Category Archives: Inclusion

Diversity and Inclusion

Generational, Levine articles

Letter Home from WW II Soldier – Courtesy of Deborah Levine

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On special occasions, Veterans & Memorial Day, I reread this letter from a young soldier, my father, Aaron Levine to his dear wife. On the verge of being deployed to Europe during World War II, he wrote this 1944 note. He writes my pregnant mother who came to NYC to see him off, but missed him.  My father didn’t see his son until he was one year old. Aaron Levine passed away at age 84 and worked on community projects even on his death bed. 
 Literary, practical, loving, and compulsively methodical, here is his WW II good-bye letter …

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Levine articles, LGBTQ

Volkswagen and Women Who Rock – by Deborah Levine

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Women who rockOver the years, I’ve attended press conferences, graduations, receptions, and concerts at Volkswagen Chattanooga’s conference center, but I’ve never before seen it decorated entirely in pink. The event was the first ever Volkswagen Women Who Rock Awards Brunch. After having my picture taken in the photo booth wearing a pink Volkswagen hard hat, I meandered through the crowd waiting to hear from the keynote speaker, Julie Baumgardner, CEO and Founder of Chattanooga’s family oriented nonprofit, First Things First.

Women Who rock
Women Who Rock attendees

We watched profiles of the award nominees on the overhead screens as we listened to each of their favorite songs. It was a musical lesson in diversity. True to Volkswagen’s techie mindset, the playlist could be downloaded on Spotify. After much munching and brunching, we were brought to attention by Shireena Avery, the Volkswagen Diversity Sponsor to the featured Employee Resource Groups (ERG). The Women Who Rock program got underway with Megan Herndon, President of Volkswagen’s Women in Motion ERG.

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Authors R-Z, Women in STEM

STEM Dilemma: Female Drought or Flex Famine? – by Paul Rupert

… Tech companies in dozens of states, and the educational infrastructure that supplies their workforces, are approaching consensus that the problem of “too few women” in high-tech is essentially a pipeline problem. And at the rate things are going, this conclusion will lead to front-loading the pipe at a rate Keystone’s advocates could only envy.

Every day it seems another Federal program, public initiative or round of personal or foundation funding is rolled out to accelerate the entry of women and minorities into STEM fields (Science,Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). This supply side solution could prove to be an expensive and long-term patch that requires a major shift in already challenged educational priorities.

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Advisors, Generational

Career Success Roadmap for Millennials & Gen Z – By David B. Grinberg

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Small children have big dreams. As a kid I wanted to be everything from a NASA astronaut to a Major League Baseball star. Yet as most people age and mature their dreams tend to evaporate and morph into something more practical and attainable. But impractical does not mean impossible. That is, if you’re ready and willing to work for it and go the extra miles.  As a Gen Xer, I want to share some professional advice for young people who are pondering their dream jobs, preparing to start new jobs, or trying to climb the career ladder at a young age.

It’s no secret that building a strong work ethic helps lay the foundation for future success. But it’s also worth noting that early career success is usually earned incrementally, starting from the bottom up.

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Of Women

Empowering Arab Women in the Workplace – by John White

How Silatech created 600 jobs for women in Somalia … An update on International Women’s Day, a day that recognizes the social, cultural, and economic achievements of women. Once celebrated in only a few countries where women fought for equality, the event has now spread to all groups, countries, and organizations everywhere.

In Lahore, Pakistan, NPR followed the women in their first-ever march for equal rights on International Women’s Day. Hundreds of women came together for the same reason, giving women a proper education so they can obtain successful careers. Journalist Haleema Shah spoke with one of the thousands of women there who defined freedom as, “the ability to own a business and the understanding that such endeavors should not be considered avenues to indecency.” Women’s social standing is changing with the help of a new program created by the regional social organization in Qatar, called Silatech.

