Kimia Koushesh She is a Colombian who fights against discrimination of all kinds (gender, race, sexual orientation) and she does it wherever she is. She now from Spain and before from Colombia.
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You were not really born in Colombia, although you grew up there…
I am Iranian by birth, where all my family is from. My parents decided to move to Colombia when I was four years old. Since then I have been there all the time. When they ask me where you are from, I say that I am Iranian by birth, but Colombian at heart, which is my home and where I grew up.
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In fact, you studied at the Universidad de los Andes. Tell us about your career and how you ended up in Seville, where you are now
In Colombia I had the opportunity to study at the Universidad de los Andes, where I graduated as a chemical engineer. I also spent time working with my parents, who showed me a bit about the Middle Eastern culture, and traveling around Colombia. After graduation I was at Dow Chemical in Colombia. During the times of the pandemic, in search of a new adventure and professional growth, I went to do my master’s degree. I spent two years in Barcelona at ESADE and then got an internship at Amazon. Life introduced me to work in Seville.
When you were studying at the ESADE School of Business Administration, you received recognition, an award in some way, because you were included in a very important list as one of the brightest students of the business master’s degrees. tell us about it
I came to do the MBA in search of a bit of background and business knowledge. I was working at Dow in the commercial part, in sales, and I realized that I needed a little more knowledge in the administration and business part, and in search of that knowledge I went to ESADE, in Barcelona, where I always I had dreamed of living. I love football and I am a big fan of Barça. I never thought that I would find more paths towards my purpose and what motivates me the most…
I remember perfectly: the day I started my master’s degree with the hope of learning about business, they were talking about a new inclusion role within our student council and I felt that it spoke to my heart. I thought that I was super aligned with the person I am and with the purposes I had before working. I had the opportunity to be the first person in this role within the university and I carried out different activities in the company of my other colleagues. Among them, something we call elephant talks, a week totally dedicated to inclusion in universities and a multicultural party. And it gave me the opportunity to approach one by one the 183 students that we were in the MBA.
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I feel that this also allowed me to connect with companies like Amazon that are very aligned on this topic and I was able to carry out my practice. I found just what the future had in store for me. Many times we look for some recognition with a lot of effort, but sometimes when we do things because we are really passionate about them and with authenticity, they come out. At the end of the graduation I had the opportunity to give the graduation speech, I won one of the ESADE awards and with those recognitions they nominated me for the “Best and Bright” list, which is a list of Poets & Quants, a platform of global MBAs, where they put the ranking of the best universities. I was included in the list of the hundred brilliant graduates of the world in 2023. I can represent Colombia, Iran, women and all the labels I carry.
What specifically were the activities to raise awareness of inclusion?
It was a difficult challenge being the first person to have this role. I was able to design it as I liked and I was fortunate to share it with 180 students of 40 different nationalities, with different mentalities. When I talked to each of these people I realized that each one had a story to tell. A story that was lost when we were in large groups and in the end we didn’t know each other, we weren’t really talking about our concerns, goals and purposes. The talk about the elephants is basically subject to sitting down and talking about that elephant in the room and that we usually do not approach for fear of what they will say.
The first one we had was about multiculturalism in our MBA and we talked about how we each deal with our diversity. In groups of ten or twelve people we openly talk about stereotypes and how images of people are linked to international news. They were unfiltered rooms where for two or three hours we asked ourselves questions and created a safe space to talk about these topics that we normally carry. We talk about gender and race equality and we create spaces of vulnerability. I think the greatest lesson we have learned is that we have all felt discriminated against at some point, we are all sometimes afraid to speak and it is very good to know that people are willing to listen.
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How does discrimination compare between Colombia and Spain?
I was four years old when I moved to Colombia from Iran and I remember perfectly when I was little and they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. Normally a girl would answer “doctor”, “police”, “chef”… And at the age of five I said: “I want to show the world that I am not a terrorist”. It shows the depth that a five-year-old is thinking about such a strong subject.
