- Hello, I'm Darius Hannah.
As I've gone through life,
I've experienced a variety of things
that have shaped who I am
and who I want to become.
I've been given an opportunity to go
to the Robert H. Smith School of Business
to represent something
greater than myself.
I asked myself if I'm alone in my world.
I've recruited a few students to sit down
and ask them some questions to see
if we can't find out the answers.
Just let me know when we're recording.
You ready?
- I think so.
- So here's my icebreaker.
I think that you have a nice beard.
- (laughs) Thanks.
- If you could think of your
family that came before you,
why would they be proud
of who you are today?
- I was the first one to go to grad school
and get my masters, purchased a house,
started a family, started my own business.
- I'm a Jewish American.
My ancestors came here
during the early 1900s,
so they missed the Holocaust,
but they still faced a lot
of discrimination because
of their religion.
I've always been raised to be a person
who sees everyone as equal
and to try and raise up people
who have been oppressed
the best that I can.
- I am intentional about
breaking generational curses.
I work very hard to foster peace
and independence and joy in my life.
- I think they'd be proud of me
because I always tried
to do the right thing.
And that's something
that's instilled in me
by the morals and the
values they taught me.
So it's not a simple
matter of right or wrong.
It's what you can do in the circumstances
with the tools you're given.
- I'm from Peru.
So all my relatives are from Peru as well.
I have some from Spain, so I
think they will be really proud
because they came from a
really humble beginning.
So the fact that I have been
able to even study abroad,
for instance, that's something
that I don't think they
even imagine as possible.
So being here in the US and
representing my country,
and I think that will
make them really proud.
- What unflattering assumptions
do people make about you?
- Oh, lord, people make a lot
of unflattering assumptions
about me, to be honest.
- Sometimes people think I'm fake.
I'm really energetic.
I sometimes have a
larger-than-life personality,
especially if I'm in a room
where I feel like it'd
be really authentic.
And for people who are just meeting me,
that can sometimes come
across as disingenuous.
Sometimes I have to work
hard and have relationships
be prolonged for people to realize
that that's just me, that's who I am.
- I'm of Indian descent, and oftentimes,
when I walk into a place that's frequented
by more Indians, they all
automatically assume I'm white.
just because of the way I look,
when that couldn't be
further from the truth.
- I think one of the most
unflattering assumptions
people can make about
me is that I am perfect
or I am striving for perfection.
I am not.
I find that what people think about you
has a lot more to say about how they feel
about themselves than it does you.
- Some people kind of
put a label on me from
a perspective of maybe what
I'm wearing or how I look
or think of me as one way,
just because of how you see
me walking down the street.
But it's not until you
really get to know me
that you really understand who I am.
It can be frustrating that way
because we're not
learning about each other
and we're not building
a stronger community
because of biases like that.
- I think that many people
assume that I am not active,
just looking at how I look.
I've been laughed at for that,
but it's just that I love playing sports.
I love walking, I love
running, I love hiking.
So I know that there are
some certain assumptions
which people make but I've been glad
that I've been able to
prove many of them wrong.
So I would say that these
unflattering assumptions
has actually helped me
improve as a person.
- I went to go play pickup
soccer at this event,
and I was probably the only one
or one of the only white guys there.
And some of the people there,
when they're passing the ball to me,
would call me white boy.
And that's unflattering
because that's not my name.
And that's not how I
would identify myself.
- When people first look at me,
I think sometimes they don't think
that I'm the most intelligent person,
especially being in education
and teaching and spheres
where I teach people who look like me.
There have been times where
I've had conversations
with people and then I'll say something.
It's like, "Oh, I didn't think that
"you would say something like that."
Why not?
- My country, or every country,
is portrayed in a certain conventional
and contemporary manner
within mainstream media.
And that leads people to
believe that those notions
or those characteristics
about that country
or community are true.
There have been occasions
where I have been put
on the same pedestal as a misogynist
because mainstream media
has portrayed my country
to be a place where
women's safety is an issue.
I have been questioned about my belief,
the words tolerance amongst
different parts of the community
because, again, my
nation has been portrayed
on mainstream media to be very fragmented
and socioeconomically divided
and constantly in this
turbulent environment
where people are willing
to fight each other
and have disputes and hostility.
