hola I’m trying to channel my inner
Venezuelan beauty queen that somewhere
in there for those of you who follow
beauty queen pageants we’ve got the most
in the world so oh yeah hi hi uh pero la
I hear it where I’m from usually this is
a time of day where those little coffees
come out and you get that power surge I
want to make sure that he’s here
go moist on there are you people so show
of hands how many of you have said or
have used the phrase walk a mile in
somebody’s shoes walk a mile in his
shoes her shoes right it’s a great
phrase it allows us to think of other
people think of their experiences to
empathize to understand others right we
we’re sort of taught this from childhood
how to think about others and what they
go through so the message I want to give
you today is don’t just imagine walking
in somebody else’s shoes walk along with
them walk that mile with them because
when we do that we’re not just
championing diversity and inclusion
we’re also championing belonging and
belonging is a key thing that we all
want and desire and it’s a good thing
for us so I’m going to tell you a little
personal story to illustrate to you how
to walk with someone along with them not
to send their shoes you ready
a nice dose man you guys need that got a
seat though I’m not sure so when my
father left war-torn Italy in 1955 all
his belongings were just the clothes he
had on himself he got into a ship a
grain ship as a stowaway and went
Venezuela bound instead of New York
bound like the rest of his cousins he
only had one pair of shoes it was a pair
of shoes that he was wearing on that
trip when he arrived in Venezuela the
first thing that he did too
earn a living was to go door the door
fixing shoes that’s how he started out
16 years later he had multiple very
successful businesses but the four of us
through college – through MBAs and one
through a PhD in literature much to the
dismay of a family full of scientists
and business people but it was my father
Vincenzo’s spirit his resilience his
intrepid miss his generosity that I now
understand is in my genes and I now also
understand that that is the same force
that drives the students that I have the
pleasure of working with through various
educational organizations so I also have
the distinct honor of being that
professor who doesn’t remember your name
but you’re like I love your class I
remember I got an A and the professor’s
like ah wonderful that’s me and the
students I want to tell you about today
in particular are the young Latin X
students and when you hear the term
Latin X what turf comes to your mind I’m
asking you to write out what comes when
you hear Latin X mm-hmm non
gender-specific
diversity embracing our likenesses our
similarities probably delicious food
like the one we had today at lunch but
it also brings the proverbial seat at
the table
right that’s part of how we think of
inclusion pull up a chair at the table
but what happens when pulling a chair up
to the table is not enough what happens
when you’re seated at a banquet and you
don’t know what to do with the
silverware the typical oh my goodness
what’s that third little fork for what
did I do with that or something is
brought out on a tray and you’re like
what is that you don’t know what you’re
going to eat or how to eat it those are
the spaces where we can’t just imagine
walking in somebody’s shoes we have to
walk along with them and that’s what I
do with my latin ex students give you a
sense of who they are I have students
who have told me for example the story
of crossing the desert with his mother
try rive in this country the heat the
exhaustion the thirst and it’s very
different when you read about this in
the report see it on TV and when you
have somebody sitting next to you who is
not of legal age yet and that is the
story that they tell you where they come
from or the student who has never
visited the country where she was born
because it’s too dangerous to go there
they’re also the amazing gates
millennial scholars who are intelligent
beyond my understanding and who you know
will do amazing things in this world
there’s a student who is the first one
in her family to go through grade school
middle school high school and be college
bound and these are students that it’s
not enough to imagine walking in their
shoes you must walk along with them so
last year my father Vincenzo who I was
telling you about suffered a stroke in
Venezuela in the midst of this terrible
political social and economic crisis
that is really tearing the country apart
I immediately bought a ticket to go down
thinking I would go down for a week and
a half and once I was there I could not
leave a country legally I can’t tell you
how I left that would compromise all of
you but I was there for two months and
having thought that I would go there for
a week and a half I only took down two
pairs of shoes the one I was wearing on
the trip down was his gold pair of
moccasins which in hindsight really was
a big wardrobe malfunction considering
gold shoes to go to a country that’s
about to go into Civil War not very
smart but those are the shoes that I had
and those were the shoes that I wore
every day as I was in Venezuela taking
care of my father I wore them to go to
the clinics
I wear them to go to the banks the
offices grocery stores pharmacies you
name it because now in Venezuela
anywhere you go you have to stand in
line and you have to be in line for a
long time to get anything that you need
by the time I return the shoes as you
can see we’re pretty beat-up
they weren’t shiny anymore the soles
were all torn up the last one had a hole
my thought was what am i adding with
these shoes they stink but you know I
couldn’t throw out those shoes because
these were the shoes that I use to walk
along with my father on this unexpected
journey that we had together so I kept
those shoes and these shoes have taught
me many things about resilience but also
about empathy at one point these shoes
