Welcome to SOLV Energy's Cultural Corner! As a way to illuminate our DEI path, we have introduced a new series highlighting diverse perspectives on career and life featuring members of our SOLV Energy team. Cultural Corner will build awareness and encourage appreciation for our variant cultural backgrounds!

Tell us about yourself. Who are you? Where did you grow up? How do you identify? My name is Danielle Benson; I was born and raised in New York, NY, and still reside there today with my own family. I have lived in Florida for 7 years, but I missed the Big Apple too much and had to go back home to take another bite out of it. While I work a corporate job, I grew up wanting to go to music school and play many instruments at a competitive level. So it only made sense that I ended up marrying a rock and roll drummer…for real! We’ve been married for almost 15 years and are the proud parents of an 11-year-old competitive dancer. I love to travel any chance I get and love spending time with our family dog, Lil’Bit. I am the first generation in my family to speak English as my First Language, and I identify as Jewish American.

What do you value most? I value family, friends, good health, acts of kindness, and work-life balance the most. It’s very important to me to spend time with and show the ones I love how much I care about them. I also value the freedoms and liberties afforded to me that generations before me were not as fortunate to experience.

What were you told as a child that you still believe today? My parents always taught me that if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all. They showed me the impact that one act of kindness can bring and taught me that keeping your faith can help you find the strength to never give up your dreams.

How does your cultural heritage influence who you are? My cultural heritage teaches us the importance of coming together as a community, reminds us that we are part of a greater whole and that we all have a responsibility to support and care for each other. These key elements lead to what I do daily as a professional, parent, and person.

What family traditions or superstitions do you have? We have too many traditions and superstitions, but I really appreciate giving bread and salt when someone moves into a new home. The bread symbolizes never knowing hunger, and the salt represents a life always filled with flavor.

What cultural similarities and differences do you have with your closest co-workers? I genuinely believe that we are all more alike than different, and most cultures would stress the importance of coming together as a greater community, treating each other with respect, and supporting each other in good and bad times. I also believe that my culture, like many others, has its own foods, traditions, and yearly celebrations that are common to that culture.

Please share something that you’d like everyone at SOLV to know about your cultural heritage. Jewish heritage has contributed immensely to various fields, from literature to science, music, and art, to name a few. Our heritage strongly emphasizes Life Cycle Events and is enriched by our traditional foods. I think it’s important to understand that Jewish Americans come from diverse backgrounds and are descendants worldwide.