Congratulations Joseph Olmez on becoming a Canadian citizenship this morning! We wanted to celebrate this special day so arranged cake and desserts and met at the Accelerator Centre for the celebration!
When Boxbrite started over 3 years ago, I wanted to prioritize providing opportunities for dedicated newcomers like Joseph because I know the value they bring to organizations. I also know the challenges they can face with getting that critical first job in their chosen field!
Also in this picture are Niloofar Abbasvandi who received her PR card last month and Mohammed Al Katheri holding the balloon. He received his Phd on Saturday and is in a two year postdoc research position supported by Boxbrite and Mitacs. Enes Demirsoz with the beard showed me a photo this morning of Joseph and himself back in Turkey when he was a child. He will be completing a 16 month co-op position with us in August. At this point I think we have created opportunities for almost 20 newcomers in the last 3 years, which is something we celebrate!
Joseph brought the suit with him from Turkey and the first time he wore it was at his shortly after his arrival and the second was for an interview with Boxbrite. So this was only his fourth opportunity to wear that suit, but he looked sharp and this was a great reason to put it on!
After the photo we sat around ate desserts and talked. A recent friend Mustafa AYDIN stopped by and we invited a new friend Victor Nie a fellow founder at the AC to join our table. We talked about our families and how life had brought us to this place. Also thanks to the new AC receptionist Stephanie Jenner for joining our table and taking the photo!
I really applaud the AC for focusing on equity and diversity in their new programs and hope our lunch table represented the diversity of what they are trying to create!
Again congratulation Joseph from one fellow Canadian to another.
