Remote work gives us incredible flexibility. But it also creates a challenge we didn't expect: the best work often goes unseen. When your teammate is miles away, you don't see them staying late to fix a critical issue. You don't notice the hours they spent mentoring someone through a tough problem. You miss the quiet dedication that happens between online messages and video calls.
At Ballast Lane, we created our Recognition Program to spotlight the "quiet excellence" that happens across our distributed team every day. We're committed to seeing, celebrating, and learning from the teammates who make Ballast Lane Applications exceptional. This reinforces connections, highlights excellence, and reminds us that behind every successful delivery milestone is a person who has shown ownership, collaboration, and care.
Our 2025 annual celebration took place in Medellín, Colombia, but the excellence we celebrated spans across Latin America. From Mexico to Argentina, Colombia, and beyond, our distributed team continues to deliver impact for clients while strengthening our internal culture. Our annual Recognition Program reflects our values, standards, and the kind of team we are building together.
What Is the Ballast Lane Recognition Program?
Our Recognition Program was created to surface the quiet excellence that happens every day across our organization. As we mentioned above, in remote teams, it's easy for important contributions to go unnoticed. These efforts matter, and they deserve to be shared. So we built a program to do exactly that. Because great work deserves to be acknowledged, not just rewarded.
We evaluate team members across three core pillars that define excellence at Ballast Lane: Impact, Performance, and Core Values.
Impact — We value work that makes a meaningful difference, for clients or within our organization. This means improving a workflow, delivering a strong redesign, supporting client success, or fixing a complex technical problem. Impact isn't about being the most visible; it's about creating results that matter.
Performance — Performance recognizes teammates who consistently exceed expectations. This category highlights those who demonstrate reliability, strong technical or product skills, and ownership in their roles. High performers don't just complete tasks; they elevate the standards of the entire team.
Core Values — Our values—Ownership, Teamwork, Honesty, and Continuous Learning—are the structure of our culture. This pillar recognizes teammates who consistently embody these principles. These values are behaviors we practice daily, and this category celebrates those who make our workplace stronger, more ethical, and more collaborative.
Why Do We Invest in Employee Recognition?
Remote work across Latin America gives us incredible flexibility and access to world-class talent. However, it also means great work can go unnoticed behind screens and schedules. This recognition program serves four important purposes: Gratitude, Deep Connection, Celebrating the "How", and Inspiration.
Gratitude — We want gratitude to be a habit. Recognition is our way of saying, "We see your effort. We value your contribution." By making appreciation visible, we reinforce a culture where excellence is noticed and celebrated.
Deep Connection — The annual celebration is not just about awards. By bringing together our winners, Executive Team, our entire Colombia-based team, and partner teams like Syncro, we shared ideas, energy, and connection. In-person meetings build trust, spark collaboration, and remind us we're part of something bigger than our individual projects.
Celebrating the "How" — Results matter, but how we achieve them matters just as much. We recognize teams not only for hitting targets but for doing so while staying true to our core values. Growth requires integrity and collaboration.
Inspiration — Highlighting excellence across Latin America helps us all level up as a single, unified community. When we share stories of exceptional teammates, we're not just celebrating them; we're showing everyone what's possible. When one teammate raises the bar, it encourages others to do the same.
What Our Team Is Saying About Recognition
Here's what some of our teammates shared about their experience:
On the Impact of Being Recognized — Laura Palacio shares how recognition validated her contributions:
"In 2025, I received 1 recognition from 3 nominations, and it honestly made me feel really proud and grateful. It meant a lot to see that the work I'm doing is valuable not only for the company, but also for the client. I truly appreciated the recognition, and I also loved the gift. Thank you, BLA, for the program and support!"
On the Importance of Gratitude in Remote Work — Kirsten Chong highlights why intentional recognition keeps distributed teams connected:
"Remote work can sometimes make it easy to miss those everyday opportunities to thank each other. That's why receiving recognition for the work you've been doing feels so satisfying. It's also incredibly rewarding to see not just your own work recognized, but the efforts of your teammates across so many different projects as well."
On Values Alignment — Jonathan Barbosa reflects on what it means to be recognized for core values:
"I was really glad to be awarded. Being recognized for sharing core values tells me that I'm on the right path, and I hope I can keep that up."
These testimonials are proof that recognition drives engagement, belonging, and motivation in remote-first companies.
Introducing Our 2025 Annual Award Winners
We are proud to celebrate the following teammates! These individuals have set the bar for excellence throughout 2025.
Impact
Arnaldo Corzo — "Arnaldo has shown great communication skills and the ability to take ownership over complicated tasks with responsibility and excellence. He deserves a thumbs up!"
