I came to the United States chasing the love of my life, today my wife, in 2015.
A Spanish native speaker, Portuguese as my second language and born in the Argentine city of Córdoba more than 6,000 miles from San Francisco, there is no doubt that the definition of "Latino" fits me very well and with pride.
Cloudflare was not my first job in this country but it has been the organization in which I have learned many of the things that have allowed me to understand the corporate culture of a society totally alien to the one which I come from.
I was hired in January 2018 as the first Business Development Representative for the Latin America (LATAM) region based in San Francisco. This was long before the company went public in September 2019. The organization was looking for a specialist in Latin American markets with not only good experience and knowledge beyond languages (Spanish/Portuguese), but understanding of the economy, politics, culture, history, go-to-market strategies, etc.—I was lucky enough to be chosen as "that person". Cloudflare invested in me to a great extent and I was amazed at the freedom I had to propose ideas and bring them to reality. I have been able to experience far beyond my role as a sales representative: I have translated marketing materials, helped with campaigns, participated in various trainings, traveled to different countries to attend conferences and visit clients, and on.
Later, I was promoted as a sales executive for the North America (NAMER) region.
Cloudflare poster signed by colleagues after our Company retreat in 2018
I have been very fortunate to be able to closely observe the growth and maturity of the organization throughout my time here.
Today, Cloudflare has three times more employees than when I started, and I can say that much of what makes this organization unique has remained intact: Cloudflare's core mission is to help build a better Internet, to be transparent, to protect vulnerable yet important voices online through its Project Galileo, our open door policy, the importance of investing in people, among many others.
Myself with Matthew Prince and Michelle Zatlyn, co-founders of Cloudflare
In recent weeks I have participated in conversations around "how do we recruit more under-represented groups and avoid bias in the selection process" - This has really filled me with joy but is certainly not the first initiative of its kind at Cloudflare. The company takes pride in having several Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) created and led by employees and executive sponsors—and highly encouraged by the organization: Afroflare, Desiflare, Nativeflare, Latinflare, Proudflare, Soberflare and Vetflare are just some of those groups (we have over 16 ERGs to-date!).
At Cloudflare I have found a space where I can develop professionally, where my ideas count, and where I am allowed to make mistakes—this is not something that I have experienced in my previous roles with other employers. I am not afraid to admit that in other organizations I have felt the stigma of being a person of color and that the working conditions were unfair compared to my colleagues.
Cloudflare’s values have continued to shine through during the current COVID-19 situation and we have strengthened overall as an organization.
Being an immigrant (a person of color) it is a challenge to make the decision to work for organizations that don't fully understand the value of adding more diversity to their workforce. Cloudflare is a company that does value diversity in its workforce and has demonstrated a genuine interest in recruiting as well as retaining under-represented groups and creating a collective learning environment for them and the rest of the teams within the organization.
The company is committed to increasing the diversity within our teams and we want more diverse candidates in our selection processes. To achieve this we want to invite you (or please encourage others) to visit our careers page for more information on full-time positions and internship roles at our locations across the globe and apply.
And if you have questions, I will leave you my email: [email protected]. It would be a pleasure to be able to guide you and put you in touch with the right people within Cloudflare to better understand our technology and where we are going. Your experience and skills are what we need to continue improving the Internet. Come join me at Cloudflare!
Our team culture lives inside and outside the company - Here is our Soccer team!