Q&A with Ana Alvarez - on the subtle line between integration & inclusion

Who are you and how did you come to integrate D&I into your work? 

Before arriving in Germany in 2015, I worked in different environments: non-profit, private, and the public sector in Costa Rica. My job put me in daily contact with people from 130 countries at the same time. Understanding differences, trying to make communication work, and learning from others made me grow and see the world differently. There are many things we can all do together if we make the extra effort to shift perspectives. I think that was the best experience I've ever had.

Once in Berlin, I got myself involved in actions and initiatives involving migrants. I was familiar with the problems people tend to have (people arriving from the Middle East or African countries, for example). That’s also when I started to hear a lot that “diversity drives innovation, diversity drives innovation.” The tricky part for me was to realize that all the programs deployed and developed for them missed the word “inclusion.”

I was all in for acknowledging that, yes, we should welcome people from all backgrounds, not because it's a duty to the country but because it's an opportunity for us all. But it was all about integration: it was not about integrating diversity into this country; it was more like, you come to me, you learn my rules and you behave like me. Something was off to me. 

Talking about opportunity, I realized that If you give somebody the chance to thrive, this person will go the extra mile, even if that includes learning something new.

I am currently building Migrapreneur together with a team of excellent minds. It was initially a project under my first organization, Migration Hub, and today is an independent company aiming to support migrant entrepreneurs. If we want to succeed, we migrants need equity to reach opportunities, capital, and most importantly, networks. In the end, the products and services developed by Migrapreneur will be open for every entrepreneur, but not before we acknowledge that we have left some individuals behind.

It’s almost as if the “i” for D&I stands for “integration” instead of meeting people where they are?

Exactly. I could see programs for diversity and inclusion popping up, and I was happy about it, as I genuinely think it’s the right direction! But based on my previous experience, I have seen how diversity and inclusion really work when people are put on the same level.

What have these past five years in Germany highlighted about D&I? Where do you see obstacles?

Back in 2015 and 2016, I participated actively in many workshops for companies held at Migration Hub. I had an opportunity to ask those attendees: why are you joining? Some answered to improve internal processes and learn how to work with other people, to learn to listen. For me, that was a foreign concept, as we were leaving it without labeling it. 

It is easy to say that you embrace diversity, especially here in Berlin, because most people have traveled somewhere. We are open to diversity from food and from people because we see all this around us. But when it comes to diversity at work, I see many rules and very top-down processes. I see recruitment processes only understanding certain education or background and issues that are not tackled openly. The only way to work towards inclusion is to work both ways, learn, listen from both sides, not top-down. It means that in order to get on the same level, someone with more privilege needs to step down—for example, men in leadership positions. One has to turn off their leadership ego to welcome more women in C-level positions and acknowledge that women are not just the VPs or the eternal HR managers. 

In the business sector, there is a predominant expression which is the “win-win” situation. Well, there's no win-win situation … yet. There will be a win-win situation when we all finally can see each other as equals. And when it comes to empowering a certain group of individuals, it often comes with recognizing privilege and learning to share.

As a mentor and supporter to startups, I have witnessed how women and migrants can easily be judged by the way they speak. I have been judged plenty of times for moving my hands too much, for example, and not for what I have been able to build. And that has to stop! Our accents and cultural backgrounds can't be changed just to be liked by investors and funders. We demand to be judged by the content and what we could build, not by our looks or accents.

This is what I meant earlier about integration. It is always about how you comply with my rules. Well, maybe as a founder, you don’t want to work with the investors who would pick on you for your accent or looks or because being a woman or migrant is too risky. I have seen enough of this Europeans-among-Europeans type of scenery in the startup ecosystem or people graduated from certain places being prized just for building something. If you are a non-European, the rules are going to be harsher on you. 

Besides, if you don't speak the startup language, most likely, you would be excluded from certain programs. To initiate the diversity and inclusive talk, we should start understanding different cultures and take everyone's know-how as an asset. 

So it looks like those programs or initiatives are here to build bridges, but at the same time, the doors, or locks, to access this tech ecosystem become even more difficult to push through... 