Fernanda Pacheco — "Fernanda deserves this nomination for her incredible impact on the Marketplace product. She provided critical product leadership and excellent design work, filling key gaps and making smart decisions that ensured clarity. Her efforts led directly to last month's successful redesign launch. The Head of Design consistently praises her quality and ownership."
Fernando Mateos — "We sincerely appreciate your invaluable willingness to help and consistent support. Your commitment, empathy, and collaboration—often going above and beyond your role—make our teamwork strong and our processes smooth. Thank you for the enormous difference your attitude makes!"
Isabel Bolivar — "Isabel, we truly value your passion, dedication, and proactive approach. The special care you put into preparing our company's celebrations makes a huge difference at Ballast Lane Applications. We admire how you anticipate details and create such joyful, memorable moments for the team. Thank you for brightening our work with your big heart!"
Lucas Guedes — "I nominate Lucas Guedes for his excellent technical contribution to the Tripleseat MVP and his strong drive for innovation. He also delivered a successful Tech Talk on MCPs and demonstrated great honesty by actively seeking feedback—a quality vital for our team's growth."
Performance
Daniel Ortíz — "Daniel is a real team player, making the people he works with better. He helps them achieve their goals. Next to that, he is a good listener, good with clients, and knowledgeable. His behavior is very consistent—I have seen that in several projects now."
Daniela PérezDaniela Pérez — "Dani is an exceptional Flutter developer who consistently goes above and beyond to support others. She's always willing to help, tackles tasks with impressive speed and efficiency, and is a key contributor to the team's success."
Jofre Manchola — "I want to nominate him because he's always willing to help, taking free time to help us solve issues and always finding the best way to do it. Thank you so much, Jofre! You rock!"
Juan Carlos Marín — "Juan Marin is outstanding in his field and has a long track record in the company. I want to nominate him in the Codebreaker category. He truly deserves it."
Kirsten Chong — "She stands out for her intelligence and perceptiveness. She expertly connects with the team, providing empathetic feedback, and easily grasps client needs. She writes the clearest tickets (the best I've seen at BLA), inspiring trust and driving significant team growth."
Romina Rodríguez — "Romina is one of the hardest-working teammates I know. She is so client-oriented, detailed, and smart. Always there to help without hesitating. Her knowledge is incredible, and she is always seeking ways to improve and be an even better professional. Thanks, Romi!"
Core Values
Agustin Gambina — "Agustin is the kindest coworker. He is always there to help everybody, without hesitating. Working with him was a pleasure, and despite the fact that we are not working on the same project anymore, he is still helping me whenever I need. Thank you so much!!!"
Alejandro Vega — "He is a person who represents our core values as he is a direct person, but kind to communicate with anyone, always being attentive to what he can apply from the past or learn for the future, besides not only taking a primary role in the product and service, but also in the team."
Andrea Garzón — "Her positive energy is truly infectious. It's amazing to see how she tackles every single project with such commitment. I deeply admire her drive to not just get things done but to do them right and improve them. Thank you, Andrea, for all that you do. We are so lucky to have you."
Gonzalo Bottari — "He always displays care for the team."
Jonathan Barbosa — "He stands out as a product analyst who keeps our team organized, in sync, and motivated. He brings clarity to every sprint, understands his role deeply, and is always ready to help. His spontaneity and humor create a positive vibe that makes collaboration easy and enjoyable. He's a key part of what makes our teamwork effective."
Jorge Aguilar — "Jorge is a tremendous mentor in Automation and Performance Testing, emphasizing high-quality, clean code. His patience, willingness to share knowledge, and excellent soft skills have significantly elevated the team's skills and positively impacted colleagues' personal development."
Juan Agudelo — "Juan is always looking for new trends in his career. He pursues new certifications and seeks new challenges. Congrats, Juan, for being an example of continuous learning."
Laura Palacio — "Laura has done an amazing job with the SAC client. She is diligent, honest, and makes sure he is reassured whenever issues arise. The client said he was really impressed with her work."
Lucas Angulski — "Lucas is one of the best coworkers I ever worked with. He is not just talented, but also concerned about helping the rest of the team to achieve the goals."
Oscar Albornoz — "He did a nice job bringing his experience with AI to the Frontend team, helping me in a tech talk about the daily uses of AI."
Patricio Pérez — "Great person to work with as he listens, analyzes, and is good with teamwork. He helps others when he can. Always answering questions when I have them and suggesting new tools/ways to do it."
Sebastian Betancur — "Sebastian has shown a very strong sense of ownership for the project. He is always trying to understand the whys and, more importantly, he is always looking for ways to improve the product that we are delivering."
To our 2025 winners, thank you for setting the standard inside Ballast Lane. Your work inspires us all to be better.
To our entire team, keep doing exceptional work. We see you, we value you, and we're grateful to build alongside you.
Our next nomination cycle is open. If a teammate has inspired you, we encourage you to submit a nomination and want to hear about it.