Everyone, my name is Sapir. And today, I'll be talking about my experience, as a foreigner in tech, which is just a fancy fancy term.But, essentially, I'm a product designer, senior product designer. I've been working in health tech. I've been working in, finance, and I'm currently at a company called the Veni. I've always struggled with the concept of being on of being the only non British person in the in the, conference or in the, basically, just in any meeting. And I've started exploring what that feels, started talking to people who experience the same sort of feelings as I do, and ended up just with a bunch of advice. It's a really short, session, so I'll try and get to you, the most that I can out of these ten minutes. But let's get started. Have you ever walked into a room and felt like you don't belong?

Now imagine that, but in another language, in a new country, in an industry that doesn't always welcome difference. As I said before, I'm just here to share a few things I've learned as a foreigner, as a product designer, and someone who still struggles with feeling like an outsider. Whether you're navigating that yourself or whether you want to support other people in your company better, I hope that my ideas will help you. The key takeaways from this talk, what I would like you to kinda leave with is basically how to foster a more inclusive environment in your company, and also how to just build confidence when you feel that you're the odd one out. A little bit about my story, I touched a tiny bit on it at the start, but I moved to The UK in March 2020, in the peak of COVID nineteen. So I was very panicked. This is actually my very first photo from The UK that was Luton Airport.

And as you can see, I was really excited by the concept of a mask. It was cool at that point. It wasn't a such a scary thing as it turned out to be. No new country. No job. No network. Just a dream and to break into tech. I used to work in care, back in the time. I used to cry after interviews. I rewrote my portfolio a 100 times, and there was times that I thought maybe I'm just too different for this industry. Maybe that's not for me. But slowly, I learned how to turn what makes me different into what's making me valuable, and I just wanna share what helped me, or basically tell you what you can do to foster a more compassionate environment in your workplace. So how to belong when you feel like you don't or build your own home in yourself?

I'd say the first and last points is probably the most important ones for me. I learned that difference is an advantage if you let it become an advantage. You speak up when you see that something when you see something that others don't, that is your value. There's been so many times where I felt that I have an idea, but I'm not confident enough to, voice it out loud. I'll be judged on my accent. I'll be judged on maybe that's some something that everyone else knows and I don't. And so far, almost always, I've always been wrong. So every time that I speak up and share my ideas, it has been, adopted very, very well because people do genuinely just want what's best either for the company or for, you know, the the particular idea that you're working on right now. Adapt selectively. That's something that I had to learn the hard way. Don't try and blend in everywhere. Choose what to adopt and protect your core and your North Star.

It's so easy. I'm saying that from personal experience to almost want to erase who you were before or kinda, how do I explain it, Lower the volume of it so that you could fit in better. Mhmm. It always made me feel uncomfortable in myself, and I think that if it's something that you pay attention to and you tune in to what, who you are, including your past, including where you're coming from, including your heritage, that's something that is really, has really helped me.

Find your crew. So find a mentor, a peer. That's where you really feel like you belong and you have something to give to the world. So I would really recommend that. This fourth one is so important for me because I feel like that's something that most people do fail in, which is speak before you're ready. Confidence grows from using your voice, not waiting to feel worthy. And I did test this a bit before, but you won't regret speaking up even if you think it's not perfect, even if you think if your idea is not 100% finessed. You need to speak up, and that will slowly and gradually build your confidence. Let's talk about the other side of the coin.

So how to help others belong or how to be an ally. So if you're in a company and you know that someone is might be feeling a bit, out of place, we do have a a tendency to just kind of stick to what we know. So I suggest another point of view. Let's validate new perspective. So whenever someone did kinda back up the courage to to speak up, then encourage them and say, that's a great point, and and kind of address what they said in a in a nice respectful way. Another one is flex your norms. Don't expect everyone to adapt to your culture. Be aware of who your crowd is when you're speaking about cultural heavy references, childhood TV shows, etcetera.

That's something that's happened to me so often where I didn't grow up with the same cultural references as a lot of British people did, and I used to feel so left out when someone would speak about something that's very nostalgic for them. Just take a second to explain to to explain these references to someone who isn't familiar. Another point that's worth noting is model vulnerability. So try and foster culture in your company where not knowing sometimes, it's okay, And it's not the end of the world, and you cannot know as long as you learn from it, as long as you communicate in a good way. It is okay. I wrote here a little sentence just saying, you don't have to erase what makes you different in order to belong. You just need a few people to say, you can sit with us. If you can be that person, I think we'd be a bit better off, as a as a workplace, in your own workplace, but also just outside of the workplace, in your own life, just embracing a little bit who's, who's different to us.

And I know that that will make them feel a lot a lot more, included. Thank you. That's been yeah. I think we're almost smack bang on time. If you wanna, give me a follow on LinkedIn, I'm starting to share my journey as a product designer on Instagram as well. It'll be nice to see your face there. Yeah. I don't know if you have a chance to see questions here. Oh, I can see that it's just on chats. Nice. Thank you so much, everyone, for the lovely comments. Thank you. Have a good rest of your day. Bye, everyone.