LIFE LESSONS

Questions I Wish I Had Asked My Israeli Former Colleague

Instead of remaining in ignorance

via

Note: names changed to respect their privacy as I did not obtain permission to share this story.

In the fall of 2016, I landed a short KYC (Know Your Customer) compliance gig at Rabobank’s New York City Midtown East location. Our group was an ethnic mix of Puerto Rican (me), Portuguese/Filipino, Black American, Italian American and Israeli.

Of the crew, I connected closely with the Portuguese/Filipino woman (Maya), one Black American (Janeya) and the Israeli (Micha- he sat directly to my right). But because Maya had a toddler at home, it was mostly the other three of us who hung out for drinks and/or dinner after work.

The dynamic between the three of us fostered interesting conversations surrounding such topics like culture, food, travel and what it’s like being native NYC Black and Brown women in the banking sector known for having too many dominant culture faces! Even when we disagreed (for example, on feminist issues surrounding the patriarchy), it was always with respect. Laughter was almost always part of our interactions.

Since we sat beside each other (Janeya sat in another area), Micha and I had more in-office discussions. We talked…