you
so before I begin today I would like you
to just take 10 seconds and look around
you and say hi to the people around you
go
great thanks for doing that it’s quite
interesting actually being up here to
see you all do that because I was a mix
of waves handshakes some people are
smiling and laughing so I want I want to
ask you one thing
what did you see did you notice what
somebody was wearing their hair color
probably their gender a couple of other
things but what did you think of them
now look around you again and look at
that person don’t say anything you don’t
have to tell them what you think of them
I don’t want to embarrass you but I know
you’re probably making decisions and
conclusions about the people around you
now all of that was to kind of stall to
give you a chance to look at me and to
make judgments about me I know you’re
judging I would be too I can’t really
see all of you clearly right now but I’d
be judging you see it as these things
that we do that help inform how we see
each other and the conclusion of this
experiment is something you probably
already know we take on average about
seven seconds to make impressions to
others and to take in impressions of
others we then take those impressions to
make conclusions about one another and
determinations so you probably saw I’m a
woman great a black woman fantastic
black hair color couple gray streaks in
there can’t see my eye collar really
from up here but I have brown eyes now I
want to tell you a little bit about
myself I was born in Kenya in Nairobi
but I actually grew up in a small town
outside of that because it’s really not
small it’s its own town all the same
called me arey I moved to Baltimore when
I was ten years old with my family I’ve
been in the US ever since I’ve been
privileged to live and work in over
three in three countries and traveled to
dozens more places you see all of these
things have influenced Who I am I’ve
also been fortunate to have very diverse
friends people from all walks of life
different nationalities cultures and
backgrounds you see that is these things
that are hard to know within the first
ten seconds that you meet somebody
now if you look around this room again
would you know who is in this room just
by looking at them in the first seven to
ten seconds would you have known all
this about me
probably not you see throughout my life
culture and cultural diversity have been
at the forefront again I’ve been
fortunate to have such a wonderful group
of friends and through our friendships
we have taught each other about our
traditions through shared meals
celebrations and also by just having
conversations with one another this is a
picture that was taken a few years ago
at a baby welcoming ceremony that in my
culture we call Anita and these are my
friends people would always question me
about what these look like and I said
one day why don’t you come and
experience it and they did so this was
all to show you just how diverse we all
are now I imagine your life as a jigsaw
puzzle what would be the pieces that
make up who you are for me it would be
my face my family my heritage my travels
my favorite foods again I’m from
Baltimore
my friends my godson and my love for
philanthropy education and the arts now
if all these pieces make up little old
me what would the pieces that make up
this room today
imagine the pieces that would fill up
this room your workplaces your
classrooms even your local coffee shop
so I’ve asked you who are you and what
would your puzzle pieces be you see in
today’s world we focus a lot on racial
diversity and not so much on cultural
diversity not so much on really who what
makes up who we are you see sometimes we
look at people and we say on the outside
they look alike right but we don’t take
into account that people see things very
differently despite all other things
looking alike
anybody remember this phenomenon so how
many of you saw black and blue this is
actually not rhetorical right how many
of you saw white and gold
I was waiting gold as well how many saw
both is about five hands the point of
this experiment which admittedly at
first I had no idea what it was was that
we all have preconceptions about what
others see and I know of people who
tried to convince others that they were
wrong and that they should see it the
way they saw it but the fact of the
matter is everybody was right it was
actually more about biology and how your
eyes and your mind interpreted this
image but it was also about the
perspective of it where your eye focused
first for me I looked right at address
because we’re trained to perform to
focus on the image that’s at the
forefront but for those who focus their
eye on the background color they
actually saw a different color no matter
how many times I tried I never saw black
and blue now now that we’ve covered what
people see on the outside is doesn’t
always mirror what we see and what we
know people are on the inside let’s go
to the next topic go to diversity this
concept is in everything and it’s
everywhere today the concept of
increasing diversity is all around us
it’s in mission statements and value
statements at corporations companies
even have to have positions that are
catered to helping increase diversity
their diversity champions their
diversity officers and if you’re Serena
Williams you’re the newest board member
of SurveyMonkey with a sole goal of
increasing diversity not just in that
corporation but also in the tech
industry at large you see my point is
not to discount diversity as a concept
or belittle it or the contrary what I
want to say to you today is that we
should look beyond just who people are
on the outside it’s not just about
hiring more women or more people of
color it’s about hiring people who have
a diverse background diversity of
perspectives
we should ask more about what people go
through by the time they come to a
