The Value of Cultural Diversity at Civilitude
The next time you’re walking in your neighborhood, going to the office, or enjoying your favorite local spot, notice how much diversity exists around you in every direction. No matter where you are, diversity is all around you, particularly in a city like Austin, Texas. Last Friday, May 21st marked the calendar as World Day for Multicultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development; a day to appreciate multicultural diversity and spark a conversation of how diversity contributes to growth in multiple ways. Civilitude is the epitome of diversity in the workplace! We have employees who were born and raised around the United States and the world. As we all live in Austin now, everyone still has some place else to call their hometown.
A diverse staff brings many attributes to Civilitude. With some of our employees being from around the world, our office is filled with unique stories, conversations and foods every week. There is never a dull moment in our office as everyone comes from different backgrounds and are willing to always share their experiences. To go into a little more detail of where some Civilitude employees are from, continue reading to hear the words from a few individuals on their background and what diversity means to them. Our CEO and founder, Fayez Kazi was born and raised in Kuwait. Fayez shared a few thoughts on his experience of running Civilitude and how it has been to run a highly diverse company. “The community and leaders of Austin have been very welcoming of our contributions in housing, planning and community empowerment and our perspectives as Asian American Pacific Islanders with our unique cultural identities, pluralism and hard work ethic,” said Fayez.
Our project control coordinator at Constructinople, Sam, shared his experience of why he moved from his home country of Syria to Austin and how he views diversity. “I was born and raised in Syria, a very nice and beautiful country that was suffering for the last 12 years from a very horrible and terrifying civil war that made most of the Syrians leave their unfortunate country and look for a better place to live,” said Sam. He searched to find “peace and freedom” from what was happening in Syria, and the war there made him rethink about how “diversity is not just a term about a group of people with different ethnicity, race, color or religion that can live together in peace and respect.” Now living in Austin, Sam has found the city to be “one of the lovely cities that makes you feel this diversity mentality in a literal and wider term, and Civilitude Group is the best example of diversity and every individual has it in their minds and actions at the same time. I am so happy and proud of being a part of this group and being a part of Austin’s diverse culture where it feels like home again.”
Munther, one of our drafters at Civilitude, is from Iraq! He moved to Austin as he learned it was ranked as one of the top cities to live. For Munther, he finds Austin to be a “safe city with friendly people, warm weather and many job opportunities.” He finds diversity at Civilitude to be important and impressive as he believes “different cultures lead to growing the firm in the middle of the competitive market.”
Lastly, our Operations Manager Leslie shares her background of being born and raised in Mexico and having moved to the United States at a young age. Leslie’s parents moved their family to the United States as they believed doing so would bring more opportunities for her and her siblings in the future. Compared to her hometown, Leslie has found Austin much more culturally diverse. “I grew up in a place where we all lived very similar lives and believed in the same things. I fell in love with Austin because of the people I met here. They’ve helped me grow and learn things I didn’t even know about myself before,” said Leslie.
For closing thoughts on World Day of Multicultural Diversity for Dialogue and Discussion, reflect on every experience you have had with meeting new people from different cultures. As Leslie put it, “cultural diversity is more than meeting people that are different from you, it is growth, new experiences, new ideas, developing relationships and respect for others.”