It is hard to believe that thousands of people have now participated in a DINE! event to share their stories and backgrounds. When I hosted the first DINE! lunch at AT&T in 2017, I never could have imagined the reach it would have and how fulfilling it would be to learn the stories and experiences of my fellow colleagues.

For those of you who don’t know the DINE! story:

In September 2016, Randall Stephenson, the Chairman and CEO of AT&T gave a passionate speech about the racial tensions that are plaguing the United States. He encouraged employees at our company to move from tolerance to understanding and to dig deep to understand one another.

Everything he said spoke to me. I thought a lot about his words, but I didn't know how to go about having these sensitive conversations. Yet I would think about it every day.

Then one day, a few months later, I was perusing social media, and I stumbled upon a meme that said: “A Christian, a Muslim, a Jew and an Atheist walk into a coffee shop. And they talk and laugh and drink coffee and become good friends. It’s not a joke. Honestly, it’s what happens when you’re not a jerk.”

I thought to myself, this meme is the missing link!

I came into work the next day and invited 5 people to lunch who are different than me.

I am Jewish. I invited a colleague who is Muslim, a colleague who is African-American, a colleague who is gay, a colleague who is Latina and a colleague who is a Chinese immigrant. We went to lunch and we just talked. We talked about our backgrounds, about our communities, and the lens through which we view life. And it was magical. We all listened to one another and learned so much that we previously didn't know...it was hard to believe that I had worked with them for years, but we had never talked like this. The conversation was powerful - we talked about our experiences with our races, religions, genders and more.

I asked them if they would host a lunch. And I asked other colleagues if they would host a lunch. And something amazing happened...lunches were planned. A lot of them. People from all over the company started to submit photos of their lunches. Within months, thousands of people had participated in a DINE! lunch across the company.

A movement was born.

Are you ready to join the DINE! movement? AT&T employees can learn more on our tSpace (and even earn a badge) and others can learn more at www.dolunchdifferently.com