The Latinx Community Becomes Visible Through Social Media

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By Jailene Adorno

BeVisible is a new social media platform serving the Latinx community, with almost 10,000 users. Its layout and display are similar to that of Facebook, however BeVisible works a little more like LinkedIn because it allows you to connect with professionals in your area. Whether you’re looking for career advice, need help on a special project, or want to share information about an event, you can post about it on BeVisible and get the conversation rolling.

“It’s a community where you can be yourself in any stage of your career,” says co-founder Andrea Guendelman. “Be yourself even though you’re in a professional setting. It’s about a community becoming empowered.”

Their mission statement talks about creating a world without glass ceilings, where culture is embraced, and where celebrating what makes you special is a priority. All of these goals come through as you scroll pass the users, who are posting about everything from how software engineers can negotiate their salary to scholarships that are open to undocumented students. Each BeVisible user’s post is about elevating each other and moving forward.

Before BeVisible, Andrea Guendelman was a lawyer practicing in the state of New York. However, after several years she and her husband moved to Boulder, Colorado. It was in Boulder that she noticed a few different things—one was that everyone around her seemed to be working in technology, and the other was that the Latinx community seemed almost nonexistent.

From there Guendelman worked on putting together various events with the intention of bringing together underrepresented people who work in social innovation. She held some events specifically for women in technology as well—her focus then became women and young girls, because issues of achieving and breaking the glass ceiling often start at a younger age.

“It was like no one really cared about Latinos,” says Guendelman. “And I wanted to turn these events into a digital platform.”

Enter Silvia Travesani, who had a similar idea with a platform for feminist, but she decided to change the direction of her vision once she met Guendelman. Soon after Guendelman and Travesani brought Nicole Castillo on board as another co-founder from the Greater Boston Area.

“We combined forces, redefined the product, and launched it,” says Guendelman.

Guendelman kept feeling as if the message of Latinxs were more negative than positive. This often made the Latinx community feel as if they weren’t important. Creating that inclusive community and convincing people that BeVisible was full of endless possibilites was an uphill battle for the team. But now, Guendelman is thankful that the BeVisible team is able to provide a voice and space for the Latinx community.

“I never thought I was going to be in technology, if I’m being honest,” says Guendelman. “My whole life was about social change. But you can’t make a big impact without the help of technology—it’s a tool to amplify the voice.”

Sign up for BeVisible and connect with other Latinxs in your area!