MBN USA

September 09, 2024

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Silvana champions need more Latinos at the decision-making table

Q: Tell us a little about your business. When and why was it started?

A: Laguna Media Group is located in Grand Prairie, Texas, with a diverse multinational remote and local team. The company started as Small Pond Video Productions in 2002. In 2004, I joined the business as a partner to add project management and communications expertise. In 2008, I took the helm as the company became a certified minority and woman-owned firm.

At this time, the leadership realized that there was a niche to also offer high-quality creative production services to big corporations and to the public sector with the efficiency and agility of a small business. As a result, the company started to diversify its client portfolio with projects done for companies such as Oncor, UT Arlington, Ericsson, Ana G. Mendez University System, Accenture, DART, DFW Airport, Vistra and Teltech Group, among many others. With communications technology evolution, the leadership decided to expand the scope of services and added solutions that would complement our video and audio-visual areas and to offer digital support its clients.  Subsequently, the company went through a rebranding in 2018, re-naming the business as Laguna Media Group. Today, in addition to the original video and event production services, the company offers expertise including web development, digital and social media strategy, social media management and SEO.  Learn more at lagunamg.com.

Q: What is your company’s biggest challenge as a Hispanic business enterprise (HBE), and how do you combat that? 

A: Whether it is boards of directors, C-suite positions, management or procurement, we need more Latinos at the decision-making table! Our diverse point of view is needed at all levels to shape and execute strategy. However, our current representation in these areas is still lacking. We need an “ecosystem” where Latinos can be more supportive of each other in multiple areas and levels.

My way to combat this is by putting myself out for leadership positions and boards, mentoring young professionals that will be filling the leadership pipeline, and building personal relationships in all of the areas mentioned before. Leading by example and following through whenever I commit to supporting someone, it’s a great way to personally affect change in creating a sense of an inclusive business community.

Q: What is your company’s biggest opportunity, and how are you capitalizing on that?

A: Being a business owner has opened the door to do what we love while making a meaningful difference. A current challenge for HBEs is the protection of their digital assets and their brands. We have a huge opportunity to offer our years of experience to assist HBEs in identifying at risk areas where best digital communications practices need to be implemented.  Once risk has been addressed, the next step is data collection and interpretation to leverage insights to inform marketing and communications strategy decisions.  There is so much work to be done in this area and we are well positioned with our expertise and experience.

Q: How is your company taking advantage (or preparing to take advantage) of an ever-changing, AI-focused global marketplace? 

A: AI is not a new thing for us. Over the past years, we have been observing and experimenting with the different AI tools becoming available. Today, many design and editing software incorporate AI tools that make work more efficient. AI also offers great opportunities to assist us with time-saving tasks, such as meeting note taking, content sentiment analysis, keyword search analysis and more. However, we are also observing the legal challenges caused by AI as it relates to the ownership of the creative work. We are currently in a position of open mind to technology while making it clear that AI is not your new creative director. It is our talented team who creates unique ideas that our clients pay us to produce and own. We use tools only to enhance our human power.

To learn more about Laguna Media Group, visit lagunamg.com.