How a Greek folktale sparked cross-cultural understanding for The Libra Group
Common ground can come from anywhere.

“Maria Me Ta Kitrina” (Maria in Yellow) is a simple Greek folksong asking the titular woman whether she loves her husband or neighbor best. The faithful woman loves her husband best.
But that classic song forged a powerful storytelling relationship between its native Greece and the country of Colombia.
George Logothetis, executive chairman of The Libra Group, and Iván Duque, former president of Colombia, realized they had both grown up listening to “Maria Me Ta Kitrina.” And when it came time for The Libra Group to build one of its hotels in Colombia, the song became a storytelling bridge between the two far-flung nations. It also inspired the name of the hotel: The Aria Maria.
“They really wanted to show how they were importing Greek culture, but how there are so many similarities between Greek and Latin American culture,” said Emily Teitelbaum, CCO of The Libra Group during a Power Conversation at Ragan’s Future of Communications Conference. “I thought that was a really beautiful way to symbolize and to bring together what we’re doing, which is to unleash this global power, to really focus on bringing people together and bringing together and creating unique properties.”
That storytelling allowed for a powerful story to share in the media, with employees and with citizens of Colombia about how the company did business and what the hotel symbolized.
“The way that we do that is through storytelling and trying to make connections in every place we go in an authentic way,” Teitelbaum said.
Watch the full Power Conversation below for more on cross-cultural communications:
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