In Latin America sometimes it does not use the idea of the Middle East nor in the Middle East does it have an idea of Latin America. When I traveled to Iran they told me that in Colombia we live in the jungle, and when I was in Colombia they told me that Iranians live in the desert and we are terrorists.
As I grew up and with the development of communication and social networks, a very different world has awakened, where we increasingly have more perspective on things. In Spain he learned a lot, he saw that there are differences in each country in terms of equity, racism, stereotypes, sexual orientation. We carry internal and unconscious discrimination.
And given your experience and what you’ve shared with your peers, what can we do to combat it?
That is the question that I wake up with every day and that motivates me to keep going. In the course of my life, I had to show in Colombia what the Iranians are like, then what a Colombian woman is like in the world, then I became an engineer… So I am an Iranian, a Muslim, a Latina, a woman, an engineer and every time I advance I go loading more tags. Each interaction that we have shows an idea of what we are, each interaction that we share with a person can change the mentality with respect to all the labels that we carry.
It is a responsibility that ultimately comes with the privileges of each one of us wherever we are. I consider myself a very privileged person because of the mix of cultures he has had, because of the opportunities he has had, but I think my privilege comes from this voice of how to change people’s opinions. I think we should start from very small actions on a day-to-day basis, like asking a person how they really are, what their story is.
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Knowing the history of people allows us to understand what has happened, where it came from and where we are going. We must also be open and vulnerable to share ours. Each interaction is an opportunity to change a perspective and little by little give our bit. So you have to ask and listen. The most difficult challenge is to listen and be open.
How has the development of social networks influenced discrimination?
That too controversial. There are times when obviously a social network allows you to post opinions from everywhere and open them to the world in a very exposed way. There are others in which it is about marketing strategies to continue moving networks. Anyway, I think it has changed in terms of news reaching all parts of the world faster. However, it also depends on the criteria and intentions of the person. It is a great platform for information to reach. I would say that it has positive parts, but in the end it can also be a shot in the air.
Now in Spain there is a great controversy because a Real Madrid player was the victim of terrible insults for being black and, in addition, a doll appeared with a shirt of his hanging from a bridge. What do you think of that? Do you think that in Spain it has gotten worse lately or that in these massive events people let themselves go and bring out that hidden part that gives other aspects dominate?
It is something that breaks my heart. I’m a big soccer fan, but I never believe that soccer should cross these boundaries. There is something very important in the question you ask me and it is the role played by the masses, which seems to me the greatest danger. Perhaps a person as such does not think this way, but when he is in a mass he falls under that collective pressure to express some forms and feelings or thoughts that are wrong. I think it is one of the dangers that we have as a society when we are not able to get away from those masses.
There is definitely something very curious in the world of football: it is too strong a platform. When a World Cup happens, for everyone. The country that wins collapses. It has a giant power. It seems unimaginable that players continue to have to go through this situation. I feel a lot of admiration because it takes a lot of courage to come out publicly and say I feel discriminated against. He feels discriminated against and yet he has to stay calm, he has to deal with it and try to show the world why he is wrong. You are now having a role of changing perspectives and changing people. What is happening is unfortunate, but I find it admirable that Vinicius has found the voice to stand up and I hope that it will serve as a way of learning and as a channel to continue breaking these stereotypes, which are hidden but at least now they are coming to light.
Is there a note of optimism there?
If there weren’t, it would just be a very sad thing. I think you have to look for the positive side. When something similar has happened to me, I feel that it is very hard at the moment, but that it is an opportunity to change the perspective of many people and it is a way to continue making changes.
What’s next for you now?
ESADE was that channel that showed me what business is like, but above all it gave me the opportunity to get to know myself, to see my dreams, to say that this is what I really want. I start a working career in Seville, but that does not change the fact that I want to continue being the bearer of a voice that increases diversity and inclusion issues wherever I go. It’s a conversation I’ll always have. I have plans to continue publishing about my two countries, Iran and Colombia, and see how to continue contributing little by little. I open the platform of this invitation to anyone who wants to talk with me and work together in this collective work.
JUANITA SAMPER OSPINA
WEATHER CORRESPONDENT
MADRID
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