SNG Reflection

Sofia Sanchez Tallone

The first event I attended was Lessons Learned from an International Business Center. I
attended this event on September 29th from 6-8 pm I attended this event with Anja and another
member of the womens SNG group. The event was about Earth friendly wine corks.
This event focused on International Business. The speaker was Lars von Kantzow, the
current CEO of Nomacorc. Nomacorc is a company located in Zebulon North Carolina that
produces synthetic wine corks. The talk expanded my knowledge of synthetic wine corks, as I
was not aware of their existence. I am really interested in how eco friendly the product is.
Our SNG group did not interact with other people from other cultures since this was a
lecture event and it did not provide the opportunity for interactions. The part of the presentation
that caught my attention is how their global expansion is going. I am from Argentina and the
speaker spent quite a lot of time talking about the dire economic and social situation that is
currently occurring. I found that part refreshing, as most people are not aware of what is
occurring beneath the rather thin cover for the nations problem.

My second event was on November 12; I attended with Beth Kern and other SNG
students. The speaker was Tu Vichao. The talk was about Billy Graham, American
Evangelicals, and Sino-American relations.
This event did expand my knowledge of this issue, as I did not previously know that
China used to be a hotspot for missionaries, before the current regime. I was also not aware of
how strict China was when it came to religion. The most important thing I learned was that in
China the ability to believe and the ability to practice religion are very distinct and not mutually
inclusive. I did not know who Billy Graham was before this lecture, but know I have learned
that he was an Evangelical pastor who was very involved in China during the Nixon era. I was
frankly surprised that a person who was mainly known by his religious attributes was such an

SNG Reflection

Sofia Sanchez Tallone

important player in China/ US relations on the behalf of the United States because of separation
of church and state.
Sadly the lecture nature of this event kept me from interacting with other people from
other cultures. The information relates to what we are talking about in M100 because we covered
how people are safe from work discrimination because of religion and how that is not the case
everywhere.
Other university activities mostly Kappa Delta activities have expanded my views of the
world as it is I see diversity naturally occurring instead of forcibly occurring. In a sorority you
take time to care about the people around you, you chose to learn about them by choice and
become a part of an amazing dynamic and diverse group of young women.
I do not feel as I have learned anything new about myself through the SNG group, I have
learned about how being from a different country or age group can drastically impact how hard it
is to adapt to the college life. I do not feel like my SNG group has been a supportive network,
Kappa Delta has been my supportive network group on campus.
I believe that diversity awareness is very valuable to business organizations, different
people from different backgrounds have very different life experiences that may help them solve
a problem together as it allows them to think ways they would have not if they were not
interacting with a person from a different background.
My definition of diversity is having several individuals that are different in several ways
such as birthplace; ethnicity and culture work together in a non-hostile environment that is
welcoming to all. My definition of diversity has not changed with this class. I do believe that
diversity is important not only because the business world is a global affair but also because I
diversity is a fundamental that should be engrained into every aspect of our lives.

SNG Reflection

Sofia Sanchez Tallone

I feel like I have learned a lot from Anja, as she is a German foreign exchange student. Although
our back rounds are quite different we are very similar in several ways and