In a world that’s gone full digital, Symone Gamble, NYUAD Class of 2014, is finding X-citing ways to bring people together.
Distant, but not disconnected
In a world that’s gone full digital, Symone Gamble, NYUAD Class of 2014, is finding X-citing ways to bring people together.
Symone Gamble: Thank you so much!
It’s my job is to make sure we still walk the talk of our culture, to be who we say we are, and to maintain a collaborative culture within this new work from home model. I want to find ways to foster moments of creative connection between people by creating impromptu or unexpected opportunities for people to learn from one another.
My work at X reminds me so much of NYU Abu Dhabi. When we came in as the first class in 2010, we were building everything from scratch. X was in the same position of needing to build a separate model from the mothership of Google. At X and at NYUAD, we have to experiment to figure out what’s best for us as a community.
It’s difficult to see how polarized we are. In an industry like tech — considered to be one of the most forward-thinking spaces you can be in — there’s still a lot of frustration and emotion. Even in a place so full of innovation, we haven’t been looking at social and racial justice as problems we can try to solve. It’s been really eye-opening.
NYU Abu Dhabi forced me to question everything I held to be true, to shift my perspective, and to know that it’s not a weakness to change my mind when I get new information. I keep applying that to my life and it has opened up so many doors and opportunities I would have never expected.