- Misconceptions that
people have had about me
is that either I can't speak English
because of the cultural
stereotype that Asians
are very quiet or they don't speak up.
The assumption is that I would be quiet
or that I'm a pushover,
and that because of that,
people feel like it's okay to overlook.
- It's pretty obvious I'm Middle Eastern.
People do have a negative
stigma when it comes to Arabs.
You tell someone you're Middle Eastern,
and I don't like to use the word,
but the very first thing they think of
is you're a terrorist.
They don't even bother to try
to talk to you, ask you questions.
I mean, again, this is some of
the things that I have seen.
You can't be friends with everybody.
You cannot make everyone like you.
- [Darius] Can you name
something that makes you angry?
- Ooh, (laughs) ignorance.
- It's a powerful word.
- Ignorance makes me incredibly angry.
I think that a lot of
people choose to be ignorant
during this time because
they think that politics
or injustices are too hard to deal with
or too emotionally taxing.
But I think that people,
especially people with privilege,
owe it to those that have been oppressed,
and the people that have been oppressed
because of their part
that privileged people
have played in a system
that has oppressed them.
I think that choosing
to be ignorant toward
what's going on is incredibly
cruel and not right.
- Inequity, the inequity
of my grandparents,
They kind of grew up in an
era where they didn't have all
the same opportunities as everybody else.
And I sometimes feel that
that may have impacted
my family down the line.
And I'll never know how
much that has impacted us.
So where would I be today
if they had the same rights
and the same experiences that
the rest of their peers had?
- This can be one of
the most uncomfortable
topics to bring about,
but definitely racism is something
that does make me angry to this day.
I mean, we're given this opportunity
to leverage social media and
technology to amplify, again,
voices of minority communities
who do deal with racism on a daily basis.
- The word hate, just because I feel like
there's also a lot of that
in our country right now
and in the world as well,
whether that's hate towards people
that don't have the same opinions as you,
that don't look like you, just in general.
I think there's too much of that today.
- Being complacent, being close-minded,
I guess the word is stuck.
People who are stuck in
their ways and their views,
that's what really angers
me is the inability to see
something else and to move
forward and become better.
- Intolerance, and when I say intolerance,
I mean the lack of the ability
of somebody to tolerate somebody else.
I have certain traits and
beliefs that I very strongly
acknowledge and I very strongly relate to,
but that is no reason
for me to be intolerant
towards somebody who has
beliefs and practices
that are different than mine.
- Living in a nation with people
who are extremely close-minded
and not willing to,
again, listen to the ideas,
perspectives, and
experiences of other people,
You can't see how other people think
and walk in their shoes,
how do you expect to be
able to make a change?
- [Darius] Yeah.
- Violence, seeing violence
happen or even violent words.
I think violence points to
a lot of underlying issues
because they haven't
been addressed before.
- [Darius] What did the Smith School
do to prepare you for the world?
- I quite literally traveled the world.
I studied abroad three times,
once in Capetown, South Africa,
once on the Hong Kong, Dubai trip,
as well as a semester in Milan, Italy.
The Robert H. Smith School of Business
taught me how to be a global citizen
and to think with an innovative mindset.
I did that by developing
my cultural competencies.
I did it by meeting new people.
I did it by being challenged
by the curriculum,
both in the Smith School
and at partner schools
and the curriculum of the world.
- Last year, I went on the trip
to South Africa through Smith,
and I learned so much
more about my privilege
on that trip than I ever
have learned before.
It forced me to address things
that I usually didn't think about,
and to hear and to have conversations
with people who are different than me,
that I never would have really
felt comfortable to have.
And just to hear about
other people's experience
and what Smith has brought to them
and what businesses are dedicated to do
and their socially responsible mission
can be so impactful to the world.
- What did the Smith School do
to prepare you for the world?
- Oh, Smith humbled me.
Smith introduced me to people
who were far smarter than
me, far more driven than me,
far more organized than me,
far more anything than me,
to the point where I entered
Smith thinking I would be,
as an out-of-state student,
some sort of big fish.
No, I was not even the tip of the iceberg
of level of talent I was introduced to.
- It really has given me
a really big eye opening
to a lot of cultures.
In my past, I did consulting and I worked
with a lot of different
people from around the world,
and seeing where people were coming
from in my age range has
been really eye opening.
I've learned a lot about
my peers that are here
in the States and what
their backgrounds are.
