October is Global Diversity Awareness Month and Here’s How We’re Celebrating

Remix

Remixers enjoying virtual lunch together during Asian Pacific Islander (API) Heritage Month.

At Remix, we believe that diversity makes every community stronger, at both the national and the local level. We believe in challenging ourselves and our communities to not only include, but honor and amplify, diverse voices. That’s why we’re excited to celebrate Global Diversity Awareness Month as a company.

Throughout the month of October, we’ll join the world in celebrating the power of diversity and inclusion. We want to honor how diversity strengthens our communities, broadens our perspectives, and moves us forward.

Celebrating Diversity at Remix

For Remix, community building has always been at the core of our mission. We strive to empower agencies to build equitable, safe, accessible transportation networks that create more livable cities. Our city customers serve diverse communities, and we rely on the diverse perspectives of Remixers to help them do that.

We love that every Remixer has a unique background, and we value honoring that diversity all year long. Already this year, Remix has celebrated Black History Month and Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

Our Remixers have made amazing contributions to those celebrations. Some have shared their personal and professional experiences, while others have worked to bring forward resources that highlight diverse voices.

Here are just a few of the ways Remix promotes and celebrates diversity and inclusion.

Building Traditions for Black History Month

Remix recognized Black History Month in February 2020 with activities centered on the theme of Black Excellence.

The month started with designing a series of stickers celebrating Black Excellence. The stickers featured Maya Angelou, Audley Cole, and Mary Ellen Pleasant—successful artists, entrepreneurs, and mavericks in their respective fields who also have a history of advocating public transportation. In a nod to the continuing fight for equality, the stickers used a font inspired by protest signs from the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike The strike was led primarily by Black employees and joined by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Stickers designed by Chris Arvin to honor and celebrate Black transportation advocates.

Every day in February, Remixers shared personal or learned stories on our #blackhistorymonth Slack channel and created a lending library at our office where employees borrowed each other’s books written primarily by Black authors.

Remix's product manager Sarah Bindman moonlights as the Remix librarian.

Remixers also organized an internal donation drive for St. Anthony’s Foundation, an organization that provides shelter, food, and goods for the unhoused in San Francisco, a population where Black Americans are disproportionately represented.

Over the years, Remix is lucky to have built a network of thoughtful, innovative planning professionals. Back in February, Remix HQ invited a brilliant panel of transportation planners to join “Wine Friday” and lead a discussion on inclusive planning.

Shireen Brathwaite (Remix) hosts Danielle Harris (Elemental Excelerator), Chiamaka Ogwuegbu (SFMTA), Ariel Ward (SFMTA), and Jamario Jackson (TransForm) for a roundtable on inclusive planning.

Frank conversation and space to celebrate help amplify the voices of underrepresented groups that lead to collective action.

Celebrating Diversity From Home: Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Black History Month was just the beginning of celebrating diversity at Remix in 2020. In May, Remixers were all remote, but the company still wanted to celebrate Asian Pacific Islander (API) Heritage Month. In lieu of in-person events, Remix’s office manager organized “Takeout Tuesday” lunches with everyone ordering from their favorite local Asian restaurants and gathering over Zoom for community and conversation.

We also created an #api-heritagemonth Slack channel where Remixers could share the stories of their heritage. The stories we collected were inspiring and full of love, courage, kindness, and strength. Each one reminded us of what we have to gain from learning about our colleagues’ diverse backgrounds.  

Stories of Our Diverse Heritage

One Remixer told us about her family who moved from Korea to California, where she and her sisters were able to experience rich multi-cultural and multilingual communities that she says “define America.”

Another employee proudly shared the story of parents who immigrated to the US with $7 and two children to care for. They worked 12 to 15 hours a day to build a home from scratch, grow their family, and eventually open a florist shop. One of their children, a proud Remixer, is now building her own floral business.

Another Remixer comes from a Tamil family who moved from India to the United States when he was a young child. He “spent much of [his] childhood navigating that gap — everything from American accents to American food to the way kids hung out took time to get used to.” That experience of cultural adaptation taught him what it means to take a personal leap of faith.

These are just some of the stories that have made our team members who they are. We’re proud to share them and, more importantly, learn from them.

We Are Our Community

At Remix, we believe diversity isn’t just a buzzword to acknowledge or celebrate one month of the year. It’s a vital aspect of our company culture, inextricable from our success as a business. Global Diversity Awareness Month is one more opportunity for us to honor the many voices that make our transportation planning company what it is.

This month, in addition to Global Diversity Awareness, we are also celebrating Latinx Heritage Month. We’ll hear from Latinx Remixers soon, so stay tuned.