Celebrating Black History Month: Voices from Sazón & Soul at Customer.io 

Some of the best things at Customer.io started as a conversation between three people who just knew something was missing.

That's how Sazón & Soul, one of our Ami Resource Groups (ARGs) came to be.

A quick primer: you’ll see us refer to teammates and Customer.io employees as “Amis” throughout this piece. “Ami” is the root word for "friend" in many languages, and it's a small word that says a lot about how we think about the people we work with.

In December 2024, Associate Account Executive Briana Payne had an idea: a space where people of color could find real belonging at work.

She wanted something different—for herself and every Ami. By May 2025, Sazón & Soul had held its first event. Today, the group has 50 members and a logo whose symbolism says everything about what it stands for: a spoon for the mixing of cultures, a jalapeño for the Latinx diaspora, and okra for the African diaspora.

Senior SDR Sarah Barrientos had a similar experience before coming to Customer.io—and a similar motivation for co-founding the group.

"When I first entered a corporate space at a different company, there was not a single person who could relate to me, and that hurts when you feel like no one at this job would have your back or even understand where you're coming from," Sarah says.

Since launching with its first event, Croissants and Conversations, Sazón & Soul has hosted a Juneteenth Lunch and Learn, a Coquito Class, a Muxes event, a screening and discussion around the power of Black horror in film, and Cue the Confessionals—a session exploring how people of color are portrayed in reality TV and the expectations placed on them.

That last one stood out to Associate Account Executive Ha'Monie Masso.

"It was incredibly informative and sparked meaningful self-reflection," she says. "What I loved most was the open dialogue—people from all backgrounds showed up, engaged thoughtfully, and contributed to a powerful discussion. It felt impactful and unifying."

For Ha'Monie, joining Sazón & Soul was personal. As a Black and Hispanic woman, she was drawn to a space that made room for the full complexity of her experience at work.

Event Specialist Amarachukwu Shakuri Oguhebe—the brains behind Customer.io's webinar program—joined Sazón & Soul for a reason she puts plainly: community.

Her path to that intention is worth knowing. A neurodivergent, first-generation American from a family of Nigerian immigrants who grew up in the deep South, Shakuri describes her experience as "both incredibly unique and surprisingly not at all." She grew up eating fried okra and ofe okro (a traditional Nigerian okra soup dish). She knows belonging isn't something you stumble into, but something that is purpose-built.

For Shakuri, Sazón & Soul is where she gets to practice being exactly who she is, no code-switching required. "Sazón & Soul means surrounding myself with a new age of Black and Brown professionals," she says. "Not just those who lead only with strength or relentless stoicism. But those who lead with empathy, creativity, and unity, alongside a group of allies who are ready and excited to back them up."

One of her favorite S&S moments was a Jeopardy-style trivia event, where teammates spent time re-learning Black culture alongside colleagues across the company.

"Being able to spend a moment in my day to re-learn my culture alongside allies was such an underrated moment," she says. It also sparked something bigger for her. As someone who thinks about how Customer.io helps businesses build customer journeys, she started thinking about who shapes those journeys and what experiences they're drawing from.

"As marketers, we're not just building workflows. We're building touchpoints that reflect what we value, what we see, and what we understand about people."

This year marks the centennial of Black History Month—100 years since historian Carter G. Woodson established Negro History Week in 1926, the foundation for what became a monthlong celebration of Black history, culture, and achievement. For the members of Sazón & Soul, the milestone lands with both pride and weight.

For Briana, Black History Month is personal fuel. “Black History Month means resilience. It means learning and it means joy. I like to think I am my ancestors' wildest dream. To know that I am a product of their ingenuity fills me with a sense of pride to keep progressing.”

On the centennial, she's reflective but forward-looking: “100 years of history is an amazing feeling. Knowing that Black people have been in America for over 400 years and we have finally made it to 100 years of recognition is empowering. 100 means completeness and success—but I hope it can mean transformation. I hope to see that change reflected in the next 100 years.”

Accounts Payable Manager Terre Holmes brings her family's history into the moment. Her great uncle has traced their lineage back through generations—through slavery, emancipation, Jim Crow, and the Civil Rights Movement.

Ha'Monie calls it an honor. "It's a time to celebrate our culture, resilience, contributions, and excellence past and present. I love my culture, and I'm grateful for a time that intentionally recognizes the impact and legacy of Black individuals throughout history."

For Shakuri, Black History Month holds two truths at once. "On the one hand, it makes me proud. It means strength, resilience, and influence," she says—tracing a lineage from Southern Baptist hymns to Bessie Smith and Ella Fitzgerald to Destiny's Child to the cultural fingerprints Black women have left on fashion, music, and language across the world. But she holds the other hand open too, naming Recy Taylor, Ruby Bridges, Ahmaud Arbery, Sonya Massey, and her own sister, who desegregated her Mississippi elementary school in 1996. "To still be faceless in a world you created is a hard reality to navigate as a Black professional. Yet, we move."

One of our core values is awkwardness—we define it as celebrating what makes us unique and building environments where people can actually say the uncomfortable thing, ask the real question, and grow from the discomfort rather than avoid it. Sazón & Soul lives that value every time it hosts a session, opens a conversation, or makes space for someone to feel less alone at work.

Sarah sums it up: "I'm excited for the growth. Each year we hire more Amis is a chance to expand our membership and really hone in on what matters to the community."

Briana is equally energized about what's ahead. “I'm excited for more diverse hires. To see the recruiting team wants to hire people from our diverse networks means so much—it truly feels like a team effort to foster a community of belonging.”

Terre echoes it: "Through S&S, we've had the opportunity to speak more visibly within the organization and produce events that center intersectionality, social awareness, and cultural celebration."

And Shakuri captures what's at stake when companies get this right: "When people can pour into what they care about—when they feel seen and supported—they bring more of themselves to everything they do."

If that sounds like somewhere you'd want to work, we're hiring.