certain point in their life their
adversities the triumphs and tragedies
that they have experienced it is these
things that really make up a true
identity of who we are it’s quite easy
to just say yes your woman yes you’re a
man yes you’re this or yes you’re that
we should move beyond just trying to
send weaknesses and really ask those
deep questions so I want you to think
back again to the puzzle pieces that
make up your life think about your work
and your classrooms think about wherever
it is that you spend most of your time
do you know the people in those places I
mean really know them do you know the
pieces I make up their lives you see in
this day and age again we make such
quick determinations about one another
without really giving much thought as to
who people are we’ve stopped having deep
conversations with one another all in
favor of 140-character chats now you see
people frequently calling each other
friends and best friends on Facebook and
celebrating anniversaries for things but
truly people don’t know who we are and I
can only come by us sharing our
experiences a lot of times when we do
ask these questions people think we’re
prying or we’re just trying to get too
close
well my challenge to you today is that
you should get close you should pry
respectfully and genuinely because it’s
nothing worse than prying disingenuously
get to know one another
you really will find that you have a lot
in common with people that you otherwise
might not even give a second glance to
that quick hello you did today
might even blossom into something more a
friendship so please do take time after
this to say hello to one another not
just in 10 seconds but ask something
else
this brings me to my next point so as
the person who introduced me mentioned I
come from a policymaking background and
throughout my experiences in this
process
I noticed that culture really didn’t
play a whole lot
into this and I often wondered why not a
lot of times is there a cultural
argument for or against or certain
policy but there are times when it’s
warranted and this usually surfaces in
health policy because health care more
than anything else serves at the heart
of who we are and it does affect us
directly you see health policy is not
just black or white or as I like to call
it chicken our beef if anything it’s
more like a soup because once it’s said
and done the things that factor in are
more and we cannot even separate them
afterwards we can’t take out the
ingredients afterwards so I’ll give you
another example so early on in my career
I worked for a healthcare nonprofit that
cater to Hispanic and Latino communities
and my job was to work with other
minority organizations to make sure that
these groups were represented and our
chief job was to educate lawmakers not
just on these communities and their
needs but on the why why would a certain
policy or law disproportionately or
negatively affect these communities but
the biggest education was not in
teaching these lawmakers that it was the
education that I got not only did I
learn how similar my culture was to the
people that I served but as well I
learned that I don’t have to be from
these cultures or to be from these
communities to understand them to
emphasize with them to be sensitive to
them and ultimately to represent them in
discourse so what does this have to do
with you in this lovely nation of ours
we all have a voice but that voice in
order for it to be heard you must be
willing to share you must be willing to
speak your experiences you must be
willing to listen to other people’s
experiences you must be able to ask the
questions that elicit those experiences
you see today policy is everywhere
around us every day and every night
we’re surrounded by decisions we’re
surrounded by
news about policies about laws about
debates happening in Congress or even
here in our own home states we all have
a part to play in this
like I said lawmakers are not experts
and they too have to be educated on
things and a lot of that happens only if
we share our stories and our experiences
so if you imagine again the voices that
are in this room if we all about our
perspectives to the table imagine what a
beautiful and complete picture we could
all paint about the experiences of this
room today of our communities and our
world at large so again I tell you to
take advantage of all the diverse places
that you walk through that you live in
that you work in and that you go to
school in because you just might find
out again just how much in common you
have with people you see I took for
granted just a little bit not for most
of my college career but just what a
wonderful experience it was to be with
people from all walks of life with all
different experiences and as soon as I
notice that I started to take advantage
more you know of the people around me
and I encourage you to do the same you
see the biggest lesson that I have
learned so far in my young life I’m not
gonna say how old I am but anyway is
that as I walk through life I don’t walk
it alone
I don’t just simply walk it as myself
you see
I walk it as me as a daughter a sister a
Kenyan and an American a black woman a
lawyer a philanthropist a godmother can
you tell them a prime down mother and a
friend you see these are the puzzle
pieces that make up my life these are
the people and things that make up the
salad of Who I am they make me a reach a
rich individual and they influence what
I do in my life and how I react to
events so yet again I ask you what makes
you
you see we all have a unique identity a
unique perspective and we all have a
voice to lend to make this world a
better place so the last missing piece
again can only be answered by the
question who are you kind of like that
CSI song who are you well I’m Hilda
Morgan and I’m the sum of all my parts
thank you
[Applause]
so before I begin today I would like you
