What’s your favorite sports activity after work?

This is the question we asked Oracle employees from offices all over the world when we launched the Wellness Wednesday social media campaign, back in august 2015. After popping the question, we were pleasantly surprised to see that, no matter their day-to-day job, a great deal of our employees are enthusiastic sports advocates. Their passions speak for themselves and their motivation is unstoppable. Some are extreme sports performers, others marathon runners, charity supporters and healthy lifestyle promoters. 

The Concept

The campaign idea was launched by Celinda Appleby, Head of Global Recruitment Branding and curated by Manuel Ángel, Global Recruitment Branding Lead for LAD.

“The concept behind Wellness Wednesday was simple. We wanted to showcase some of our very athletic employees to promote exercise, sports and other activities that encourage physical and emotional wellbeing in our staff”, explains Manuel Ángel, campaign coordinator.

That’s how we came to learn that many of our company members are not only valuable professionals, but they also project extraordinary lives outside work. Below, let’s take a look of some of the amazing people who have been, so far, featured in our Wellness Wednesday campaign.

From Passion to Lending a Helping Hand

Being actively involved in supporting charity causes is no flash news for our staff. Many have shown that a passion for sports is not only fantastic for the body and mind, but also an amazing way to help others in need. 

Team Oracle next to Team Hope and Iron Man. Team Oracle ran the Bucharest International Marathon for a good cause – raising money for Hospice Casa Sperantei, the biggest NGO in Romania dedicated to palliative treatment of terminal disease patients. For the 2015 marathon event, a total of 136 runners covered 1246.17 km, raising 5200 USD!

Mihaela Alexandrescu, HR Consultant for Oracle Romania and marathon participant is a great example that there’s always a cause worth running for. For the marathon, she started intense training with almost a month in advance.

“I was deeply impressed by the fact that not only did we manage to reach our donations target but we even surpassed it. I’m thankful to all the people who believed in us and our cause and looking forward to next year’s Marathon where I’m sure we will double the fundraising amounts. Until then, I continue to have sports a constant part of my life and do my best to encourage others to do the same as it has changed me, my mind and my body and I cannot possibly go back to not having it in my life”, Mihaela explains.

Reinforcing her love for a healthy lifestyle, Mihaela created an internal wellness program for Oracle Romania employees. Started in June, the program’s mission is to establish a wellbeing-centered community and raise awareness on local health risk factors. Those who already joined had the chance to take part in marathons, cycling events, mindfulness workshops, nutrition workshops and many more sports-related activities.  

Our UK based Sam Pandey is a convinced fighter for cancer awareness and care. That’s why in October he took the London 3 Peaks Challenge, running 5 km and then climbing the stairs of one of the 3 of London’s tallest buildings to raise £1.200 for a cancer research lab.

Role Models & Real-Life Inspiration

It’s not only those who fight for charitable causes that deserve to be brought in the spotlight. It’s also the amazing Oracle people that, through hard work, commitment and utmost motivation, have turned their sports passion into gold-medaled performances. 

Carolina Cuco Riviera from Venezuela, an example of extreme performance who won 2 gold medals at the World Swimming Championship in 2015.

Not just a runner, or a cyclist or a swimmer. Karen from Texas is all of those. She’s a triathlete and a role model for us!

Another tenacious example is Gerald Owens, Oracle Ireland Cloud CX Inside Sales Rep and three- time Olympian in sailing.

“At the Olympics everything is about targets, drive, tenacity - there’s lot of parallels with my Oracle activity. Here at Oracle you have that work-life balance: you work hard, and then you play hard!”, Gerald believes. 

Team Spirit? We Have It!

Being part of Oracle is all about showing your team player spirit. There’s no doubt our employees love putting that into practice, be it soccer, basketball, volleyball or any other group sport. From Asia to Africa, US to Australia and Europe, our teams know how to rock the field. Just take a look at those happy, smiling faces!

Oracle Guadalajara Team ready for a fun cycling day out!

Biking isn’t the only sports the Guadalajara and Mexico teams enjoy every now and then. Running is what really pumps them up. The different teams often get together for training on weekends or even on weekdays after work.

“We have a calendar of 20+ races each year. We cover from 5 km races to full Marathons (42 km) for the more experienced runners. We also have groups for different sports such as Triathlon, Basketball, Soccer/Football, and Mountain Biking. Oracle Mexico supports us by providing us with a budget that we distribute among these activities and we use it mainly for race/event signups and team uniforms. The Sports Team includes employees from both our Mexico City and Guadalajara locations”, explains Joel Villagrana, Senior Software Developer and Mexico's Oracle Sports Team committee representative. 

Team Cricket Hyderabad from India are all about getting all the runs and losing none of the wickets.

Game ON! Here’s a glimpse of the Oracle Brazil Basketball Team in action!

Passionate about turning simple ideas into creative stories. Truly in love with storytelling, Ramona Costea has been active in the media writing and publishing business for over 8 years. She is now a Copywriter for Oracle’s Global Recruiting department, where she continues to experiment with social media and improve content strategy. Her specialties include content writing, online marketing, employer branding and social media.