Tag Archive for: LGBTQ

Amber Hairston: Agency Underwriter, PGIM Real Estate

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Amber Hairston“For this moment, while employers are asking you to bring yourself to work, do it. Do it now. Do it today,” says Amber Hairston. “The hope is that this is a movement, not a moment. But time is of the essence, so do it. It will pay dividends.”

In honor of National Coming Out Day on October 11th, we share Hairston’s experience on freeing yourself into authenticity. 

Seeing the Hurdles Before They Come

Graduating during the global financial crisis and determined to exit the social confines of her rural Virginia hometown, Hairston took a position in marketing and communications. But “in typical Millennial fashion,” she made a network connection on Twitter who saw her as suited to commercial real estate finance and directed her towards an opportunity. In 2015, she then moved to PGIM, where she ascended across four positions within six years.

“I was redirected to the path that was intended for me,” reflects Hairston, who had planned to study business before diverting towards communications. “I think of myself now as a different kind of storyteller.”

As an underwriter, Hairston pitches deals to loan approvers after careful assessment of a property, who’s operating it, the market, and other financial risks. Attributing her work ethic to her parents, Hairston prides herself on attention to detail: “I’m very thoughtful in assessing what the hurdles are. I don’t always like to call them ‘risks’ necessarily. I call them ‘hurdles’—these are the hurdles, and this is how we can and will clear them.”

The volatility in the domestic and global economy, and the impact on the real estate investment marketplace, has definitely provided challenges to step into—and Hairston finds that exhilarating. While she won’t speak the most in a meeting room, when she does, she has reflected and has something powerful to say.

Time management and foresight have been her boons. “There’s nothing that I haven’t thought about when I’m underwriting a deal. There’s nothing that I encounter that I haven’t at least entertained as a possible hurdle. I’m never caught flat-footed or surprised.”

“Dropping the Weight Vest” To Rise in Authenticity

Reflecting on her desire to stretch beyond home as a teenager, she says, “It was a very black and white space in a literal and figurative sense. There wasn’t a lot of space for a queer woman of color in the town that I came from, and I knew that I could not grow in the ways that I needed to grow in that environment,” says Hairston. “D.C. just made a lot more sense, and it was my dream city in the United States.”

But while having left the confines of her small town, Hairston in some ways brought the burden of constraints within her to D.C.—until the pandemic.

“I kept the queer part of myself under wraps for so long. I tried to be something else and it was exhausting. And it’s not because of PGIM – this is the box that I grew up in, a limited view of what a woman can and should be, what they should look like,” says Hairston. “But the pandemic changed everything. We were at home and there was nobody to see me. There was only the work. It felt like I had been walking around with a ‘weight vest’ for years.”

Hairston recalls a moment when she was overwhelmed with work while colleagues were away and she needed all of herself: “I think that was the moment that everything changed because I didn’t have a choice. I had to take off the vest at that moment to power through.”

She continues, “Then as we started to return to the office in late 2021, I just told myself I wasn’t putting it back on. I decided I was done with it.”

“In a virtual setting and with all the focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, I was ready to bring the breadth and depth to my experience to bear as a queer woman of color.”

That choice has impacted her relationships across the organization and the industry: “My relationships wouldn’t be as meaningful personally or impactful professionally had I not brought everything to the table.”

And it’s impacted her performance and visibility: “I’ve never been a stronger performer. I draw so much power from all the things that make me different. I used to view it as a disadvantage, but it’s so essential to how I’m able to show up, how effective and efficient I am, and the impact that I’m able to make. I draw from everything, and to have not done that for so many years was a detriment to my performance.”

Reflecting overall, she says, “It sounds sad this box that I, in part, put myself into, the unnecessary weight that I carried for so long, but the upside is maybe I can run faster and jump higher than I ever thought I could.”

Evolving Her Work Relationships From Within

As Hairston has become more comfortable in taking up space in a way that is authentic to herself, she’s feels she’s allowed others to do the same.

“Historically, I’ve been really hard on people. I could be pretty demanding and have really high expectations,” reflects Hairston. “I’m not sure that’s changed, but with the pandemic and everything, the way that I approach it has changed. I’ve had to take it easier on myself and that’s translated to other people.“

Reflecting deeper, she shares, “My harshness was a reflection of how I was talking to myself. Now that I’ve reined in my own self talk, I’m more patient, compassionate and thoughtful in how I get the best out of others, because that’s ultimately what I want.”

