GLOBE: A place to belong and understand other cultures.
By: Chelsey S., Sr Manager, Communications
April is national Celebrate Diversity Month, and GLOBE, a diverse and multicultural community, and one of Schwab’s employee resource groups (ERGs), is welcoming everyone to celebrate.
Founded in 2019, GLOBE was formed out of a drive to create a positive environment to celebrate cultural differences and bridge gaps between employees, clients, and communities. The idea was to bring many different cultures together under one ERG to create shared understanding.
A community of belonging
“GLOBE is about learning,” explains Ama N., a member of the GLOBE national board. “We want to create that safe space where you can say, ‘Hey, I don’t understand you, but I want to.’”
Ama, who is from Ghana, and moved the United States 10 years ago, explains that when she started her career at Schwab, she was in a client-facing role, and one of the things that helped her most was the community of support that was built up around her in that role. She wanted to recreate that feeling with the international community at Schwab.
“It helps to have a community of belonging; to have like-minded people. To be able to have tentacles that span other parts of the firm is really helpful,” explains Ama.
So she helped develop that community through GLOBE. GLOBE is Schwab’s youngest and fastest growing ERG, with around 2,700 current members, including new chapters in St. Louis and Singapore. In fact, GLOBE is the only ERG with a presence outside of the United States with chapters in Hong Kong and London as well.
“It’s been amazing to see the impact across the country and abroad,” says Ama.
A curiosity about culture
“One of the great things about GLOBE is that you get to know about another person’s culture,” explains Jocelyn J., another member of the GLOBE national board who was born in the U.S. and likes to tap into Jamaican, Moroccan, and West Indies culture, mostly through food. “And when the time comes to work together, you know more, and you can do better, because you understand other cultures and history, and just how they operate. And there’s a moment of ‘Oh, that’s cool, I get it now.’”
Understanding different cultures is a main goal of GLOBE. In fact, Toni S., the third member of the national board, who celebrates her German, French, Japanese, and Hawaiian heritage through travel, even recruited renowned international traveler and guidebook author, Rick Steves to speak to the Phoenix chapter to discuss how to engage with other cultures when traveling abroad.
A lot to look forward to
Toni expresses it the most succinctly, when she says, “GLOBE’s future is bright.” And there is a lot to look forward to.
“I am excited to see the growth of GLOBE and the many cultures that will be discovered by the masses at Schwab,” says Jocelyn. “Through GLOBE, a richness of history will be unveiled, and an advancement of diversity will be unearthed.”
(0424-TYUY)