leaders from countries around the world, including McDonald’s, JP Morgan Chase, NBC Universal, U.S. CIA, United Airlines, Major League Baseball, Jim Beam, Zimmer Biomet, Trellix and many others. And we had front row seats to see Michael Alicea (Trellix Chief Human Resources Officer) and Harold Rivas lead discussions on Artificial Intelligence and personal leadership. If you joined the conference in person (or virtually), you’ll surely agree it was a very powerful and career-charging experience.

That momentum and the drive to contribute to Trellix’s success led to one of the most rewarding moments of my professional journey. Maybe it was the long hours on the Deal Desk, the big initiatives for Revenue Operations, focused energy on dealing with the company integrations, or just having a great team available for our Sales Theater Leads, but this year I was both surprised and honored to be invited to the Trellix President’s Club in Oahu, Hawaii. After years of hard work, it was surreal to see my name on such a prestigious list. It was a special opportunity to spend time with family, friends, and other Trellix leaders.

What’s Coming Up…

This year, we’ve got a fantastic lineup of events for Hispanic Heritage Month (and beyond). Starting with our monthly professional development series provided to Trellix employees through our partner HACE:

• September: Developing Your Personal Brand
• October: Power Up Communication
• November: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
• December: Strengthening Your Negotiation & Influence Skills

In September, we're hosting a Virtual Fiesta Happy Hour. So many of our employees from Latin American origin are celebrating their respective Independence Days that week. There’ll be music, trivia, camaraderie and fun!

In October, We’re hosting our second annual panel of Hispanic leaders with the topic “Pioneers of Change: Shaping the Future Together.”

While we’re always focused on driving business forward, it’s also important to support our local community, including the arts and culture. So, for those Trellix employees in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area we will be coming together to see the North Texas children’s theater premier of “On Your Feet. The Story of Emilio and Gloria Estefan”. This show is presented by the North Texas Performing Arts and is the story of Gloria and Emilio Estefan and their journey of heart, heritage, and incredible talent. Plus, some of the actors are children of Trellix employees and the producer is Alejandro Erives, a fellow HHV board member and head of Trellix Channel Marketing!

And to continue our partnership with HACE, Trellix is the sponsor of the Fall University Leadership Network Program. Team Trellix will provide guest speakers to provide insight, access, and professional development opportunities to the student members of HACE throughout this nine -week program designed from nationwide Hispanic undergraduate students.

In Closing…

We have an incredible leadership team at Trellix dedicated to our professional aspirations. And I am grateful for their support and guidance. If you are a current Trellix employee join HHV or any of our other employee resource groups. If you work at another company, find out what employee resource groups exist and join. Get involved, share your perspective, lend your voice, and know you BELONG!

“You deserve a circle of inclusion and influence, but it’s up to you to create it.” – George Washington