Empowering Others Beyond Yourself

Hairston feels blessed by an abundance of mentors and sponsors who had her best interests at heart, even when it meant losing her: “I think a lot of people see those who support them, whether consciously or unconsciously, as tools for their own growth and advancement and production. But there have been many people, at many turns, who let me go even when it was going to make things uncomfortable for them. They wanted to see me rise.”

She wishes to take that with her, “There are people in this organization, and across the industry, who have altered the trajectory of my career by presenting me with an opportunity or a challenge. That’s the type of impact that I want to have,” she says.

“Part of the responsibility of leadership, whether you’re the CEO or have one direct report, is to develop people and I hope I never lose sight of that.” It’s also important to her to be a steady presence that others can call on when they need anything.

Hairston is inspired by leaders who embody vulnerability and transparency. “They have the confidence to give you the latitude for mistakes and really allow you to grow,” she says. That latitude has looked like saying her name in rooms she can’t be in and risking putting their name behind hers while advancing her into new challenges.

She traveled broadly before the pandemic – from Costa Rica, Dubai, and Cape Town to London and Zurich. While more grounded during recent times, she’s explored cultures through food and suspects she’s read about 35 books in the last year and a half.

A sci-fi fantasy and Harry Potter fan, she enjoys V.E. Schwab and sometimes reads young adult fiction to appreciate the diversity of representation that was absent when she was growing up. Though never a “dog person,” she was lovingly coerced into puppy parenting. She and her partner have a seven-month-old Bichon Frise named Artemis.

By Aimee Hansen

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Beyond Pride Month: LGBTQ+ Inclusion Is About Every Single Day

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LGBTQ+ InclusionLGBTQ+ is a form of invisible diversity that is both growing and significantly changing, especially among younger generations. Yet, many LGBTQ+ employees continue to report a lack of real inclusion and safety in the workplace.

During Pride Month, let’s remember why valuing LGBTQ+ employees is not just about a month of celebration, adapted logos and rainbow flags – but about a deep commitment to building LGBTQ+ inclusive and safe workplaces that allow all individuals to contribute and thrive every single day.

Underrepresentation for LGBTQ+ From Entry to Leadership

According to Gallup in 2021, 7.1% of the U.S. identifies as LGBTQ+ (doubling since 2012) and 21% of Gen Z do (twice the proportion of millennials). LGBTQ+ identification is increasing across major racial and ethnic groups – giving rise to more diverse, intersectional identities.

Yet under-representation in the workplace for LGBTQ+ groups begins at entry level. McKinsey found that LGBTQ+ women are underrepresented by more than half, even at entry level. Meanwhile at the top, only .5% of the board seats in the Fortune 500 are held by openly LGBTQ+ directors and only a few Fortune 500 CEOs are openly gay, including one woman. One transgender woman leads a Fortune 1000 company. The lack of visible LGBTQ+ executive leadership limits visible role models for younger talent.

LGBTQ+ men (80%) are more likely to be out than LGBTQ+ women (58%). Senior LGBTQ+ leaders (80%) are more out than junior employees (32%), even though their peers are more accepting and demand inclusivity in the workplace.

Globally, the World Economic Forum is advocating for LGBTQ+ visibilty: more LGBTQ+ representation in business and media that tells more diverse and inclusive stories of LGBTQ+ individuals, to advance both equality and acceptance. LGBTQ+ community members report feeling least authentically represented in media depictions. And while 63% of non-LGBTQ+ people perceive the “community” as one collective group with similar needs, the reality of a changing LGBTQ+ culture has never been further away.

While LGBTQ+ acceptance has grown globally since 1981, an unprecedented number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills are proposed in U.S. state legislatures, 71 countries still criminalize consensual same-sex sexual activity, 15 countries criminalize the gender identity and/or expression of transgender people and 11 countries deem consensual same-sex relations punishable by death.

