As Berlin’s Christopher Street Day approaches we wanted to take this opportunity to sit down with three of our Heroes to discuss with them what it means to be authentic in the workplace, how the pandemic has influenced them and their activism, and how this plays into the importance and role of community in their lives.
We spoke with Patricia Pierre, Manager of Talent Acquisition, Sascha Babaev, Category Manager of Marketing & Supply Chain, Global Procurement, and Shahinya Häckel, Specialist Atlassian Administrator, to hear their thoughts on Pride and how they foster community at Delivery Hero.
What does community mean to you?
Having said that having a sense of community helps me and others in my community to feel our identity from one side and to be part of the community and team from the other side.
Shahinya: Groups of people with a regular presence in my life, that have two foundational characteristics – respectful interaction and solitary behavior. It can be anyone – starting with family members, friends, current but also former co-workers, neighbors, local suppliers, and so on.
How did you find community at Delivery Hero?
Pattie: My ideal community would be a space where we recognize the experiences we have in common without minimizing the challenges that our unique identities present us with. A place where everyone can be fully themselves!
Sascha: In general it depends where you came from, where you grew up. When you work in an office that has a lack of diversity even a lack of an open mindset, showing your pride might cause trouble.
Pattie: When I joined Delivery Hero I was lucky to find a community within my team. They’re a diverse group of individuals who are really a pleasure to work with and from whom I learn something new every day. After I settled in I started to actively seek out ERGs to be a part of and I found the Proud Heroes which helped me to connect with the LGBTQ community and find ways to get more involved as well.
Sascha: If I remember correctly it was Tomasz Kowalski (Co-chair of the Proud Heroes) who explained to me what the community was about and introduced me to everyone. I was met with a very warm and positive welcome by the active community members.
Shahinya: Delivery Hero offers a supportive, understanding, and tolerant community, which enables you to unleash your potential and work on professional and personal growth. This can happen within cross-functional work/tasks or participating in various programs tailored for the Heroes. Only to name a few – at Delivery Hero I was able to connect with inspiring people by joining language exchange and Female Heroes programs.
What role did your community play in your life during the pandemic?
Pattie: While it was hard to only be able to connect virtually most of the time, I still valued those connections very much.
Sascha: It was a very good release, a change of activities, a change of mood, and contact with super-positive people when other opportunities for contact were limited.
Shahinya: It was very impressive to see how various people in my community have stuck together trying to motivate each other to bear through the tough COVID time.
How does your community help you to speak up?
Pattie: I think in some cases your community can prevent you from speaking up when the issues you are trying to address make people uncomfortable about their blind spots. On the other hand, when you feel supported by your community, to be honest, this can also enable you to speak up.
Sascha: We are still the same person. We should still stay ourselves at all times and not be afraid of that. The community helps me to be creative, to be emphatic to different people, not hide myself, and even sometimes to tell people my story.
Shahinya: By helping me to better reflect on controversial topics and take different perspectives into consideration with the result being able to differentiate on arguments and undermine those with personal experience as well as facts.
What does activism mean to you?
Pattie: I believe that activism can take many different forms, you can be out on the front lines marching and protesting, and this kind of visibility is very important and powerful. To me, it’s just as important to practice activism in your daily life by speaking up against injustice in all its forms, whenever you see it.
Sascha: There are so many negative things happening in the world right now, coronavirus for instance; you can’t celebrate Pride as we usually do but we need to promote and celebrate Pride and we still need to show Pride for the things that really matter in the world. This is just a small example of what activism means for me.
Shahinya: In the first place it is for me not to look away when people are in need of help. Activism starts with actively listing and offering support also when people do not actively demand it. Everyone does as much as is bearable for them.
How do you practice activism during a pandemic?
Pattie: Social media is a great tool for reaching out to others, often in greater numbers than you could in person. The pandemic really exacerbated inequalities that were already present in our society, and with many people stuck at home, it was a great opportunity to get people’s attention and show them how those inequalities affected those they may not usually have any contact with.
Sascha: Pandemic is a rather difficult topic for everybody and especially doing something which brings positive results for everybody in the future: for the community members and the community itself. And, well, it was kind of a search for collaboration with some other communities, even with those which are abroad, some NGOs which we can support or at least share the ideas, internal and external visibility research.
Shahinya: Helping neighbors to do their groceries but also reaching out to friends and colleagues to check on their mental wellbeing. But also sharing knowledge on setting up online tools to facilitate home office and homeschooling.
What does it mean to be your authentic self at work?
Pattie: Not having to deny or hide any aspects of my identity to keep the peace.
Sascha: Awareness of being myself at work, to trust myself. And I believe it is so important both for myself and for others. And show that to the world.
Shahinya: Often being authentic is associated with acting in a way that does not antagonize others. For me, authenticity is being able to express myself in line with my emotions and personal core values.
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