also taught me to understand better the
journeys that my own students have gone
through and to understand that for me as
an educator I can’t just sit in my
office and print reports about my
students to show how great they’re doing
or plan wonderful trips and educational
experiences for them that is not enough
I have to know them and they have to
know me so my students know me they know
my children I know their parents which
means many kings and us so the point
that you wonder how many more girls are
gonna turn 15 this year I also means
amazing family reunions with amazing
food it also means a phone call because
the car won’t start
and it’s pouring rain and a student
needs to be at that educational
committee meeting that we have because
that meeting might be an amazing
opportunity for that student to go to
college or open doors for them and
that’s where walking with someone comes
in not just imagining what my students
go through but actually being there
walking through them in these journeys
so the hole in my shoe I’m proud of the
hole in my shoe it has taught me how to
walk with people not just imagine
what people are going through so when my
father came up to do his rehab at the
rehab center they informed him that he
needed some sneakers my father is the
gentleman on your right side
with a cigarette in his hand you might
imagine this is a picture I used as a
teenager and as an adult to remind him
that he smoked whenever I was chastised
for smoking or drinking and so being the
very elegant Italian gentleman that he
was he had not owned a pair of sneakers
since he actually used to exercise in
his 40s so I took my two sons to the
store an actual store to buy no no
that’s grandfather in Italian some
sneakers and as I was looking around
trying to find the perfect pair of
sneakers the ones that would be that fit
him that would do the right thing my
seven-year-old son just went mommy here
are the sneakers that Nonna needs and lo
and behold they were the perfect pair of
shoes for what his grandfather needed
and that seven year old my little
seven-year-old understood that because
he had already walked with his
grandfather he hadn’t just imagine what
his grandfather was going through but he
had walked with him in this journey and
there was the learning and so the idea
of walking with someone is what allows
us to think of bringing somebody to the
table for the diversity of including
them but also giving them a sense of
belonging it’s what allows us to knit
the tapestry of what makes our
communities it’s in the walking together
that we really understand whether
community is about when we gather at the
table and so my message to you is put on
your shoes walk a mile with someone
don’t just imagine what they’ve been
through what they’ve walked through walk
along with them make that empathy become
your inclusion make a person feel like
they belong by walking with them so put
on your shoes and walk a mile with
someone vamonos
[Applause]
you
Venezuelan beauty queen that somewhere
in there for those of you who follow
beauty queen pageants we’ve got the most
in the world so oh yeah hi hi uh pero la
I hear it where I’m from usually this is
a time of day where those little coffees
come out and you get that power surge I
want to make sure that he’s here
go moist on there are you people so show
of hands how many of you have said or
have used the phrase walk a mile in
somebody’s shoes walk a mile in his
shoes her shoes right it’s a great
phrase it allows us to think of other
people think of their experiences to
empathize to understand others right we
we’re sort of taught this from childhood
how to think about others and what they
go through so the message I want to give
you today is don’t just imagine walking
in somebody else’s shoes walk along with
them walk that mile with them because
when we do that we’re not just
championing diversity and inclusion
we’re also championing belonging and
belonging is a key thing that we all
want and desire and it’s a good thing
for us so I’m going to tell you a little
personal story to illustrate to you how
to walk with someone along with them not
to send their shoes you ready
a nice dose man you guys need that got a
seat though I’m not sure so when my
father left war-torn Italy in 1955 all
his belongings were just the clothes he
had on himself he got into a ship a
grain ship as a stowaway and went
Venezuela bound instead of New York
bound like the rest of his cousins he
only had one pair of shoes it was a pair
of shoes that he was wearing on that
trip when he arrived in Venezuela the
first thing that he did too
earn a living was to go door the door
fixing shoes that’s how he started out
16 years later he had multiple very
successful businesses but the four of us
through college – through MBAs and one
through a PhD in literature much to the
dismay of a family full of scientists
and business people but it was my father
Vincenzo’s spirit his resilience his
intrepid miss his generosity that I now
understand is in my genes and I now also
understand that that is the same force
that drives the students that I have the
pleasure of working with through various
educational organizations so I also have
the distinct honor of being that
professor who doesn’t remember your name
but you’re like I love your class I
remember I got an A and the professor’s
like ah wonderful that’s me and the
students I want to tell you about today
in particular are the young Latin X
students and when you hear the term
Latin X what turf comes to your mind I’m
asking you to write out what comes when
you hear Latin X mm-hmm non
gender-specific
diversity embracing our likenesses our
similarities probably delicious food
like the one we had today at lunch but
it also brings the proverbial seat at
the table
right that’s part of how we think of
inclusion pull up a chair at the table
but what happens when pulling a chair up
to the table is not enough what happens
when you’re seated at a banquet and you