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Commerce, Of Women

Interview #3: How to Grow as an Entrepreneur with Katja Matosevic 

Inspired by the response to my article, 2018 Challenges for Women Entrepreneurs and How to Overcome Them, I initiated this series of interviews called, How to Grow as an Entrepreneur. The interviews are a mentoring experience for women across the world, an inspirational relationship based on trust and mutual respect which benefits anyone reading about and reflecting on the amazing journey of each of these women.

Meet Katja Matosevic, CEO & Co-founder at Geo Target/Geo-marketing. Katja moved to Italy in 2009 and started from the scratch. She worked for years as an associate for a company and then in 2014, due to fibromyalgia, she had to reinvent herself. When she gained her strength, she started her own company. During that process, she started practicing yoga to take care of her health. Katja loves yoga, meditation, and is serious about healthy eating.

She loves Neuroscience (related to human behavior that uses that in retail too) with a holistic approach. All that is the basis of human behavior captures her interest. She loves working with numbers and statistics and  says that integrating ‘behind the scenes’ is what makes the difference in retail.

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Advisors, Authors A-H, Of Women

Women’s History Month Tribute to Longest Serving Woman in Congress – By David B. Grinberg

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POP QUIZ: What elite body of the world’s most democratic government still has a conspicuous scarcity of women in today’s modern era?
ANSWER: The United States Senate, of course, which is one of the most traditionally male dominated workplaces in American history.
The Senate has an unflattering age-old reputation of being a “Good ‘Ole Boys Club” comprised mainly of privileged rich white men. In fact, women’s representation in the Senate has been dismally low for over 200 long years — even though women now comprise half of the U.S. labor force and earn more college degrees than men, according to government data.

Yet there’s one female former senator who has been an unsung hero and trailblazer for women’s rights inside and outside the U.S. Capitol for decades. She recently resigned from the 114 Congress after becoming the longest-serving woman in Congressional history (House and Senate combined).

Nevertheless, few Americans outside of the Washington-DC area know her name — much less her groundbreaking achievements for women in a legislative body dominated by men for 228 years and counting.

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Authors R-Z, Of Women

How to Grow as an Entrepreneur with Deborah Levine – by Fatima Williams

Deborah Levine
ADR Editor-in-Chief Deborah Levine

My interview with Deborah Levine is the second in the series  inspired by the response to my article, 2018 Challenges for Women Entrepreneurs and How to Overcome Them.  Around the world, women entrepreneurs face major challenges, but many inspire us to establish the Golden Era of Women Entrepreneurship. My interviews with these women leaders are truly amazing moments as they “Pass the Baton” on to aspiring entrepreneurs.

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Authors A-H, Of Women, Uncategorized

Juggling Balloons and Life- by Terry Howard

March is Women’s History Month. I had that in mind when I started writing on the significance of that recognition. That is until I came across an eye opening piece, “The boys are not right,” in the February 21 issue of The New York Times by Michael Black. He wrote it in part in response to the recent shootings in Florida where 17 students lost their lives. The shooter –as is the case with the majority of mass shootings in America – was a young man.

Men feel isolated, confused and conflicted about their natures. Many feel that the very qualities that used to define them — their strength, aggression and competitiveness — are no longer wanted or needed; many others never felt strong or aggressive or competitive to begin with. We don’t know how to be, and we’re terrified.

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Authors A-H, Religious Diversity

Today’s Idolatry of Symbols – by William Hicks

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This essay is written to address how we have devolved into a form of idolatry through the proliferation and use of symbols. Symbols are used to evoke a set of behavioral expectations to which we are beholden to subscribe if we are to be deemed acceptable by others. Symbols are all too often the proxies used to substitute for meaningful interaction and relationship. They are designed to reduce fear and risk, but they often mitigate against the courage necessary to relate meaningfully to each other.

For thousands of years, we have lived our lives largely in response to symbols- religious, political, social, natural- to the point today that we substitute symbols for relationship substance. We think because someone wears a cross he must be a Christian or a hijab she must be a Muslim, or emblazon their clothing with the American flag they must be a patriot. Symbols govern our expectations of what to anticipate in the behavior of others but this can be confusing, and often misleading.

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