LGBTQ+ Experiences In the Workplace

A LinkedIn survey of LBGTQ professionals found 24% were not open about their identity at work and 26% feared they’d be treated differently by coworkers, echoing McKinsey’s findings that one in four LGBTQ+ employees are not out at work.

McKinsey research found that half of out LGBTQ+ individuals have to come out at least once a week: especially challenging for women, junior employees, and people outside Europe and North America. BCG found 40% of U.S. LGBTQ employees are closeted at work and that 75% have experienced negative day-to-day workplace interactions related to their identity.

Yet being out has helped many to access more of their potential. According to LinkedIn, LGBTQ+ individuals report being open at work helps them connect with others for support and build better relationships. According to McKinsey, individuals experience greater well-being and are more able to focus on work. Those who are out are far less likely to plan to leave their current employer. But in absence of strong cultures of inclusion, many are deterred or facing headwinds.

According to CIPD research on LGBTQ+ inclusion, LGB+ employees (40%) and trans employees (55%) experience more workplace conflict and harassment than heterosexual employees (29%) and feel less psychological safety. LinkedIn found 31% reported facing discrimination or microaggressions at work.

Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law also found that nearly half (46%) of LGBT workers have experienced unfair treatment at work, such as harassment, dismissal or hiring discrimination based on their LGBT status. Nearly one-fourth have experienced discrimination when applying for jobs, and even more so for transgender workers.

67% of LGBT workers have heard slurs, jokes and negative comments about LGBT people. Half are not out to their supervisors. While 40% of LGBT cis-gender employees are likely to adopt behaviors to “cover,” nearly 60% of transgender employees are. Trans individuals are twice as likely to hear sexist jokes about people of their gender, three times more likely to feel they can’t talk about life outside of work, and think more often about leaving.

When it comes to advancing, McKinsey reports that many LGBTQ+ employees believe they have to outperform non-LGBTQ+ colleagues to gain recognition and 40% of LGBTQ+ women feel they need to provide extra evidence of their competence. Compared to 2/3 of non-LGBTQ+ employees, only half of LGBTQ+ respondents saw people like themselves in management positions at their organizations. Less than 1 in 4 of have an LGBTQ+ sponsor, even though senior LGBTQ+ leaders are twice as likely as straight and cis-gender peers to credit sponsors for their own career growth.

LGBTQ+ employees earn 90% on every $1 and transgender employees make 32% less per year than their cisgender peers. 1 in 3 LGBTQ+ U.S. employees feel discrimination has impacted their promotion or salary levels.

And a study published in the Journal of Business and Psychology found that leaders with same-sex sexual orientation are perceived to be less effective and receive less follower conformity than heterosexual leaders, regardless of gender presentation or biological gender, especially among male followers (women followers were more supportive). The researchers note that extra care must be taken to ensure same-sex sexual orientation leaders are evaluated fairly in performance reviews.

The Remote Workplace Has Mixed Impacts on LGBTQ+ Inclusion

In a global study, McKinsey found that LGBTQ+ employees in the remote workplace were 1.4 times more likely (twice as likely in Asia) than straight and cis-gender peers to report acute challenges with workload increase and fair performance reviews. They struggled more from a loss of workplace connectivity and belonging. Two of three LGBTQ+ employees reported acute or moderate challenges with mental health. Additionally, a survey of remote workers in tech reported that online harassment and hostility went up for LGBTQ workers during the pandemic.

McKinsey researchers noted: “The allyship found in social and work settings is an important source of belonging among many in the LBGTQ+ community.”

On the other hand, some LGBTQ+ employees found remote work to be a ‘game changer for inclusion.’ With remote work, employees can remain in a place where they have a supportive community and work for an employer in a different location. Some find the remote office reduces the pressure of office interactions and helps avoid appearance-based comments. It also makes it straight-forward to introduce pronouns.

The Cost for Lacking LGBTQ+ Inclusion

It’s been estimated that the US economy could save $9 billion annually if organizations had more effective inclusion policies for LGBTQ+ employees.

A recent argument in Forbes demonstrated that a lack of LGBTQ+ inclusion is costing companies. If an LGBTQ+ employee – either out or closeted – spends even 15 minutes of their day either explaining or evading uncomfortable situations related to their identity, it amounts to 65 hours a year, or over $1500 per LGBTQ+ employee based on median income, to compensate for a workplace that isn’t LGBTQ+ inclusive: which sums to a quarter million for a company with 10,000 employees or $2 billion for U.S. employers, annually.