don’t know what to do with the
silverware the typical oh my goodness
what’s that third little fork for what
did I do with that or something is
brought out on a tray and you’re like
what is that you don’t know what you’re
going to eat or how to eat it those are
the spaces where we can’t just imagine
walking in somebody’s shoes we have to
walk along with them and that’s what I
do with my latin ex students give you a
sense of who they are I have students
who have told me for example the story
of crossing the desert with his mother
try rive in this country the heat the
exhaustion the thirst and it’s very
different when you read about this in
the report see it on TV and when you
have somebody sitting next to you who is
not of legal age yet and that is the
story that they tell you where they come
from or the student who has never
visited the country where she was born
because it’s too dangerous to go there
they’re also the amazing gates
millennial scholars who are intelligent
beyond my understanding and who you know
will do amazing things in this world
there’s a student who is the first one
in her family to go through grade school
middle school high school and be college
bound and these are students that it’s
not enough to imagine walking in their
shoes you must walk along with them so
last year my father Vincenzo who I was
telling you about suffered a stroke in
Venezuela in the midst of this terrible
political social and economic crisis
that is really tearing the country apart
I immediately bought a ticket to go down
thinking I would go down for a week and
a half and once I was there I could not
leave a country legally I can’t tell you
how I left that would compromise all of
you but I was there for two months and
having thought that I would go there for
a week and a half I only took down two
pairs of shoes the one I was wearing on
the trip down was his gold pair of
moccasins which in hindsight really was
a big wardrobe malfunction considering
gold shoes to go to a country that’s
about to go into Civil War not very
smart but those are the shoes that I had
and those were the shoes that I wore
every day as I was in Venezuela taking
care of my father I wore them to go to
the clinics
I wear them to go to the banks the
offices grocery stores pharmacies you
name it because now in Venezuela
anywhere you go you have to stand in
line and you have to be in line for a
long time to get anything that you need
by the time I return the shoes as you
can see we’re pretty beat-up
they weren’t shiny anymore the soles
were all torn up the last one had a hole
my thought was what am i adding with
these shoes they stink but you know I
couldn’t throw out those shoes because
these were the shoes that I use to walk
along with my father on this unexpected
journey that we had together so I kept
those shoes and these shoes have taught
me many things about resilience but also
about empathy at one point these shoes
also taught me to understand better the
journeys that my own students have gone
through and to understand that for me as
an educator I can’t just sit in my
office and print reports about my
students to show how great they’re doing
or plan wonderful trips and educational
experiences for them that is not enough
I have to know them and they have to
know me so my students know me they know
my children I know their parents which
means many kings and us so the point
that you wonder how many more girls are
gonna turn 15 this year I also means
amazing family reunions with amazing
food it also means a phone call because
the car won’t start
and it’s pouring rain and a student
needs to be at that educational
committee meeting that we have because
that meeting might be an amazing
opportunity for that student to go to
college or open doors for them and
that’s where walking with someone comes
in not just imagining what my students
go through but actually being there
walking through them in these journeys
so the hole in my shoe I’m proud of the
hole in my shoe it has taught me how to
walk with people not just imagine
what people are going through so when my
father came up to do his rehab at the
rehab center they informed him that he
needed some sneakers my father is the
gentleman on your right side
with a cigarette in his hand you might
imagine this is a picture I used as a
teenager and as an adult to remind him
that he smoked whenever I was chastised
for smoking or drinking and so being the
very elegant Italian gentleman that he
was he had not owned a pair of sneakers
since he actually used to exercise in
his 40s so I took my two sons to the
store an actual store to buy no no
that’s grandfather in Italian some
sneakers and as I was looking around
trying to find the perfect pair of
sneakers the ones that would be that fit
him that would do the right thing my
seven-year-old son just went mommy here
are the sneakers that Nonna needs and lo
and behold they were the perfect pair of
shoes for what his grandfather needed
and that seven year old my little
seven-year-old understood that because
he had already walked with his
grandfather he hadn’t just imagine what
his grandfather was going through but he
had walked with him in this journey and
there was the learning and so the idea
of walking with someone is what allows
us to think of bringing somebody to the
table for the diversity of including
them but also giving them a sense of
belonging it’s what allows us to knit
the tapestry of what makes our
communities it’s in the walking together
that we really understand whether
community is about when we gather at the
table and so my message to you is put on
your shoes walk a mile with someone
don’t just imagine what they’ve been
through what they’ve walked through walk
along with them make that empathy become
your inclusion make a person feel like
they belong by walking with them so put
on your shoes and walk a mile with
someone vamonos
[Applause]
you
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