Being Latino: One year later

On May 9th 2009 I was thinking of a way to try and connect Latinos of all backgrounds with a $0.00 budget. I happened to be on Facebook checking on what was happening with my friends then all of a sudden it hit me. *DING* Why not try to use Facebook in some way shape or form to create a platform for Latinos of ALL backgrounds and locations to come together in one space?

OK great… Facebook is cool, all of my friends are on it, it’s the largest social networking platform on this earth and if you have something that is good quality it will go viral. But how? Do I create a personal page called Latinos United or something like that? I can always add as many Latinos as possible and spread the word that way… No can’t do that… it’s too intrusive. Create a fan page… that way, it isn’t housed as one person’s profile and everyone can feel open to contribute. Call it Being Latino!!! It would serve as a forum more than anything… a social network within a social network.

With a great deal of guerrilla grassroots viral marketing accompanied with a ton of supporters, Being Latino took off… and took off quickly. Soon after the first couple thousand members, I knew that this was something good. Soon, I began dedicating a large portion of my life to growing and connecting the community one Latino at a time.

Fast forward to May 9th 2010, one year later. What has Being Latino accomplished? Well let’s see… 30,000+ people, an army of bloggers, multiple celebrity endorsements, Presidents from Latin America knowing about us (and LOVING the concept), multiple television appearances, successful events, thousands of dollars to various charities, multiple businesses supporting us, mention of us on Univision TWICE, articles written about us, Latin Star Magazine doing 3 PAGES on Being Latino INC., establishing ourselves as a nationally-based community, OFFICIALLY incorporating Being Latino INC., an official NATIONAL movement (Error-Zona) with a HUGE partner (NHFA)… the list can go on and on. All in 1 year… so far so good… Oh yeah we don’t even have a website yet.

Being Latino is special because it is a community effort. The reason that this platform was built was so that everyone can have a voice and share what they wanted to with this community of people. With the help of many volunteers, Being Latino has morphed into a great GREAT thing. I look forward to where it will go moving forward.

Keep on keeping on mi gente… this has been an AWESOME ride so far!

-Lance