By Howard Packowitz

NORMAL – Fear is standing in the way of understanding our cultural differences, according to a human resources expert who seeks to inspire others to overcome their biases.

Di Ann Sanchez shared her own experiences in the workplace and in her personal life to hundreds who attended Tuesday night’s YWCA McLean County Women of Distinction banquet.

Sanchez, a Latina, said she was raised by a family prejudiced against African-Americans, so she decided to embrace their culture and eventually married an African-American man.

Sanchez was vice president of talent management and diversity at American Airlines when company jetliners crashed into the Pentagon and one of the World Trade Center Towers on September 11, 2001

“We had employees that perished. We had customers that perished. Our customers didn’t feel safe on our planes because of certain individuals that might have been a certain national origin or religious background,” she said.

Sanchez now advises small and mid-sized businesses about respecting differences.

“When you’re educated on those differences, it can impact your business, and it can impact your employees, and it can impact everybody around you in your community,” she added.

Sanchez is also a professor in management and business at Amberton University in Garland, Texas.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]