WEBSITE DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION

“What I love most about Chris is that he treats everyone exactly the same – be it the United Nations Secretary General or the hotel concierge. He does not distinguish between rich people, poor people, famous people and everyday people. For Chris, everyone is equal. He has a great deal of respect for the ‘human being’ and this is a rare quality. Chris embodies what we say in Germany ‘Wir sing alle gleich’, which means, ‘We are all the same’.”

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is infused into the very fiber of Chris Bashinelli’s DNA. His maternal great grandmother was on the Titanic and his grandparents immigrated to the United States from Lebanon, through Ellis Island. Chris’s grandfather, Rudha Solloum, worked as an electrician on the original World Trade Center, the Twin Towers. Together, with Chris’s grandmother, Mary Solloum, the family traveled across the USA – from Ypsilanti, Michigan, to Perth Amboy, New Jersey, eventually settling in Brooklyn, New York. Chris carries this deep respect for diverse backgrounds with him to every country he travels, at every keynote he shares, and in every person to person encounter.

Rudha and Mary Solloum, Chris’s maternal grandparents (seated), circa 1930’s

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, to Lebanese and Italian-American parents, Chris offers a practical, relatable and empowering approach to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for audiences everywhere from the United Nations General Assembly Hall, to Fortune 500 Companies, to inside prison walls. On his childhood “Stoop” in Brooklyn, Chris’s friends shared a combined total of 13 nationalities. Employing this powerful and universal metaphor, Chris helps organizations understand how to build a “Stoop” in their workplace, thereby creating a safe space where employees are empowered to bring their whole, most authentic selves to work each and every day – and allowing our organization to thrive.