​Growing up as Black British citizens in the UK

By Celsa Paiva and Thandie Major, Sourcing Specialists

In conjunction with Martin Luther King Day, Team Guidant’s sourcing specialists, Celsa Paiva and Thandie Major, talk about identity, challenges and experiences growing up as Black British people in the UK.

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Celsa

My parents have always placed a strong emphasis on speaking Portuguese at home.
My two countries of origin are Portugal and Angola (a Portuguese-speaking country). I have always felt a strong attachment to my culture, and I consider myself to be Angolan, Portuguese and British.

Growing up, I was always surrounded by relatives and family friends from other Portuguese speaking countries, and spending summer holidays and Christmas back in Portugal and Angola.

My parents even went as far as buying a Portuguese language TV box set so that myself and my siblings could watch Disney films and family favourites such as Home Alone dubbed in Portuguese!

People have often questioned me of my ethnicity.
As the Afro-Portuguese community is not very well represented in the UK, I have often ended up having to explain my ethnicity to others. Moreover, I have also had my identity and heritage questioned by other Black British people who did not see me as being “African” or “Black” enough for having a Latin European name, on top of being a hybrid of both Iberian European and Southern African.

Even today as an adult, I get asked questions such as: “Where even is Angola?” or, “if you’re originally from an African country, why do you speak Portuguese?”. One comment I received after explaining my heritage was: “You’re not a true African as your family is mixed race”.

I feel that this is something many black and mixed-raced people from Portuguese-speaking African countries can relate to, as Portuguese is our first language – as opposed to indigenous African languages – and a lot of us are of mixed raced heritage too.

Education and patience go a long way.
I’m a firm believer that it’s always better to educate others than to belittle them for not being aware of certain topics. For this reason, I am always happy to explain my background to those that are not familiar with it. I take the time to explain that, yes, there are millions of black and mixed-race people living in Brazil, Portugal, Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique and elsewhere that share a similar culture and the same mother tongue.

My ethnicity has helped me vary the work I do.
Having been working as a Sourcing Specialist at Guidant Global since December 2018 as a temp, I was made permanent in June 2019. That said, my Portuguese-speaking background and culture has provided me with unique opportunities in the business. Since November 2019, I was invited to support with translations and interpretations for client meetings in Portugal.

Initially, I was nervous at the prospect of travelling alone for work. However, my team manager, Craig Davies, encouraged me to be confident and take the opportunity to work abroad and build new connections. I spent three days in Castelo Branco, Portugal at the end of November 2019 to assist with conducting training sessions in Portuguese for a global sustainable technology client of ours. I’ll be going again at the end of January this year to assist with more training sessions.

I never would’ve had these amazing opportunities had I not embraced my culture in the first place!
I’m also glad that Guidant was fully appreciative and respectful of my heritage. Therefore, I feel very fortunate to work for a company that values its staff members' language skills and champions a diverse workforce.

Not having a stereotypical African name and not speaking an African language does not make me any less African than others. I am very proud of my mixed European and African background, and I am also very proud to be Black British as we all originate from a melting pot of beautiful different cultures and backgrounds.

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Thandie

I grew up in an African household.
My dad is from Zimbabwe and my mum is from Zambia. From a young age, my parents have always said to my siblings and I that “you see people, not colour”. As a young African British woman that was born and raised in the UK, I grew up learning the histories of both countries, their cultural behaviours, beliefs, customs, food, music, and most importantly, respect.

Although I can’t speak both of my parent’s indigenous languages, it has never stopped me from grasping some words and understanding certain phrases.

In recent years, I’ve learnt just how important my culture is and one day when I have children myself, I want to pass it on to them, then to their children, and so on. I often find myself asking my parents, older relatives and extended family members that I haven’t met about their upbringing.

Listening to their life experiences, it’s interesting to listen to their different perspectives on a similar life decision that they all faced: leaving a place that they’ve called home for 20 years to re-build their life from scratch in a westernised country.

I’ve always been bombarded with questions and assumptions about my ethnicity from a young age.
Looking back on my teenage years, I may not have recognised the biases back then, but I have faced countless questions that go along the lines of “why do you have a white surname? I would expect you to have an African-type of last name.” – shockingly sometimes people don’t believe that’s my real last name – or, “what is your real hair like and how long is it?”, and “do you eat African food all the time?” The list could go on!

We assume we know how people live their lives.
Unfortunately, I have also been judged within the black community, either due to the friends that I keep or because I don’t act a certain way and that I can’t speak my parents’ languages. It used to hurt my feelings because I felt that people passed judgement on me before getting to really know me.

That being said, I always remind myself I was raised by the best people who taught me to accept that everyone may not think how I do, and to always love people for who they are, as even a passing comment can stick in someone’s mind for a long time.

I’ve also learnt to tackle these questions by responding to them in a way where I can educate and give a little bit of an insight to my life because, at the end of the day, we all stereotype certain races and we assume we know how they live their lives.

Martin Luther King Day is so important to recognise how much equality and overcoming racial discrimination has been fought for, and it’s amazing to see everyone coming together to celebrate minor ethnic groups.

Seeing diversity in the workplace.
I started working for Guidant Global in June 2019. From the moment I had my interview and was introduced to my team, I knew I was going to fit right in due to all of us being so diverse. When I attended Guidant’s Summer Celebration less than a month later, it was encouraging to see that diversity was truly embraced across the business, and not just at the Luton office I worked in!

Whilst my colleagues have judged me based on my personality, rather than my skin colour, being part of Guidant’s internal employee-led UK D&I group, Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic (BAME), made me realise the importance in continuously raising awareness on my ethnicity.

One personal mantra I try to live by every day is “positive thoughts creates positives vibes”, so I’m excited to see where my Guidant journey takes me!

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Celsa and Thandie’s stories are just some of the great work our people do as a result of our global and inclusive family. Join a workplace that champions diversity and inclusion through and through >