Diversity

I remember very few things from my early years and some of these things people might think are rather quirky. A vibrant memory from my not so elegant teenage years was a quote in a Janet Jackson album.  Sure judge me by the mere disclosure of this fact, but 1989 was a rough year for me and an impressionable time.  The quote was:

In complete darkness we are all the same, it is only our knowledge and wisdom that separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you.

That same year, a friend of mine from an online Bulletin Board System (BBS) had disappeared and later I found out it was because he had died.  BBS was great for exchanging ideas and learning from other geeks throughout the world but it was hard to get included when folks found out you weren’t like them.  I made that mistake a couple times early on and then decided I would no longer provide my gender.  One guy in particular always chatted me up and constantly asked questions which eventually led him to figure out my secret. Handles aside - I was female.  And then a short time later, he was gone and it was quite a while before I returned to BBS. 

Like I mentioned, I knew long before 1989 that I was different.  BBS was a cool place to learn things because it was itself complete darkness.  I could simply rely on my learning agility to gain access to bigger and bigger brains.  Sometimes people would even help me with my homework.  Despite slow modem speeds and constant reconnection issues or tying up phone lines for far too long, it was super cool!  More importantly, it taught me to give back because I was always being pushed to teach someone on BBS something new in order to stay relevant. I'm not sure I ever once considered who I was actually talking to or what they looked like.

This comes to my reason for divulging so much and writing this post, diversity is awesome when it helps everyone around you to be more successful.  Knowledge and the ability to collaborate help advance humanity forward when diversity is leveraged to its fullest potential.  I’ve commonly avoided acknowledging my apparent diversity for many years and perhaps that in itself is a problem.  I also avoided openly sharing and mostly kept to myself or hid behind the anonymity of the Internet.  In the last decade, however, I was inadvertently forced to change the way I work likely because I was simply unwilling to tolerate the lack of inclusion or ability to be heard. 

The more I get involved in the community the more I learn that everyone says they are pushing for more diversity.  But when the discussions quickly turn towards a definition of diversity that makes me cringe, I can't help but lean on a better definition.   I believe the reason I am diverse is because of my experience and the knowledge I have acquired which are then wrapped in my aging, female body of hispanic origin.  My opinions and my knowledge are the result of my experiences.  Many of these experiences I have fought for with determination and perseverance. Other experiences I have been blessed to receive because of men and women who have given me a chance and taken the risk on me.  

For better or worse, my expertise comes from who I am, what I have done and what I know.  My clothes, hair, and body are irrelevant. While it is nice to be given the opportunity of inclusion, my perseverance has made me a formidable activist and someone who understands what it means to be different. And now I carry with me the gifts necessary to open up the doors that were once closed, to influence the people who once wouldn’t listen, and to inspire the next generation to not be deterred.  I am thankful for my diversity and believe that perseverance and learning agility are the key to a world that brings people together to solve humanity’s problems faster, eyes wide open. 

Ultimately, it is the knowledge and wisdom that we bring to our work and the community based on hard won experiences that make us unique contributors on this earth.  Solving for humanity's problems is the quintessential challenge. Don’t be deterred by being the same or different; persevere to gain experience and find ways to share your expertise to help solve problems even when few may listen.  With our collective perseverance and love of humanity, change will follow.