PayPal Stories Archive

For Muna Hussaini, PayPal Austin’s manager for Inclusion & Diversity, diversity is not just a part of her job title, it’s her life.  She was raised by Indian parents who migrated to America. She has an Ethiopian/Turkish husband. Her pre-teen years were spent living in Saudi Arabia where she was a true athlete— she competed in volleyball, baseball, tennis, swimming, and karate, where she earned a black belt at the age of 11. Muna also has a strong Muslim faith that has allowed her to turn negatives into positives. While she has faced hostility in her life, she has made friendships across religions as a board member for Interfaith Action of Central Texas (IACT). She’s also on the City of Austin/Travis County Hate Crimes Task Force.

 

“Inclusion” comes before “Diversity” because it’s important that everyone be able to contribute, feel welcome, and comfortable. It’s not “Hire a bunch of people” and you have representation. Diversity isn’t boxes you check off. You have the best opportunity to thrive as a community and company if you can create a workplace with different people, thoughts, and ways of working where everyone is included and represented.

 

I do wear my faith on my sleeve, actually on my head, because of my scarf. I believe faith can play an important part in bringing people together. I do interfaith work with Muslim and Jewish women, and IACT does a lot of community work, like hands-on housing improvement projects for the elderly. It’s a beautiful way to bring people together who wouldn’t normally be bumping elbows to work on a worthy cause. The Give team in Austin recently awarded a $3,500 grant to IACT and we’re working on getting PayPal employees out to these housing projects.

 

With 1.8 billion Muslims on Earth, you can’t put us all in one box. A lot of people are surprised when I tell them I’m a senior manager at a blue chip firm. They’ll say, “Oh, I didn’t know you were allowed to work.” I laugh and say, “My religion doesn’t stop me from doing anything.” Unfortunately for me it’s a very common conversation.

 

I started wearing a scarf when I was a student at The University of Texas at Austin. It was my personal choice and I decided a long time ago I’m not changing myself for anybody. However, current events have forced me to be more vigilant for myself and my family. I do have two young kids who deserve to have their mom. If I have to go somewhere that feels hostile, I may think about taking my scarf off for that trip. 

 

I’m a visible Muslim, and because of that there’s a whole laundry list of things that have happened to me. For example, I’ve been run off the road while I was driving and I was yelled at on a plane. Even when I go running with a scarf, if there’s a car coming I’ll hop onto the lawn because I wonder, “Oh gosh, are they going to run me over?”

 

However, I have used these experiences to help make a positive change for the future here in Austin. I do a lot of work around anti-bullying in schools and promoting inclusion and diversity in the greater community. It’s interesting that this personal interest of mine had an intersection with my career, because my background is actually technical—I’m a project/program manager. I feel lucky to be able to do that, at a company that cares about inclusion and diversity as well.

 

I’m really proud of rolling out Recharge, a pilot program we ran last year to bring women who took a career break back into the workplace. Our goal was to hire at least half of the women who went through the program in the U.S. and India, and we got more than 80% retention. As we were rolling it out, employees would stop me and say, “This is really awesome.” It’s cool to be part of something that other people are excited about and proud of.

 

We want to grow this effort because it’s a great way to help non-traditional hires ramp back up in a safe environment. I was laid off during a big downsizing at IBM after I had a baby and it’s scary trying to navigate coming back to work. We are also looking at different demographics, like veterans or athletes, men or women who have left the work force.