The diverse backgrounds, experiences and heritage of our Draper and Kramer, Incorporated team members is something we are proud to celebrate. This month, to mark Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs September 15 through October 15, we’re highlighting Gladys Pagán, Human Resources Manager. Gladys’s parents are Peruvian and Puerto Rican, which has given her a rich history of traditions she carries on today.
“Christmas is one of the most important holidays for me,” Gladys said. “It is a time our large families come together, and we continue to practice our family traditions. Several of my family members play instruments or are in choirs, and on Christmas Eve we end our night playing traditional Puerto Rican holiday songs.”
The culinary flavors of her heritage are also a large part of traditional celebrations, she added. Her father still makes her grandmother’s coquito recipe, and she enjoys making alfajores – a shortbread sandwich cookie filled with dulce de leche – with her mother.
Having a large, close-knit family is also part of what helped shape Gladys’s natural ability to connect with people through her human resources role. “One of the words I would say people use to describe me is ‘understanding,’ which I think is such an important quality for someone in human resources,” she noted. She also said having the chance to work with and learn from fellow employees across all levels of the company is one of her favorite aspects of her job.
While Gladys has been with Draper and Kramer for eight years, her first HR job was with a small start-up company. As the firm grew, so did her exposure to various aspects of human resources, including benefit administration, employee engagement, employee relations and talent management. In her current role, Gladys oversees Draper and Kramer’s HR operations and strategic initiatives.
“Being able to connect with people, and appreciate and value our differences is the cornerstone of Gladys role and she does it very well. We are a diverse team and being able bring our uniqueness to the team is one of my favorite aspects about working at DK,” said Christine Ramsey, chief administrative officer for Draper and Kramer. “On occasion, we spend time as a team talking about our families and different traditions. Gladys even brought us some of her homemade coquito, which was so good! I am waiting for her next batch.”
To learn more about career opportunities at Draper and Kramer, visit https://draperandkramer.com/careers/.
