Hotcards, Full Color Printing In The Nation

The nation’s biggest multicultural B2B portal has named Hotcards one of the Top 100 diversity-owned businesses in the state of Ohio.

At Hotcards, we don’t spend a lot of time thinking about what it is to be a “diversity-owned business” (mostly because we’re too busy doing business!), so it’s nice to be given an opportunity to remember what it means to live in a country where so many different races and cultures have come together and made such a huge impact on business.

Diversitybusiness.com has recognized Hotcards as being one of the top 100, or better yet, top 55 diversity-owned businesses in Ohio. Diversitybusiness.com represents a huge organization of diversity-owned businesses in the U.S. They specialize in connecting large businesses with small businesses that represent multicultural markets.

Every year, Diversitybusiness.com hosts the National Multicultural Business Conference. The 2007 conference is in Las Vegas, in April. It’s at this conference that the country’s top rated businesses receive our shiny gold stars. Unfortunately, a Hotcards rep is not able to attend this year, but we look forward to attending in the future.

The idea of a multicultural b2b portal is very interesting to me, because for so many people, the internet is a way to connect and communicate with people all over the world in a way that erases your racial, cultural, and even sexual identity. But Diversitybusiness.com is part of a move towards bringing recognition and celebration of diversity back to the online world.

It’s funny how sometimes it seems like we live in a world where diversity is not an issue, while at other times it seems to be of central importance. For example, I’m taking Spanish lessons right now with a tutor in Peru. The other day, we were practicing and he asked me to talk about common stereotypes of Latin American people. Like any good American, the word “stereotypes” immediately set off warning bells for me and I asked my tutor about it.

He said, “oh yeah, I keep forgetting that there are so many different people in the U.S. Here in Peru, we are all the same, and stereotypes are no big deal.” Of course, he didn’t mean that all Peruvian people are identical, just that the majority of people there, and the majority of people in many countries, share the same race, religion, and cultural values. The conversation reminded me, as does this Diversitybusiness.com award, that we live in a country where races and cultures are living and working together side by side in a way that is almost unparalleled in human history. Sometimes it can be a challenge, but on the most part, I truly believe that the rewards are enormous.

Congratulations to all the other diversity-owned businesses out there who have made it on to Diversitybusiness.com’s Top 100 list. Particular congratulations to the other printers and industry-types on the list. Your support (and your competition!) has helped to make Hotcards what it is today. And thank you to our awesome customers. Without you guys, we wouldn’t have 10 years in business and nine great locations across the U.S. to brag about. Thank you to everyone who has brought diversity AND personality to Hotcards Low Cost Full Color Printing!