to just take 10 seconds and look around
you and say hi to the people around you
go
great thanks for doing that it’s quite
interesting actually being up here to
see you all do that because I was a mix
of waves handshakes some people are
smiling and laughing so I want I want to
ask you one thing
what did you see did you notice what
somebody was wearing their hair color
probably their gender a couple of other
things but what did you think of them
now look around you again and look at
that person don’t say anything you don’t
have to tell them what you think of them
I don’t want to embarrass you but I know
you’re probably making decisions and
conclusions about the people around you
now all of that was to kind of stall to
give you a chance to look at me and to
make judgments about me I know you’re
judging I would be too I can’t really
see all of you clearly right now but I’d
be judging you see it as these things
that we do that help inform how we see
each other and the conclusion of this
experiment is something you probably
already know we take on average about
seven seconds to make impressions to
others and to take in impressions of
others we then take those impressions to
make conclusions about one another and
determinations so you probably saw I’m a
woman great a black woman fantastic
black hair color couple gray streaks in
there can’t see my eye collar really
from up here but I have brown eyes now I
want to tell you a little bit about
myself I was born in Kenya in Nairobi
but I actually grew up in a small town
outside of that because it’s really not
small it’s its own town all the same
called me arey I moved to Baltimore when
I was ten years old with my family I’ve
been in the US ever since I’ve been
privileged to live and work in over
three in three countries and traveled to
dozens more places you see all of these
things have influenced Who I am I’ve
also been fortunate to have very diverse
friends people from all walks of life
different nationalities cultures and
backgrounds you see that is these things
that are hard to know within the first
ten seconds that you meet somebody
now if you look around this room again
would you know who is in this room just
by looking at them in the first seven to
ten seconds would you have known all
this about me
probably not you see throughout my life
culture and cultural diversity have been
at the forefront again I’ve been
fortunate to have such a wonderful group
of friends and through our friendships
we have taught each other about our
traditions through shared meals
celebrations and also by just having
conversations with one another this is a
picture that was taken a few years ago
at a baby welcoming ceremony that in my
culture we call Anita and these are my
friends people would always question me
about what these look like and I said
one day why don’t you come and
experience it and they did so this was
all to show you just how diverse we all
are now I imagine your life as a jigsaw
puzzle what would be the pieces that
make up who you are for me it would be
my face my family my heritage my travels
my favorite foods again I’m from
Baltimore
my friends my godson and my love for
philanthropy education and the arts now
if all these pieces make up little old
me what would the pieces that make up
this room today
imagine the pieces that would fill up
this room your workplaces your
classrooms even your local coffee shop
so I’ve asked you who are you and what
would your puzzle pieces be you see in
today’s world we focus a lot on racial
diversity and not so much on cultural
diversity not so much on really who what
makes up who we are you see sometimes we
look at people and we say on the outside
they look alike right but we don’t take
into account that people see things very
differently despite all other things
looking alike
anybody remember this phenomenon so how
many of you saw black and blue this is
actually not rhetorical right how many
of you saw white and gold
I was waiting gold as well how many saw
both is about five hands the point of
this experiment which admittedly at
first I had no idea what it was was that
we all have preconceptions about what
others see and I know of people who
tried to convince others that they were
wrong and that they should see it the
way they saw it but the fact of the
matter is everybody was right it was
actually more about biology and how your
eyes and your mind interpreted this
image but it was also about the
perspective of it where your eye focused
first for me I looked right at address
because we’re trained to perform to
focus on the image that’s at the
forefront but for those who focus their
eye on the background color they
actually saw a different color no matter
how many times I tried I never saw black
and blue now now that we’ve covered what
people see on the outside is doesn’t
always mirror what we see and what we
know people are on the inside let’s go
to the next topic go to diversity this
concept is in everything and it’s
everywhere today the concept of
increasing diversity is all around us
it’s in mission statements and value
statements at corporations companies
even have to have positions that are
catered to helping increase diversity
their diversity champions their
diversity officers and if you’re Serena
Williams you’re the newest board member
of SurveyMonkey with a sole goal of
increasing diversity not just in that
corporation but also in the tech
industry at large you see my point is
not to discount diversity as a concept
or belittle it or the contrary what I
want to say to you today is that we
should look beyond just who people are
on the outside it’s not just about
hiring more women or more people of
color it’s about hiring people who have
a diverse background diversity of
perspectives
we should ask more about what people go
through by the time they come to a
certain point in their life their