Their backgrounds are a lot of times
very different than mine.
A lot of the women that
have been in the cohort,
oh, they've been tremendous.
I've learned so much from them this year,
where I didn't really work with
as many women in the workforce.
And so I've really gotten
to broaden my horizons
of different cultures.
It's just been a beautiful thing
to work with everyone at Smith.
- So I did my bachelor's
in computer engineering,
and I'm specializing
in information systems
in Smith School right now.
So I think that some experience data
is something that can do wonders,
and majoring in information
system actually enables me
to understand the data and
work towards a better future.
- So I think Smith exposed me
to a lot of different things.
I would say one, the faculty.
So being in an environment with faculty
who are extremely accomplished,
but at the same time are extremely humble,
being around a diverse group
of students in the business school.
'cause I did it for undergrad,
but also my master's programs.
And just being able to work with
tons of people from different backgrounds,
International students who may have moved
to this country maybe 10 years ago.
So I think it's just been able to help
widen my exposure to people
who are different than me.
- David, what are you prepared to do?
- I am prepared to listen.
I am prepared to apologize.
I am prepared to own up
to mistakes that I make,
but I'm prepared to try.
I'm prepared to put myself
in uncomfortable situations,
and I'm prepared to put
my best foot forward.
- I am prepared to listen
and listen actively
because listening is
not just a passive act,
and it's not just listening
so that you can come up with a response,
but actually listening
to what they're saying,
even if you don't have a response.
- I'm prepared to give back.
I owe, I owe a lot of
people that helped me
get to where I am today,
and I might not necessarily
pay them back directly
but I owe helping the community,
helping the next generation,
helping people that are looking
to get in my position or further back.
And so every day I strive to
give any guidance, any advice,
give my perspective and just
talk positively for people.
And that's how I try
to give back every day.
- I'm prepared to inspire people,
not only because what I've learned
through my MBA and all of that,
but I think I have a strong personality.
I'm very determined, as I said.
And I think that really
translates into a lot of passion.
And I think people can really feel that,
and absorb it and get really
energized and motivated by it.
- I try to live my life every
day with self awareness,
and I do this because
I'm trying to understand
what love is and how to exercise that.
And I think that I will directly,
by either having a
conversation with someone
and explaining my train of thought,
or by indirectly just
expressing my love to them,
it'll then create a chain reaction
for that person to do the same.
- I think I make a difference every day
by leveraging my gifts,
to encourage people to think
differently about their lives,
whether it's how you think
differently about your potential
or to think differently
about societal issues.
I think we make the world
a better place every day.
You don't have to wait to
have a title, a platform,
certain number of followers in order
to have influence in your life,
in your community and
in the world at large.
- What I think that
I'm best prepared to do
is just strike a good balance,
a balance between being able
to come as close as possible
towards my personal aspirations,
but at the same time,
leverage whatever I manage
to earn and learn during that journey.
What I try to do is identify the problem
that I relate to the most,
identify the problem that probably causes
the maximum agony to me,
and then I'm going to try my
levelest best to target that.
- Just be more aware of things
that are going on in the world.
And I think that we're even more connected
nowadays than we used to be.
And it's such a great improvement
to bring people together
and learn about each other.
- I'm prepared to
continue and commit myself
to creating positive changes
in all the avenues of life that I see fit.
- I am prepared to lead,
I'm prepared to learn,
and I'm prepared to give back.
- Is just to spread happiness.
And I want to be able to
look back on my life and say,
people were happy to be in my company,
to have me as a friend,
have me as a family member.
And that's ultimately my goal.
By me starting my own business,
I am able to help more people.
I am able to offer more
jobs, help people learn,
get better at what they are not good at.
Just be positive, teach
them how to stay positive.
- Culture can best be
defined as the set of traits
one acquires from the environment
that they're raised in.
It's not uncommon for me to be judged
based on my appearance.
You see, everyone has a cultural
bubble that they develop
and this controls their perspective
and their perception of reality.
This is modern-day anthropology,
and we're conducting this
ethnographic research
to help you answer the question.
- What are you prepared to do?
- What are you prepared to do?
- What are you prepared to do?
- What are you prepared to do?
- What are you prepared to do?
- What are you prepared to do?
- What are you prepared to do?
- What are you prepared to do?
(upbeat music)
