Being B.O.L.D.
In a Ted Talk video featured at the launch of the Dallas chapter of B.O.L.D. (Blacks Organized for Leadership Development), Verna Myers said,
“We can’t just decide not to see color. The problem was never that we saw color; it’s what we did when we saw color.” She went on to say, “While we’re busy pretending not to see, we are not being aware of the ways in which racial difference is changing people’s possibilities.”
I think we’d all like to believe we’re color-blind when it comes to racial diversity, but unfortunately, we’ve got a long way to go toward making equality the rule rather than the exception…
Keep Up The Momentum – Creating Change And Building Relationships
Every September Celanese is inspired by the collective efforts of our employees who make a difference during Global Impact Month. This year 36 sites participated, including 2,495 employees, who organized 3,503 projects and logged 32,102 volunteer hours. That brings our year to date total to 117,397 hours! Thanks to everyone who participated! It’s great to see our people in the community demonstrating our company value of Improving the World.
On our social media channels, Global Impact Month is where you saw how we’re making an impact and building relationships…
Behind The Scenes Of The Celanese BBSC Image Video
At the beginning of 2017, the Budapest team received an exciting email from Corporate Communications. They were looking for a handful of actors to star in an engaging short film about our office, our people and life at Celanese Hungary. Needless to say, I was in! Mere minutes after the first email, Petra Czugler, corporate communications manager Europe, and project owner, gathered her team of enthusiastic actors, and the preparations began…
Listening As An Ally Through Email
Every day we take in a lot of information, especially when it comes to our email. So how do you tackle active listening when reading and responding to email? Recently I received an email request that wasn’t clear to me. It could have been the note itself, or the fact that it was a Friday morning and my coffee hadn’t kicked in yet. I paused and reread it and it still wasn’t clear. There was something missing and I didn’t know what, so I reached out to my colleague…
How We Quit Smoking…Together
Our journey started in the fall of 2016 when my husband, Fred, and I were prompted to get annual physicals and there was a U.S. benefit decision to begin smoking surcharges in the near future.
The findings on our physicals brought me to the decision that something had to change with our current way of life.
“But how was I going to be able to stop smoking after 50 years,” kept ringing in my head.
A Brief History Of Our PartiCIIPiants
South America, Europe, Asia – and this year, Africa. Now that the Celanese International Impact Program (CIIP) has achieved a global reach, let’s celebrate what we’ve accomplished through this program.
I remember back in 2013, when CIIP was launched. The whole company was incredibly excited about the opportunity. One month in such an exotic country as Brazil – you could really make an impact! The application process took several weeks and included writing essays, personal interviews – and even creating your own project video in the final round!
Walking With Hope
The last 12 months have been the most challenging, emotional and enlightening time of my life. On January 18, 2017, my husband died of complications from heart failure one week before our thirteenth wedding anniversary. During the last several months of his life, we went from hospital to hospital on a roller coaster of medical and emotional ups and downs. During these months, I continued working and tried my best to continue to be self-sufficient. I have always been very independent and not one to ask for help. Once my friends and colleagues learned of our situation, the amount of support was overwhelming. From care packages, to the delivery of meals for the entire family at the hospital and gift cards, to support of my caffeine habit, I can’t express how meaningful it was to understand the extent of my support network and how much everyone wanted to help. I learned during this time that it is not weak to ask for help – in fact it makes people feel good to be able to help and do whatever they can during these challenging times.
Celanese Celebrates 10 Years In The Heart Of Budapest
It has been 10 years! Can you believe it? A decade ago, Celanese took the ambitious step to establish a shared services center in the heart of Budapest. A decade ago, a success story started.
September 7, 2017 marks the 10th anniversary of the Budapest Business Service Center (BBSC). What began with a handful of people in Finance, today has become a well-rounded solution provider for Celanese with more than 350 outstanding, talented employees. We could not have been successful on this journey without all our engaged and talented colleagues. Many of them have been with us since the beginning; and we asked them to share their thoughts with on what these 10 years at BBSC have meant for them.
A Lesson In Gratitude
I had the privilege this month to serve as “nap buddy” at Vogel Alcove, an education center for homeless children of Dallas. I must admit, I was mildly disappointed to learn that being a nap buddy did not involve a nap for me . . . I love a good nap. But 10 minutes into our tour of the school, I was hopelessly devoted to helping make a difference to these precious children with no homes, if only for a few hours.
Who would have ever guessed that Dallas, Texas has the highest child poverty rate in the country among cities with more than one million people, or that 30-percent of Dallas children grow up in poverty? As a mother, this tore at my heart strings.
Helping Our Human Beings
When we allow ourselves to serve others, it is very rewarding in so many ways. I have been employed by Celanese for 37 years,a company that encourages its employees to give back to its surrounding communities both near and far. Last year I had the privilege of joining other Celanese colleagues from other U.S. sites, Germany, Sweden, Mexico, and China in New Delhi, India, in an effort to reach out and serve the community.
5 Reasons You Should Follow Celanese On Social Media
As Celanese’s social media manager, I’m deeply involved with the planning and promotion of our company through our various social media platforms. It’s several of the many communication channels I enjoy supporting every day. Here on the CE-Blog, the hub of all things social for us, I thought I would spend some time sharing with you why you should be following us on social media!
Friendships To Last A Lifetime
Thank you for the opportunity to volunteer with the Celanese International Impact Program (CIIP). I was not really sure what to expect, but as we gathered at our home base, I realized that these 10 people from across the company are members of my Celanese family. We all share common goals, values, struggles and culture. I believe we all made lasting friendships during our time together.
Inspired To Keep Giving Back
I want to thank Celanese from the bottom of my heart for allowing me the privilege of participating in the Celanese International Impact Program (CIIP) in New Delhi, India. Celanese sent a great team of people who are truly committed to making an impact on the lives of those less fortunate.
Conditions in India are much different than what we are used to here in the United States, and yet we all adapted readily and easily knowing we were there to be of service. We dove into the culture and experienced the good and the bad. We were able to tour and see many amazing sights, but we also worked hard to make sure we could fulfill our obligation at our assignments.
We Are The “CHEMpions”
On June 13th more than 63,000 participants ran or walked 3.5 miles between towering skyscrapers while enjoying the beautiful Frankfurt skyline at the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge. Nearly 100 Celanese employees ran for a good cause under the “We are the CHEMpions” motto. Participants represented 5 Celanese locations, including Kaiserslautern, Amsterdam, Budapest, Sulzbach and Frankfurt. After the run, everyone met together to enjoy the great weather with a bratwurst washed down by a cool beverage to celebrate.
Learning From Teaching: They Taught Me More Than I Taught Them
I would like to take a few words to try and encourage fellow Celanese employees to assist in training growing minds at one of the many GED adult literacy program sites in the United States. Whether you are in the South or the Midwest, there is a local adult literacy program that would appreciate as little as an hour a month, or even as much as 4 hours a week, of your time. Many youth do not attain a high school diploma due to family, medical, or legal reasons. Volunteering at a GED training site can provide mentorship and guidance to those in need. Tutoring can also be a great source of personal development to the individual volunteer in terms of reinforcing fundamental skills and learning new tactics in communications. Ultimately, education strengthens our community and our workforce.
