Crystal Bryce and Sreenidhi Vedartham bonded this past year over their desire to help women entrepreneurs. Their group, Embark Women, is a diverse network of professional women in East Texas supporting each other through networking, discussions, workshops, and more.
Bryce says getting to know Vedartham and women of other cultures is enriching her life.
“I grew up as a rather sheltered child,” she says. “I had few experiences outside of my hometown in South Texas and the only out-of-country experience I had was crossing the border in Laredo with my parents so they could purchase Mexican merchandise. In my adult years, I have been fortunate enough to travel to countries in Asia and South America. I thought I was fairly wise, open-minded, and educated in the ways of other peoples and places. Recently, I have realized how sheltered I still was.”
As she focused on building deep, personal relationships with a few international residents, her perspective began to broaden.
“I realized how little I truly understood about people from other backgrounds and cultures. I count myself fortunate to have these close relationships and that new self-awareness now. Through one-on-one honest conversations, I believe I have finally begun to understand cultures other than my own. At the very least, I now understand how little I truly understand. Unless I have personally experienced something similar, I just ‘don’t get it.’ I wish I did, but the truth is that I don’t. I can sympathize, but it’s difficult to empathize no matter how much I wish to.
“For me, these one-on-one relationships have been invaluable. Through these personal relationships, my perspective has evolved. I believe confessing, ‘I want to learn. I want to understand.’ But, I just ‘don’t get it,’ is a huge step in the beginning of truly becoming compassionate and understanding of those unique individuals from other cultures and backgrounds. Admitting my own ignorance is embarrassingly humbling at times, but I now believe it’s the most helpful and educated thing I can do.”
Bryce says she’s learned that while it is not necessary to completely understand other cultures, it is important that people realize that all kinds of humans must share the same space and life is better for all when they support each other.
“We never know what the person standing next to us is going through — not unless they bare their soul to us,” Bryce says. “Learning what I have, I’m determined to support all people — those I don’t relate with included — because one thing I can definitely relate to is feeling insecure, scared, and alone. Let’s support each other no matter where we’re from. Regardless of the land we hail from, we’re all from Planet Earth and we’re all human. We all want to be heard, understood, loved and supported.”
Besides human compassion, Bryce says befriending other cultures makes communities better.
“It’s important to get to know outside cultures living in our community for many reasons,” she says. “Being exposed to new ideas and ways of doing things expands our minds. It helps push us past our narrow, ignorant safe zone, which might be uncomfortable but growth usually is. Personal betterment should be something we all strive for. Ignorance hurts our entire community and holds us back from the wonderful potential of our beautiful town.”
One of Bryce’s new friends is Vedartham who moved to Tyler in early 2015 from Chennai, Tamil Nadu in South India to pursue a master’s degree in electrical engineering.
“I wanted to study more,” Vedartham says. “So, I took the plunge of my life.”
Leaving her family behind in India does not come without consequences.
“My family can be referred to as Brahmins (Priest Class) and they care a lot about studies,” Vedartham says. “So it was easy to convince them to let me pursue my higher studies in the U.S. It was a huge decision, though, because I am traveling alone for the first time and living on my own after 22 years of living with my family. I was so excited and couldn’t wait to start exploring. But loneliness was a major factor, too, because I missed my family and friends back home.”
Learning to adjust to new cultures is a challenge, she says, but one she’s willing to take, and often the similarities to her background are greater than the differences — sometimes she just has to take the time to look at things from a different perspective.
“When I came to Texas for the first time, people kept asking me ‘How are you?’ and hugging me,” she says. “It was bizarre because the place I come from, we don’t do a lot of hugging or talk to people on the street. It was just strange, but then they told me something called ‘Southern hospitality’ and it made a lot of sense. In India, we treat our guests like family and hospitality is a very important part of our culture.”
She also learned that life in America is not exactly how it is portrayed in media.
“I had watched a lot of movies and TV shows to prepare myself to understand the American lifestyle,” she says. “In hindsight, I should have known how different it would be. I came expecting a movie setup, but I relaxed once I saw it was not that different from my home.”
She also adjusted from her native drink of hot tea to the state’s favorite, ice tea.
“When I heard the concept of “sweet ice tea” I was so blown away. Tea is meant to be consumed hot, not cold,” she thought. “Now I love ‘sweet ice tea,” without which, now I cannot survive.”
Vedartham wholeheartedly agrees with Bryce on the importance of supporting other humans whether their cultures are different than hers or not.
“Globalization and sharing of cultures has been a big part of the country I came from and the country I am living in,” she says. “We have a healthy mix of diverse cultures, but most of the time, we are not culturally aware. Starting a conversation about other cultures means you are reaching out to them and saying, ‘Hey, I like you and I want to get to know you better. I am there for you and I want to understand your community and you can understand mine.’
“Embracing other cultures is embracing other human beings. We need each other to build a healthy environment for the future. What more than to start with our own diverse community to show that we stand together?”
To learn more about Vedartham and Bryce’s group, Embark Women, visit embarkwomen.org.