adversities the triumphs and tragedies
that they have experienced it is these
things that really make up a true
identity of who we are it’s quite easy
to just say yes your woman yes you’re a
man yes you’re this or yes you’re that
we should move beyond just trying to
send weaknesses and really ask those
deep questions so I want you to think
back again to the puzzle pieces that
make up your life think about your work
and your classrooms think about wherever
it is that you spend most of your time
do you know the people in those places I
mean really know them do you know the
pieces I make up their lives you see in
this day and age again we make such
quick determinations about one another
without really giving much thought as to
who people are we’ve stopped having deep
conversations with one another all in
favor of 140-character chats now you see
people frequently calling each other
friends and best friends on Facebook and
celebrating anniversaries for things but
truly people don’t know who we are and I
can only come by us sharing our
experiences a lot of times when we do
ask these questions people think we’re
prying or we’re just trying to get too
close
well my challenge to you today is that
you should get close you should pry
respectfully and genuinely because it’s
nothing worse than prying disingenuously
get to know one another
you really will find that you have a lot
in common with people that you otherwise
might not even give a second glance to
that quick hello you did today
might even blossom into something more a
friendship so please do take time after
this to say hello to one another not
just in 10 seconds but ask something
else
this brings me to my next point so as
the person who introduced me mentioned I
come from a policymaking background and
throughout my experiences in this
process
I noticed that culture really didn’t
play a whole lot
into this and I often wondered why not a
lot of times is there a cultural
argument for or against or certain
policy but there are times when it’s
warranted and this usually surfaces in
health policy because health care more
than anything else serves at the heart
of who we are and it does affect us
directly you see health policy is not
just black or white or as I like to call
it chicken our beef if anything it’s
more like a soup because once it’s said
and done the things that factor in are
more and we cannot even separate them
afterwards we can’t take out the
ingredients afterwards so I’ll give you
another example so early on in my career
I worked for a healthcare nonprofit that
cater to Hispanic and Latino communities
and my job was to work with other
minority organizations to make sure that
these groups were represented and our
chief job was to educate lawmakers not
just on these communities and their
needs but on the why why would a certain
policy or law disproportionately or
negatively affect these communities but
the biggest education was not in
teaching these lawmakers that it was the
education that I got not only did I
learn how similar my culture was to the
people that I served but as well I
learned that I don’t have to be from
these cultures or to be from these
communities to understand them to
emphasize with them to be sensitive to
them and ultimately to represent them in
discourse so what does this have to do
with you in this lovely nation of ours
we all have a voice but that voice in
order for it to be heard you must be
willing to share you must be willing to
speak your experiences you must be
willing to listen to other people’s
experiences you must be able to ask the
questions that elicit those experiences
you see today policy is everywhere
around us every day and every night
we’re surrounded by decisions we’re
surrounded by
news about policies about laws about
debates happening in Congress or even
here in our own home states we all have
a part to play in this
like I said lawmakers are not experts
and they too have to be educated on
things and a lot of that happens only if
we share our stories and our experiences
so if you imagine again the voices that
are in this room if we all about our
perspectives to the table imagine what a
beautiful and complete picture we could
all paint about the experiences of this
room today of our communities and our
world at large so again I tell you to
take advantage of all the diverse places
that you walk through that you live in
that you work in and that you go to
school in because you just might find
out again just how much in common you
have with people you see I took for
granted just a little bit not for most
of my college career but just what a
wonderful experience it was to be with
people from all walks of life with all
different experiences and as soon as I
notice that I started to take advantage
more you know of the people around me
and I encourage you to do the same you
see the biggest lesson that I have
learned so far in my young life I’m not
gonna say how old I am but anyway is
that as I walk through life I don’t walk
it alone
I don’t just simply walk it as myself
you see
I walk it as me as a daughter a sister a
Kenyan and an American a black woman a
lawyer a philanthropist a godmother can
you tell them a prime down mother and a
friend you see these are the puzzle
pieces that make up my life these are
the people and things that make up the
salad of Who I am they make me a reach a
rich individual and they influence what
I do in my life and how I react to
events so yet again I ask you what makes
you
you see we all have a unique identity a
unique perspective and we all have a
voice to lend to make this world a
better place so the last missing piece
again can only be answered by the
question who are you kind of like that
CSI song who are you well I’m Hilda
Morgan and I’m the sum of all my parts
thank you
[Applause]
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