More than a Cold Beverage
How Two Latinas are Impacting their Communities One Drink at a Time
Since its founding in 1892, The Coca-Cola Company has become synonymous with its globally-recognized sweetened carbonated beverage and for establishing itself as a cultural symbol of the unique American taste. But Coca-Cola is more than the world’s largest manufacturer and distributor of beverages. It employs talented individuals from all walks of life who are passionate about the intersection of big business with community impact such as is the case of Ada Ortega and Mayra Linares-Garcia.
Ada Ortega
Director of Public Affairs, Communications and Sustainability Arca Continental Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages
Ada Ortega's journey has been filled with unique and transformative experiences that have empowered her to create programs that advance education, women empowerment, and sustainability. Before becoming Director of Public Affairs, Communications and Sustainability at Arca Continental Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages, Ortega was a press secretary and worked for widely-recognized elected officials. It is through these cumulative experiences that began in Texas, led to the East Coast and then the Southwest, where she became a force in brand management and in both corporate and nonprofit identity.
Many of the organizations that Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages partners with are Latina-led groups and some of the women at the helm of those nonprofits have participated in a Latina Leadership Series that have resulted in grant funding to support their business endeavors in Texas.
“It’s about putting an emphasis on supporting programs with economic vitality and tapping into the potential of often underrepresented communities in Texas,” Ortega says. “One of my biggest passions is making sure Latinas are represented not just in politics, nonprofits, or the private sector, but that they are put in positions of influence and then they can open up doors for the women who follow.”
Ortega is proud of Coca-Cola’s many partnerships at both the national and local levels, including with the Boys and Girls Club of America, which has allowed regions to transform their centers into state-of-the-art technology laboratories that offer programming in robotics and coding to vulnerable communities.
“Ultimately, I envision a future where over half of the people in a boardroom and at the executive leadership level are women,” she says.
“I’m personally invested in these regions and as a Latina, I see how the Latino landscape operates in these regions,” Ortega says. “I’m the one who gets to create change by supporting and partnering with different nonprofits to bring resources to the Latino and African-American communities. It’s allowed me to come full circle and to pour back into the communities that believed in me and poured into me.”
In her current role, Ortega executes strategic public affairs and communication business plans and supports statewide government relations activities in Houston, Austin, San Antonio, South Texas, and East Texas communities.
Mayra Linares-Garcia
Vice President, Public Affairs and Communications Liberty Coca-Cola Beverages
Mayra Linares-Garcia is a gifted public affairs and communications strategist with nearly two decades of experience in all levels of government. As Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications for Liberty Coca-Cola Beverages, Linares-Garcia is on a mission to strengthen relationships and generate results among local organizations, business owners, and elected officials to understand the company’s commitment to the community. That mission came to fruition after watching her family break barriers in American politics. Today, Linares-Garcia, who is of Dominican and Puerto Rican descent, is proud to be the face of Liberty Coca-Cola Beverages and to focus on sustainability during her time at the locally and family-owned bottler.
“When I think about my Latina roots, really what has inspired me is the drive and passion of our community,” she says. “I grew up in an advocate family so we would advocate for our community by registering people to vote.”
Growing up as a teenager in New York City at a time when many Dominicans were becoming citizens and registering to vote for the first time and then witnessing her father become the first Dominican official elected to office in the United States, left an indelible mark on Linares-Garcia.
“I remember when my father won and made history, the first thing they told me was that it was the community’s win because so many people worked hard to make it happen. I was only 15 but it was then that I learned that everything we do is more than us; it’s for our community and we need to be stewards of that,” she says.
That stewardship mindset is what led to Linares-Garcia leading an effort to get pallets of water to Puerto Ricans in only three hours after Hurricane Maria wreaked havoc on the island territory while serving as Director of Public Affairs and Communications for New York and Puerto Rico at Coca-Cola. She leaned on the relationships she molded during her tenure as Director of Latino Affairs at the Office of Governor Andrew Cuomo to make it happen. The effort culminated in a huge press conference that highlighted all of New York’s efforts and was attended by the company’s water sponsor and global superstar Jennifer Lopez.
“Wearing your Coca-Cola pin feels really good,” she says, adding that she was recognized in Albany, New York, for her trailblazing and impactful work by local elected officials.
LATINA Style Magazine V30#5