The One Club HAATBP | Paulina Canalizo D.

For me as an international student diversity is a very important topic in my life.

When I was in my country I was aware of what the meaning of diversity was and the importance of it, this is a big issue all around the world to be honest, and is very important to be informed about it, but in my country the diversity issues in the professional world are more related to the fact of being a man or a woman. Mexico is not a big multicultural country, I mean, of course there are a lot of people for other parts of the world, but its not very common to get to work with them or to meet them as it is in New York City specifically. So, for me the experience of being able to be surround with people from other cultures wasn’t an everyday thing.

Today after 2 years of being living in New York, I had the opportunity to experience a diversity world. I have been able to learn so much from every single person I’ve met, who are from other countries and have different cultures, with so many different points of view from mine that had made me richer. And that’s a richness that nothing else in the world can give me.

So, the day I went to this conference I got to meet a lot of people in the industry which where from different cultures, different countries, even different ways to be raised, and was then when I realize the whole intention of this big event.

The first talk was from Tariq Trotter-“Black Thought”. He spoke about his 4 keys in life that helped him to become who is he now.

1. Attention to patterns:

Look at the patterns to be able to distinguish from the pack

2. Always know your self and reinvent yourself:

Find who you are before even been

3. Get out of your comfort zone:

Explore your comfort zone to get out of it.

4. Work hard and then harder:

The work is the growth, one day you’ll look up and you’ll made a legacy.

This talk for me was very inspiring not only because of what he said, but because he let us know him as a person, as an individual, as a human being. He was one more in the room and that is what I felt was the most important message of the whole talk. He gave a message without articulating it, in which he stood for the equity in the world. That, doesn’t matter what you are, where you are, how you look, how you speak, what you think, we are all the same specie, we were brought to this world in the same way and we are equals. Instead, we should be thankful to be able to surround ourselves with diversity to become better persons, and enrich ourselves.

After that amazing talk, I got to be in 2 different panel discussions in which the messages were very similar and also very inspiring, but with the difference of being more driven to professional world and how the diversity is manage in that field. And I started to questioning my self; why is it that important for companies or for the industry to be inclusive and diverse? Of course the most common answer and the one we all know is to not discriminate, because we all have the same rights to be in any position in the industry, no matter if you’re black, woman, man, gay, Hispanic, etc. We all deserve the same and the best.

But, if there were another answer from another perspective what would it be?

After all the discussions and all the points of view of the people in the panels I realized that is the best thing you can do for a company and for the industry, to make it diverse. Because is the only way in which every single person can add some knowledge to it making it bigger and richer. And if you want to be able to reach people by telling stories, selling products, or whatever you do, you need to have insights, perspectives and points of view from other individuals who had been in different situations, worlds, or lives than you.

I take with me not just a lot of knowledge about the industry and the importance of being able to relate with all the people and work in a peaceful and creative world, but also I take this new perspective in which I see a world with big opportunities for everyone and a lot of people together fighting for this opportunities to maintain open and to expand them to all around the world.