In this year’s edition, Patricia Andrade and María Elisa Holmes (partner and associate of Paz Horowitz), are shortlisted in the categories of “Outstanding Contribution to Diversity and Inclusion” and “Diversity and Inclusion Future Leader” for South America.

Patricia Andrade has 20 years of experience in labor law and has been involved in diversity issues throughout her career. Last year she participated as a speaker in approximately 20 conferences held in different chambers and associations, dealing with labor issues, many of them advocating for gender equality in the workplace. Patricia has also been a speaker on issues related to employment discrimination and has written several articles. Due to her career and experience, she was invited to be part of a committee that worked on Global Compact’s No. 5 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) with a group of companies aligned to promote gender equality. As part of this project, a Manual was prepared, with the support of María Elisa Holmes, Verónica Mieles and María Belén Jácome, (Paz Horowitz’s associate lawyers), who worked together with other companies in the preparation of the manual so it could be used as guide and reference of good practices.

On the other hand, María Elisa Holmes, an attorney with 10 years of experience in public law, compliance and anti-corruption practices, is an active participant in forums for the construction of public policies and government management, and is committed with the promotion of spaces of diversity and inclusion. In 2019, she founded the organization called “La Junta” (www.la-junta.com) in order to provide women with safe and impartial spaces in order to give women a place where they can feel free to investigate and debate issues they consider relevant. A few months ago, La Junta partnered with the organization, “XELLAS, to create #JuntasXEllas, in order to seek the empowerment of women and raise awareness about gender equality, poverty and educational gaps through conferences and panels with professionals and leaders in the field. This event had 1,200 people registered and 800 participants from Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia, Uruguay and Peru.

Chambers’ Diversity & Inclusion Awards: Latin America 2020, will take place virtually on December 3 from New York, and will be part of the Chambers Diversity Latin America week, in which diversity leaders and keynote speakers will meet to dictate conferences and recognizing people who promote diversity and inclusion in the region.