“Add it all up, and employers are wasting a huge amount of money by not creating spaces where LGBTQ+ folks can bring their whole selves to work, do their jobs and be successful,” writes Michael Bach.

Meanwhile, many studies confirm that when employees are within a genuinely inclusive organizational culture, it benefits individuals, teams, organizations and the bottom line.

LGBTQ+ Inclusion Is a Cultural Commitment

While Pride Month is a celebration that lasts for a month, a LGBTQ+ employee needs to feel included – and protected from homophobia and transphobia – every day, and regardless if they choose to share their identity in the workplace. Because LGBTQ+ individuals are less visible than other underrepresented groups, organizations must go the extra mile.

Inclusion is not performative but about mitigating biases, creating authentic belonging, valuing LGBTQ+ voices and providing equal opportunity to contribute and fulfill potential. When it comes to LGBTQ+ inclusion, dedicated corporations advocate for legislative change and oppose legislative discrimination.

At a DEI commitment level, LGBTQ+ inclusion must be a specific priority and companies must seek to understand how individuals who are LGBTQ+ experience the office differently to other groups. It means visible leadership commitment to inclusion and leadership representation, and activating sponsorship of LGBTQ+ talent.

At an advocacy level, it means leveraging the corporate voice to oppose discriminatory legislation that targets the LGBTQ+ community and even leading the charge as powerful allies on LGBTQ+ rights.

At a policy and processes level, inclusion means making sure policies are LGBTQ+ inclusive such as domestic-partner benefit and trans-inclusive healthcare coverage as well as clear about non-discrimination on gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation regardless of whether employees are “out”; mitigating assumptions and bias in hiring, reviews, pay and promotions; adapting technological interfaces to be inclusive (such as freedom to input chosen names in data fields); providing gender-neutral restrooms; and protecting employees from bullying whether in-office or online.

At the level of everyday cultural interactions, it means cultivating compassion and awareness among employees; using inclusive and gender-neutral language in the workplace; actively encouraging allyship, empowering better allyship and making allyship visible; investing in LGBTQ+ networks and rewarding contributions; setting aside safe spaces for voices to come forth; normalizing the adding of pronouns on LinkedIn and social media profiles; recognizing that identifies are fluent and complex and letting people tell you how they identify on their terms; celebrating LGBTQ+ calendar events and days; and most of all creating a culture of learning, openness and psychological safety.

It’s the organizations and leaders that champion not a month, but a sustained and iterative commitment to LGBTQ+ inclusion, that will make a real difference to LGBTQ+ lives.

By Aimee Hansen

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Mary Cassai: Senior Vice President, Perioperative Services, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital

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Mary Cassai“When you’re building teams, you always want to be strongly committed to the diversity of your team’s experience and ideas,” says Mary Cassai. “You don’t want to have uniformity in thought or expertise, as it could challenge disruption and innovation.”

Cassai is responsible for all operational oversight for Perioperative Services at NYP, including 140 operating rooms, 10 central sterile reprocessing departments and 40 endoscopy suites, producing over 180,000 procedures annually.

Converting Empathy Into Purpose

“I love problem solving. I am driven by challenge and uncertainty,” says Cassai. “I find comfort in bridging operational gaps and in understanding the dynamics of people and process that will lead to the best outcome and solution.”

Cassai finds purpose by creating the best possible environment of care for both patients and the interdisciplinary teams. She loves building relationships, partnerships and discovery – as well as finding what inspires people, the why it matters; and how different pieces of the puzzle and people come together to create the greatest results.

While in nursing school, her uncle was diagnosed with end-stage liver disease cancer. Observing the gaps in his bedside care validated why she was going into nursing. From a young age, she has always been driven by empathy and a keen sense of what empathy means; which is invaluable in healthcare: “I sometimes call it my superpower. I feel like I can decipher quickly how folks feel in certain dynamics.”

At the age of eight, she struggled with the diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which she remembers as world changing: “Rather than suffer through it, I made it work in my benefit in terms of my own perseverance and seeing how I could optimize some of that compulsive tendency into good and being the most productive and healthy.”

