NEW YORK -- On Thursday afternoon, a multipurpose room in Major League Baseball’s Office of the Commissioner had the warm, distinct look and feel of a Latin street festival. With Hispanic Heritage Month in full swing, over 75 employees gathered for an hour-long panel discussion called Engaging Fans in the Culture, put on by the company’s SOMOS business resource group (BRG).

SOMOS, which is Spanish for “we are,” has a mission to enhance MLB’s efforts in the Latino community by providing opportunities for employee engagement, professional development and community involvement, as well as to serve as an authentic focus group for MLB’s business units.

Employees in attendance were treated to traditional Hispanic cuisine as a DJ played Latin music to warm them up for the panel, which featured five distinguished Latinx professionals with expertise in the connections between sports, business and Hispanic culture.

The roster included Richie Cruz of Puerto Rico, senior director of integrated marketing at FootLocker; Ivon Gaete of Venezuela, global sportscaster and social-media influencer; Jennifer Mercedes of the Dominican Republic, producer and host of La Vida Baseball; Rob Villanueva of the Dominican Republic, athlete influencer lead at The Players’ Tribune; and AJ “El Kallejero” Ramos, music expert and curator, who also served as the moderator.

Jackie Secaira-Cotto, MLB’s director of special events and the president of SOMOS BRG, opened the panel by addressing the importance of embracing other cultures. She drew upon statistics that suggest that by 2020, the majority of the population aged 17 and under will be of a minority background, and that between 2040 and 2050, the entire country will be a minority-majority nation.

“For me as a business person, [that means] lots of opportunity to shift how we address this change in our country,” Secaira-Cotto said. “We thought it would be beneficial for MLB’s employees to get a taste for the culture -- what is it about, and how do you apply that to business, and why should you.

“It’s here now -- it’s just not here because we’re in L.A. next year for the All-Star Game and they have 52 percent of the population that speaks another language other than English -- it should be our everyday thought.”

Ramos asked the panelists how MLB can be part of the Latino culture and experience. While they all agreed that the intent behind the business strategy is dependent upon strong senior leadership, Mercedes emphasized that the messaging needs to feel authentic to the community, not pandering, and it needs to be cognizant of the fact that knowing one specific culture is not knowing them all.

Gaete added to that by acknowledging the different modes of communication necessary for the Latino audience in the U.S., as opposed to its counterparts abroad.

“There are so many ways that we learn here in the United States that we don’t have at home, or we don’t know at home,” Gaete said. “Through those channels that MLB has, they have to be -- as they are trying to do right now -- very careful about the exact language and slang that they use in each country. Because even when we are all Latino, all Hispanic, we don’t speak the same way in every country.”

As Villanueva attested, the delivery of the message also factors into its reception, meaning that it’s important to adhere to the unique modes for each medium, whether it be TV, digital, radio or social media. According to Mercedes, the latter is “probably the number one way to target our audience,” because Latinos in general use social media and technology more than other ethnic groups.

The panelists said it’s essential for the fan experience to be interactive. Villanueva used an insightful metaphor to describe how the social media landscape is akin to a sports bar, making the point that in a place where a lot of conversations are happening, it’s about how you fuel those conversations.

Music was brought up as a useful tool in that effort, given its natural integration within the sport. From choosing walk-up music tied to a player’s identity, to creating playlists for clubs that are accessible to the fans, to allowing artists to form partnerships with players, the panelists suggested that the platform for fan engagement is already in place, but it’s incumbent upon the league to tap into its potential.

“If an artist gets discovered through your platform, you’re a part of that cultural story,” Ramos said, “which gives you more leverage within the music industry and allows all these major labels to want to dance with you just a little more.”

When discussing how to better engage with female fans, the panelists brought up how the wives and girlfriends of players are an untapped resource for understanding the limitations of the in-game experience.

The panelists agreed that the ballpark environment feels as if it caters to male fans, from the prevalence of the father-son storylines, to a lack of merchandise that doesn’t fall under “pink it and shrink it” marketing, to the shortage of kid-friendly activities.

“[If you] engage with those women, bring them on board and ask them, ‘What can we do better?’ they’re going to tell you, because they’re at the games a lot,” Mercedes said. “They’re going to be able to tell you, ‘We need this, we need that.’ When you elevate the partners, the women, we who are not in that world can say, ‘Hey, I like what they are doing.’ It’s not just about the player.”

While the panelists recognized that it takes a certain amount of trust to make those types of connections, they are accustomed to building close-knit relationships with players because of their ability to speak Spanish. They noted how, in Latin culture, language is a crucial mode of identification, allowing players to see them as part of the family.

Compared to the English-speaking media, where interactions are more “business-like,” Mercedes said that the Spanish-speaking media have an easier time requesting and receiving interviews because the players feel more comfortable and express their emotions more. As Gaete added, it’s about them being able to let their guard down, knowing that they can speak freely without worrying about being misunderstood or misquoted.

Though there is a certain cultural fluency required to bridge that gap between the Spanish-speaking players and the English-speaking fans, the panelists emphasized how much it matters to bring non-Latinx people into the conversation. They brought up the need for accurate translations and captioning in content, as well as proper pronunciation of players’ names.

“Being bilingual, you’re much more empowered as an athlete,” Cruz said, “and I think that in a world where the narrative of the athlete is being far more individualized, the context is equally important to the language.”

As the panel ended, its organizer was left hopeful that the employees understood the message and that their discussion would turn into action.

“We’re very happy with the results,” Secaira-Cotto said. “I think the conversations were dynamic. I think we connected. I think people heard us. And now let’s just see if we move the needle.”