Discrimination

For many years, I wondered why I had an accent and other people didn’t, why people laughed when I made mistakes speaking English, why men discriminated against female CEOs and why corporate promotions were based on what type of degree you had? 

Society can be very cruel at times and that’s why we must be very aware of not allowing certain remarks to create limitations in our lives.  I find racial and gender specific discrimination very disrespectful and I have zero tolerance for them.  These hurtful comments can stay with you forever and they can be very destructive in someone’s life.  I do not find it funny and have no problem speaking up if someone is discriminating against another person.

I will never get people to stop making fun of my accent, my English mistakes and funny bloopers when I speak at times.  It is something I have learned to accept and I laugh about it every day.  However, for many years I found them offensive and felt limited because I didn’t sound like an American.  I knew I was capable of doing more but, because people made fun of me I became insecure and feared public speaking and writing.  Eventually, I learned to overcome these insecurities by trying regardless of what other people said.  My life changed when I decided to live my life and ignore any negative comments or opinions.

I never experienced gender specific discrimination until I built my own company.  It was during a meeting where we were finalizing terms and negotiations with another company to do business together.   Our male technology director had just finished presenting to the other company’s CEO.   After the presentation the company’s CEO asked, “Who is responsible for signing the contract?”   Our technology director pointed his finger towards me and said, “You need to speak with her.”  Then the CEO said, “I want to speak with your company’s CEO not his administrative assistant.”  I stood up, walked over to him with confidence and said, “I decide who I do business with since I am the CEO of this company.”  And he said, “You are a very smart woman to have such a talented team.”  I never felt so disgusted by someone assuming a male had to be the one running a company.

There were many times in my corporate career where I was told I couldn’t get the promotion because I didn’t speak English well or because I didn’t have a college degree.   People can discriminate all they want but, I know that when you work hard anything is possible.  I might not speak perfect English or have a college degree but my determination has proven itself time and time again and has given me the opportunity to have a successful business.  It’s not about having the perfect education or degree; it’s about just doing it and believing in yourself!

This is GOALYGO!

Yanira ALY Nazario :))