Yes, and that's what I mean by the difference between integration and inclusion. You build a structure and want to have it open for more than those already inside. Again in my particular way. 

When you say ‘my way’ who are you referring to? What specific identity are you talking about?

I'm referring to the system, to the government, for example. When the public sector wants to develop integration policies, migrants are not often included in the conversation. Some decisions are not based on needs and mostly about what is strategic. I invite companies wanting to improve diversity internally to add more chairs to the table. Having open and honest conversations on what it actually means in diversity within our environments, our work, and our homes are essential. But if anything happens, it falls on a department working in an isolated way. What about making D&I a part of the strategic process of the whole company? 

Once you grow above 20 or 50 employees, your job as CEO is to build culture. And culture doesn't mean giving access to membership or trips. That's not culture. But instead, culture means ‘how do we build a company that stands for its values, how do we constantly question and consciously act to tackle these challenges?’

Putting all of it together, all your experiences: what is your definition of D&I at this point?

Diversity is a celebration of what is different: that you and I are different and that is what our experience is made of, from our different walks of life. This sum of experience allows us to see each other and the ‘together’ part as a great thing. 

Inclusion is all about learning from each other, being open, respecting and understanding our differences. This learning capacity can increase proximity among us all, and perhaps one day this won't allow us to feel indifferent to what's happening around the world. Only by making that effort can we finally look at each other in an equal way.

What do you think is specific to Berlin when we talk about D&I?

Berlin hosts 190 nationalities, making ? of its population a migrant one, predominantly from Turkey, Poland and Syria; this wonderful number is something that you don't see in other places in Germany. My experience through Migration Hub made me realize the need to learn the benefits of diversity and inclusion. Some don't know how to do it or how to have the right approach. Berlin is international and whatever happens in Berlin could be a potential blueprint to learn from and exchange with other cities and see how they are doing it. But first, I think Berlin has to show that it could work. 

Perhaps we could finally avoid this "Berlin is not Germany" and switch it to “ I wish Germany could look as diverse as Berlin.” 

Where do you think the berlin scene will be in five years or ten years? And what do you think it will take for us to get there?

I like where the direction is taking us. I wish we could do this work not because it is a cool thing to do, but because we all understand its importance. In the following five years, my fear is that Berlin will become another regular big city, like Paris, like New York, like London or San Francisco—open and diverse but also very exclusive. 

I wish that Berlin will continue to acknowledge the fight of the social sector. I'm also referring to what happened recently with the rental caps. In a very disappointing way, I saw discussions on Facebook groups from the so-called “expats” complaining about the whole movement of resistance. They reduced the people protesting to starving artists when let’s be honest, we all enjoy that and have taken advantage of this artsy, cultural and affordable aspect of the city. The only way to continue and improve diversity is to be an affordable city. 

What is your recommendation for teams aware of the potential issues but do not know where to start? How could early-stage startups mitigate or go beyond the race for profitability?

The one element to blame here is the funding structure. The pressure they put on growth does not allow them to build this entire culture or to be more conscious. I discussed this with an investment expert the other day who told me startups usually receive all the money when they need to scale; however, they still have real problems in HR, for example. 

It should be right there from the very beginning when change has to be addressed, that diversity and inclusion should be a conscious decision on the team I want to build. It is a task to be incorporated and addressed in accelerators, business schools, or any place where companies are formed. It should be a mandate in all programs for those who want to become a founder. 

So you mean the same way we’d ask during demo days about the go-to-market strategy or the roadmap for the product development?

Exactly. But once they start on a certain path and receive money, there's little to be done, to be honest. Receiving funding somehow is taken as a kind of reaffirmation that the way you're doing things is right.

Do you have any books, podcasts, resources, people you continuously go back to?

• Dare To Lead from Brenée Brown about diversity and inclusion for leadership and learning to be vulnerable with one another. 
•  I also like Lead from the Outside by Stacey Abrams on how to build your future to make real change. 
• Videos and books by Emmanuel Acho.