She accredits her parents with not ignoring the condition or hiding it away, but rather handling it directly with consideration and thoughtfulness: “I think that experience, which both pained me and also allowed me to become much stronger and even more empathetic, led me towards this desire of being in healthcare.”

Orchestrating Teams to Harmonize

In her present corporate remit, much of Cassai’s work is in leading multiple teams across the enterprise to improve clinical and operational outcomes. She provides the oversight of all strategic planning as it relates to operating room and endoscopy operations across 10 campuses.

Empathy comes into play differently than it did back in her bedside days: “It’s the ability to understand quickly what each person’s strengths are and how to leverage that best across teams in order to achieve success.”

She has found that when you have the right diversity of people and experience in a room, you come to the end-result faster because of positive friction and the ability to leverage each other’s thoughts in a spirited way.

Agility has become even more important as a leadership skill, especially in managing increasing complexity, whether it be facing the “untoward circumstances” of COVID-19 and having to create more hospital bed capacity for the surge of acute patients or transitioning from a clinical operational world into a more technology-based environment.

“Orchestrating” part of the why it matters for Cassai means helping everyone to harmonize together as a group – even beyond words through body language and action. Encouraging fluid, interrelating working dynamics – to drive for the best solutions. The previous years’ Covid 19 required orchestrating unprecedented collaboration: “We had to figure this out together, and that’s what we did. The solidarity of the team was absolutely amazing. It was beautiful in the face of disaster, and I walked away feeling like this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Fail Fast and Fail Forward

Humility has served Cassai, including being able to transparently acknowledge to her team when something didn’t go as planned. She’s learned the criticality of asking more questions and leading by coaching her teams.

Encouraged throughout her career by mentors who supported her professionally and in growing in emotional maturity, she received the great advice to: “Fail fast, fail forward, move on.”

When failure happens, Cassai focuses on understanding what could have been done differently, to learn from the mistake, but not to harp on it, noting that failing is less about the failing and more about the learning that comes after, which often makes for even better results. She embraces this mental strategy for herself and imparts this on her teams.

“It’s important that we don’t live in monotony and that we are absolutely thought-provoking, disruptive, and creative. If we start to stifle that because of the unknown, then we’re never going to advance as quickly as we need to.” Don’t let perfection be the enemy of progress.

This advice also helped her to step up, professionally, and take on roles she hadn’t foreseen herself in: “Having been given that gift very early on allowed me to be more fearless in my choices and allowed me to rise into what others saw in me with less trepidation.”

Being Part of An Inclusive Organization

As a lesbian woman, Cassai feels blessed to be part of such an inclusive organization as NYP: “It is definitely an honor to work in a place where I feel so much pride not only for the organization, but for how much pride they take in their people. It’s been truly a feeling of belonging and it gets even better and more powerful day-by-day and week-by-week. I can’t say enough about the sense of belonging and safety that this organization provides.”

She recalls how warmly she and her son’s mom were embraced from the start. Senior leadership demonstrated such enthusiasm and joy in meeting and learning about who Mary called family.

Cassai is also proud of the consistently inclusive hiring and promotional practices at NYP: “There’s been a genuine and tremendous amount of focus by the organization on creating diverse platforms of teams.”

Earned Comfort in Her Skin

Early on in her journey as a registered nurse, Cassai recalls she was not as comfortable in her own skin as a lesbian woman as she is today, and had moments when she felt like she wasn’t being who others wanted her to be – not because anyone else said so, but from her own insecurities.

What Cassai did experience were people would question her sexuality aloud and sometimes make discriminating comments. Worn down by the constant questioning of her sexuality, she decided to take a stance and cut her hair short in her mid-20’s, hoping that would make it clear: “I made the decision to own who I am.”

Shortly after, strangers have said some hateful things to her based on appearance, and she remembers thinking she needed to empower herself to turn the pain into pride: “I had to learn to not take it personal, this was their issue, not mine. I acknowledged that this is going to happen. It’s not okay, but it’s going to happen. I was really shaken up but I just focused on what matters and became my own advocate and ally.”

