In The Community
2023 Latina Wage Gap Improved Slightly: Is Social Media Helping Improve Salary Transparency?
In the digital age, we've seen social media platforms totally revamp how we chat, stay updated, and have fun, and despite the growing amount of research indicating the harm social media causes, the platforms have managed to be useful tools for advancing positive social change. One big topic they're tackling? Salary transparency.
Why does Salary Transparency Matter?
The wage gap, especially for women of color, remains a significant concern. Latinas in the U.S. face one of the widest wage gaps, earning significantly less on the dollar compared to their white, non-Hispanic male counterparts. By using hashtags like #LatinaEqualPay and sharing personal stories, women are spotlighting this disparity. Social media campaigns and initiatives amplify the urgency for change, pushing employers and policymakers to take note and act.
Before the age of social media, information on market salaries, negotiation techniques, and rights around pay were limited to career counselors or select publications. Now, platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook groups, and even TikTok have become reservoirs of knowledge. Latinas can now tap into a wide array of resources offered by Latinas for Latinas, from workshops to infographics, that offer guidance on securing a fair wage.
It's not just about sharing numbers. Social media fosters communities where anyone can find support, guidance, and solidarity. Joining groups where members discuss job opportunities, share tips on negotiating raises, or even share success stories can be incredibly empowering. By witnessing others' achievements, many find the confidence to pursue their own salary negotiations or career advancements.
The Luz Community offers its own array of resources, from coaching to managing finances.
The transparent nature of social media also means that companies are more accountable than ever. With everyone sharing openly on social media, companies can't hide as well as they used to. When someone someone reports unfair pay or a toxic work environment if the posts go viral, they are often forced to deal with the issue. The more the public shares, the more leverage it creates for prospective employees.
For Latinas, the fight for salary transparency is a cultural shift, not just a trending topic; it's about reshaping narratives and securing futures. Equal wages aren’t going to be achieved with just legislation and policy, it’s going to require a cultural shift among the workforce that makes the company’s profits possible. Until Latinas realize that, as a whole, they are a powerful community and that these companies cannot succeed without their labor, then the wage gap will continue to exist.
- Can Generational Trauma Affect Our Relationship With Money? ›
- Closing the Gap: 5 Ways to Advocate for Latina Equal Pay Year-Round ›
It has now been years since the pandemic first began, and while progress has been made, the challenges facing communities of color persist. Reports have highlighted the significant financial losses experienced by Latinas and Black women throughout the pandemic. The issue of retirement savings is also concerning, with only about 45% of Latine workers contributing to an employer-sponsored plan.
The devastating economic downturn for the Latine community, particularly for Latinas, has been fueled by a combination of factors, including systemic oppression, xenophobia, and the need for greater financial literacy. These challenges have been compounded by the ongoing effects of the pandemic, which continues to ravage communities of color. For many Latinas, this combination of factors has reawakened the effects of generational trauma that they have experienced when it comes to addressing their finances.
But in the face of these reports and statistics, there’s a growing group of Latinas making space for themselves and other women of color in the personal finance world. While the financial services industry has historically looked white and male, Latinas are showing up on social media platforms to teach other women how to build wealth not only for themselves but for generations to come.
From investing to eliminating debt, these mujeres are tackling a subject that remains taboo in many of our Latine families out of fear that we’ll be considered greedy or too ambitious. Here are five Latinas who are creating financial literacy courses, using social media platforms to connect with their audience, and sharing their own personal finance stories along the way.
@investinglatina
Jully-Alma Taveras is the self-described JLo of personal finance. A Dominicana raised in New York, Taveras created Investing Latina in 2019 to teach Latinas how to start investing in the stock market. She began investing at age 19, becoming the first person in her family to open a retirement account. Initially putting away a monthly $50, Taveras is now on track to save $1 million by the time she decides to retire.Her Youtube channel has over 60 videos of free content, including responses to questions that come directly from her followers, and she regularly breaks down complex financial topics into Instagram posts that are easy to understand.
@anjiekonte
Anna N’Jie-Konte is the founder of Dare to Dream, a fee-only financial planning firm serving women of color in their wealth-building journey. She is a certified financial planner and fiduciary who is ethically bound to provide advice that is in her clients’ best financial interest. N’Jie-Konte, who has roots in both The Gambia and Puerto Rico, is a native New Yorker who worked in the financial services industry before launching her own firm, blog, and podcast.On her podcast, First-Gen Realness, she unpacks Afrolatinidad, talks about trailblazing in the financial services industry, and discusses how culture impacts our money. She hosts workshops such as “Become the Rich Aunty” and Instagram Lives, answering questions about finances for small business owners.
@yoquierodineropodcast
Jannese Torres-Rodriguez is the host of Yo Quiero Dinero, a personal finance podcast created for Latinas and people of color. An engineer by day and self-described side hustle guru, she advises Latinas to build multiple streams of income and teaches her money-making strategies in her Side Hustle Moguls program. She might have a thing or two to teach us after earning $100k last year from her side hustles alone.
Torres-Rodriguez, a first-generation Puerto Rican mujer, is also a fierce advocate of investing with the goal of early retirement. Her content on Instagram, Tik Tok, and the podcast addresses topics from tackling debt to estate planning to financial independence and more.
@delyannethemoneycoach
Early into the pandemic, Delyanne Barros went from attorney to money coach, certified financial planning student, and attorney. Barros, who spent her early years in Brazil before growing up as an undocumented immigrant in Miami, first invested about $50K a few months before the pandemic led to a market crash in March of last year. She has since grown that amount to over $425K – all while paying off over $100K in student debt.
Now on track to retire by age 45, Barros advocates for investing for retirement with low-cost index funds. Her following has increased consistently on TikTok and Instagram, where she regularly shares brief videos and posts explaining the stock market, breaking down investing myths, and updating her audience on news that may affect their finances.
@luzwarrior
Linda Garcia, a Californian with roots in Mexico, began investing several years into her career as a marketing executive in television and film. Last summer, she launched “Wealth Rules Everything Around Me,” her first stock market beginner course, which has since sold out every time she has offered it.
The course soon led to a growing Latine investing online community called “In Luz We Trust” and to collaborating with her daughter, who is a teacher, on a coloring book that teaches young children about the stock market. Garcia’s Instagram often features personal, inspirational stories about her investing journey and a focus on what she calls “spiritual development rooted in wealth building.”
These five mujeres are only a few among a growing community of Latines focused on creating generational wealth. But this wave of personal finance Latinidad comes at a time when Latinas and Black women across the United States are bearing the brunt of job losses and continue making cents on the dollar that white men earn.
Next time you find yourself feeling anxious about your finances, look them up to learn how to take control of your finances without the stress. And remember – the wage gap that Latinas and other women of color experience can only be narrowed if we talk about money. So let’s build our emergency savings funds, address our debt, and invest in the stock market so we can build the generational wealth that will help our families for years to come.
