Tales from the Corporate Frontline

Diversity in the Workplace

Diversity in the workplace has proven beneficial in my professional career experience. Recently I worked for a well-known international non-profit organization. Diversity in their workforce was a high priority from everyone within their organization - from the executive level of the organization down through the part-time staff. I worked in a small department of this non-profit. At the time of my employment, 90% of our department was female. And as a Caucasian, I was in the minority. Almost 50% of our staff was African-American.

Growing up in a small Midwestern town populated mainly by people of the same ancestory (German), I longed for more diverse experiences both professionally and personally. Prior to my position with this non-profit, the majority of my colleagues had had backgrounds similar to mine. When I learned this particular organization strove for a diverse workforce, I jumped at the chance to be a part of their team. While there, I embraced the diversity of my colleagues. We soon learned we had more in common than not. For instance, some of us were young, fresh starts from college who were still trying to meet our family’s expectations while unearthing our own career paths and goals in life. It was comforting to learn that others were encountering similar struggles, no matter their family’s heritage.

Working within this group of professionals gave me different perspectives of life I couldn’t have gained elsewhere. I learned more about others but I also learned a great deal about myself. We didn’t encounter a lot of cultural snags and any roadblocks we did face, we talked about with frankness. We were all open to communicative discussions as we worked together. Overall, the experience was the most positive of my career. It was unifying and fulfilling to work towards common goals with people of all backgrounds and to both meet and to exceed our goals as a team.