Having experienced moments when I was not supported for who I am and was, Cassai has made it a purpose to be the person who does: “From that moment forward, I said to myself that I would never allow anyone I worked with, or was close to, to be on the receiving end of that.”

As a leader, Cassai wants to make it safe for people to always feel like they can speak up. It’s important for her to promote a feeling of safety, belonging and acknowledgment. She focuses on checking in, asking the right questions to understand how they are feeling: “I make a conscious choice to acknowledge what’s happening in the world and within my teams on a day-to-day basis, even if it’s just to check in.”

Cassai considers her seven-year-old son to be her world, and loves spending time with him going on adventures, watching movies and doing sporting activities. She rides the Peloton twice a day, enjoys reading and cooking – and hopes to build a pizza oven one day.

By Aimee Hansen

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Erika Karp: Chief Impact Officer, Pathstone

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Erika Karp“I think that capitalism has the potential to be exceptionally productive. That said, we’ve messed it up. We’ve distorted it, and it has become a system that is extractive and exclusive,” says Erika Karp. “I think that’s really unfortunate. I want to be a part of a system that is regenerative and inclusive, and I still believe capitalism can be.”

Karp speaks to a childhood love for economics, why ESG takes the ideology out of sustainable investment and being the first out lesbian on her firm’s Wall Street trading floor.

From the Lemonade Stand to the Trading Room

Karp knew from when she was a child that she loved and wanted to be involved in trading and economics.

“While we don’t think about it that way, trading is part of human nature. As kids, we set up lemonade stands in our driveways in the suburbs of New York. Well that wasn’t quite interesting enough,” she remembers. “So I set up a stand with all my old toys, trinkets and baubles. It wasn’t so much about the money, but trading. I loved it.”

When Erika’s sister borrowed money from her as children, she’d pay Erika back with a little interest. And Karp recalls her father, a securities lawyer, getting off the phone with a client and saying: “It’s so wonderful when you’re involved in the stock market and on the phone, and on your word, on your honor, you can do important transactions with millions of dollars.”

Karp remembers that it was on your honor. From six years old, she didn’t know what a stockbroker was, but she knew she was going to be one.

Willing that Capitalism Can be Regenerative

Karp lists her personal values as nature and animals, access to water and the ocean, access to education and healthcare. Towards the end of her first 25 years on Wall Street, which culminated in her becoming Director of Global Sector Research at UBS Investment Bank, she was asked to manage the Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) team.

“I learned organically that when you look at the critical environmental and social and governance factors in a company, in an industry, in a sector – you really do get a lot of predictive insight into the long-term investing process,” she notes. “Being able to align my investment discipline and belief in capitalism with my personal values through the discipline of ESG analysis felt amazing.”

“To evolve capitalism towards something that’s more regenerative and more inclusive definitely takes a systems approach. That means understanding complexity, nuance and interrelationships.” As momentum gathered, Karp began to do work on sustainable investing in cooperation with World Economic Forum, UN Global Compact and the Clinton Global Initiative.

“As I got more involved, I felt a greater sense of purpose and urgency. So I founded Cornerstone Capital Group, which [was] a purpose-built research-driven impact investment advisor,” she notes. After bringing the business to $1.2 billion in assets under management, she took the plunge to merge her impact-focused firm with Pathstone, an independent registered investment advisory firm focused on families, family offices and institutions. It was a symbiotic merger, with Pathstone having a long-standing background in ESG analysis and a strong interest in expanding its impact orientation.

Taking the Ideology Out of ESG

“Years ago, I remember thinking even the word ‘responsible’ implies ideology, it implies right and wrong,” reflects Karp. “So the world of SRI was ideological, political, divisive and tree-hugging, and it just wasn’t adopted as real investing.”

“To some degree, I was subversive. I came to believe that over the long run, ESG factors are fundamentally important to get more predictive insight in the investment process,” she says. “So I was more pragmatic. I didn’t use words like ‘responsible’ or ‘sustainability’ or barely even ‘climate change’. I would talk ‘energy efficiency’ and ‘reputational risk” and ‘political risk’. I knew it was about sustainability in the back of my mind, but I talked about fundamental things to the industry, because I really believe it’s about investment outcomes.”

