Forbes describes the entrepreneurial spirit as a mindset with an attitude and approach to thinking that actively seeks out change rather than waiting to adapt to change. Harvard Business Review recommends the adoption of an immigrant mindset to advance your career. Why? Because the immigrant spirit is much like the entrepreneurial spirit which draws from an open mind, ready, willing, and resolute in figuring things out. What does that have to do with “Who is the Cultural Hub?” It is a courageous spirit ready to step out of a comfort zone and lead the way into the unknown. One that is humble, yet definitely one for which turning back is not an option.
If you asked me whether I thought of myself in these terms, I would answer, “no way, no how!” However, looking back and reflecting on my life experience, while I may not have been born with an immigrant, entrepreneurial spirit, it was modeled for me by mi mamá y mi abuela. By necessity, I quickly learned that this mindset was the way to move forward and impact those waiting to adapt to change or for change to happen.
Practice is key. Just this morning, while having a conversation at the Cultural Hub, I was reminded of a childhood experience that may have been one of my first attempts at flexing my immigrant, entrepreneurial spirit. Remember the marble game, Ringer? After two years of wanting nothing to do with assimilating into the U.S. culture while in elementary school, I gradually integrated by negotiating my way into a game of Ringer. I did not know that this was the game’s name then, only that it seemed fun, and you got to keep the marbles you knocked out.
At that time, Ringer was the number one game in the schoolyard. My mother, a single parent, did not have the budget for extras. I knew it and did not ask for my own set of mibs or the lucky and colorful shooters. So, I devised a plan to borrow a shooter and some mibs from a classmate with the agreement that any mibs I won would be divided evenly between the two of us. I played for keepsies.
With this loaner set, I managed to win enough to create my own decent set of mibs and a shooter, pay back my loan, and create a disgruntled group of grade-schoolers. They did not appreciate being beat by the Mexican girl who never brought any marbles of her own to the game. I was on a roll! However, it did not take long for the displeasure of my classmates to reach parent ears and the whole scheme was struck down. As they say, “you win some, you lose some.”
This is who Sententia Vera Cultural Hub is, a mission, my mission, to create a social change by engaging with languages and cultures, initiating genuine community relationships through professional development, sharing life experiences, and creative cultural events. It is a quirky, unique, and imperfect space, full of the immigrant, entrepreneurial spirit.
I invite you to come and share your spirit by making the Cultural Hub your third space, your office away from your home office, your beverage bar of choice for coffee, soda, beer, wine, and a conversation, and lastly, the space where you come to experience and share a new culture, skill, or network.