My interest in science was ignited by my chemistry teachers and the spirit of the Science Olympiad. In my middle school, there were student subject competitions on different levels ranging from regional to international. By coincidence, my chemistry teacher was a key figure in the Ukrainian Olympiad movement. She introduced me to this entirely new world – full of studying advanced and fascinating concepts, the spirit of competition, and many bright personalities.
When I was a child, my father often took me to the great outdoors, such as the sea and the forest, to go fishing, bird-watching, and so on. It really got me interested in nature. When I finally entered high school, I was first exposed to the studies of physics and chemistry. I realized at that moment that if I studied the sciences more, I would be able to deepen my knowledge of nature. That was the catalyst for my interest in science.
This is the first Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Report that we’ve issued since spinning off PayPal in 2015. Given the impact we knew this organizational change would have on our culture, size and business strategy, we made a deliberate decision to wait until we had at least a full year as a standalone company behind us before issuing this report.
What’s your big idea? That’s one question that more than 200 businesses have been answering as part of the eBay StartUp Cup Challenge, a global series of business model competitions currently underway in four cities. The competitions were made possible through an eBay Foundation grant to GriffinWorx, a nonprofit organization that helps early stage entrepreneurs with any type of business idea to design, test and build a viable company.
I went with a group of about 40 of my colleagues, led by our CEO Devin Wenig, to volunteer at GLIDE, an organization that has been serving San Francisco’s most vulnerable residents in the Tenderloin since the 1960s. GLIDE is known as one of the biggest social services providers in San Francisco, helping Tenderloin residents break the barriers of poverty and marginalization by simply giving them access to basic human needs — think food, shelter, clothing — and believing that everyone deserves a second chance.
November is National Native American Heritage Month, and here in Portland, Oregon, we are celebrating the artistic contributions from the American Indian and Indigenous community with this year’s Portland Film Festival (PDXFF). As the presenting sponsor, Comcast provides support for our festival to bring a wide array of diverse voices to audiences across the region. This year, we are screening over 152 films from around the world, 89 of which were directed by women – that’s nearly 60 percent of the films being screened – and, each day, a film will be shown that highlights current Indigenous voices.