“Unlike SRI, on the ESG front, we can analyze factors objectively,” says Karp. “Whether or not this touches my values, does it touch a company’s revenues and costs and risk? It’s beyond being ideological now. It’s about investment.”

Karp was invited to join the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), an opportunity to create infrastructure in defining ESG criteria that matters to any given industry or company and offering standards for what to disclose based on material economic and profit outcomes.

“More and more people now understand ESG as an analytical discipline, so that’s great progress,” says Karp. She notes that myth-busting still is an active part of her work – for example busting the myth that ESG factors reduce returns when the research shows not only that this is incorrect, but that integrating ESG factors can potentially increase returns over the long term.

Karp points out the risk of ESG analysis becoming more popular is that it is done flippantly, rather than at a high quality level with skilled managers. She feels ESG practices will evolve with standard disclosure, and technology will become more skilled in discerning the signal from the noise in the data when it comes to informing investment impact and outcomes.

“ESG analysis is a discipline within finance that is the future of finance,” says Karp. “One day, all the different phrases – SRI and impact and values-based and double bottom line, we won’t use them. It’s just investing.”

Being A Leader, Not A Manager

“I would rather be a leader than manager. To be a good leader, you really do have to have a vision, a mission. I want people to feel inspired to get on board with what we’re doing and feel purpose and connection,” says Karp. “Management is structural and systems and measures and accountability are critical. But I don’t love management as much as I love leadership.”

As a lover of learning, Karp also feels she learns most when also teaching. With her wife being a clinical psychologist, she jokes she is clearly not afraid to be analyzed.

“Every leader has flaws. I think I am mostly able to hear about the things that I can do better. I want to evolve, teach and coach,” says Karp. “If I’m not listening or open to input as to how I can be better, that’s not facilitating what I want to do.”

“We have financial capital, human capital and natural capital, which is priceless. The intersectionality of these three forms of capital has to be valued,” she says, when she speaks to her leadership vision. “All need to be respected and they need to become regenerative as opposed to being destroyed or shifted around.”

“We know the value of financial capital – many trillions of dollars,” says Karp. “Could someone tell me the value of the last drop of water? That’s worth more than all the financial capital in existence. That’s how I think of things.”

Being The First Out Lesbian on The Trading Floor

“As a woman, to succeed, you can’t just be good. You have to be great,” says Karp. “I was experienced differently than many of the guys around me. So if I am assertive and articulate, I might have been perceived as pushy or aggressive. It’s hard work to gain respect and credibility while balancing not wanting to be seen as aggressive.”

Karp notes that as a woman, and being potentially more risk-averse, she has found herself and other women to often be more supported in their arguments: “In a conference room full of men, I may not be the first to speak,” she says, “but when I do, I have something to say that affects the thinking of the people in the room.”

“When it comes to being gay, that’s more challenging. While my clients or colleagues are processing ‘she’s gay’, are they also hearing what I’m saying? This is the case with any difference,” says Karp. “Whereas we now know difference has to be embraced, because it’s awesome.”

For the initial years of her career, Karp had been married to a man and was mostly closeted. Even after telling a close colleague, it took her years to come out, and she even recalls jumping out of her first Pride Parade in New York for the couple blocks around where it passed by her office building and jumping back in afterwards.

But after making director, and meeting her future wife, she came out 24 years ago. She did not experience the backlash she feared, and she says even if she had, she would not have cared.

“Even if it did affect my career in some way, I don’t care. I’ll never know. I don’t care, because I feel like being out has made me more productive, more creative, more content than I could have imagined back then,” says Karp. “But it was hard — I was the first out lesbian on a Wall Street trading floor.”

Karp found her firm to be receptive and open to learning, and she made a point of being purposely out and transparent to make it easier for those to come. She introduced a lounge for breastfeeding when she had her babies. Repeatedly, she went to HR at UBS with the questions that had never been asked: about covering costs related to becoming pregnant, about taking leave of absence when her wife carried the baby, about applying the financial assistance with the adoption process for her own children.

“Each time, they came back with a yes,” she says. “There are a lot of benefits we have now that are relatively standard at big investment banks, we didn’t have back then.”

Karp and Sari Kessler have had three marriages. Their first “illegal” wedding was 22 years ago in The BoatHouse in Central Park with their rabbi, friends and family. The second was on the first day that City Hall in Manhattan was giving out marriage licenses for same sex couples, also with her rabbi and this time, with their three daughters present (who are now 19, 16 and 13 years old). The third time was when federal marriage equality rights were granted.

Doing What She Is Meant For

“I know that I’m doing what I ought to be doing, and I know that I’m doing it in an important and honorable way,” says Karp.

She loves nature and water and says margaritas by the ocean with her family would be her happy place. She loves hiking, movies, playing cards and watching her daughters grow up, if far too quickly.

By: Aimee Hansen

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Caroline Samponaro: Head of Transit & Micromobility Policy, Lyft

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Caroline Sampanaro“One thing I learned through my community organizing training with Midwest Academy is this idea of leadership: that giving power away is how you grow a powerful movement,” says Caroline Samponaro. “I focus on imparting that message to those I manage: how are we giving away power to build a strength of team and community that can be that much more successful?”

Samponaro speaks to how social issues led her to transport and the journey to feeling confident in her voice.

Social Issues Led Her to Transit

An epic bike ride through Japan is what first set Samponaro, an anthropology major at Colombia University at the time, on the unexpected trajectory of working in transportation.

While writing a thesis on the topic of bike activism, she then began to ride around New York City. She discovered an intriguing intersection between social issues and transport. While working as a paralegal, she started to participate in monthly Critical Mass bike rides on Fridays, an action to create safety in numbers for cyclists by reclaiming the streets.

After challenging an arrest while on a bicycle, she co-founded a group, with other law students and lawyers, called The FreeWheels Bicycle Defense Fund, that raised funds and provided legal support to help cyclists challenge their charges.

“I didn’t come into transportation from a planning or policy perspective initially,” says Samponaro. “I was intrigued about the way that it was an intersection point into cities and government and social issues.”

Though she gained entry into law school, she instead began in a working in transportation in a non-for-profit and never looked back. After twelve years at Transportation Alternatives across various advocacy roles, feeling her impact was limited in scale, she decided to move to the private sector with Lyft as the company expanded its scope to include micromobility.

Affecting Inclusion through Transport

Transportation is a pervasive industry because it touches most people on a daily basis, and Samponaro’s work is disrupting the norms we take for granted that weren’t always norms.

“In the U.S., we’ve spent more than a century building the private automobile into everyday life,” notes Samponaro. “There are New York Times articles from the introduction of the automobile era which reflect the public’s uproar over the invasion of these automobiles onto the streets, which traditionally had been used as gathering places, stickball locations, parks, food markets and all the things.”

“We also heavily subsidize single-occupancy vehicle trips to mask the massive toll this form of transportation takes on society – free parking, cheap gas, roads designed entirely for vehicular traffic. It’s not surprising that roughly 77% of Americans drive alone in their car to work. As we face big challenges like climate change, housing, and equitable access to transportation options, removing the single occupancy vehicle from day to day life is part of getting at the root of the problem,” she says. “Lyft as a company is challenging the premise of the single occupancy vehicle through rideshare, our large-scale bikeshare programs and the ways that we provide our customers with trip planning to integrate transit into a daily commute.”

Samponaro’s line of work in micromobility is focused on creating a network of shared bicycles and scooters that functions like a public transportation system. Though bike activism originally drew her into urban biking, she feels her work is helping to remove the identity politics from riding a bike, while overcoming some of the disadvantages of not owning a car.

“At the end of the day, if we’re trying to transform the way people get around, and make it more equitable and safe, it’s important that when people choose to get on a bike to go to work, they’re not making an identity decision,” she notes. “They’re making a practical one, with a tool that is available, easy and affordable.”

Bringing A More Diverse Human Element to Transit

“In the context of biking and micromobility, often the market is orientating itself towards the perspective of a young white male,” Samponaro observes. “I’ve tried to find opportunities, whether through my own perspective or bringing in the perspective of other women, to make sure we’re inserting a broader view into how we plan our programs and welcome people to our systems.”

For example, street designs generally make the thought of shifting to a bicycle both scary and implausible: “You have to be daring, and you shouldn’t have to be thinking about whether you’re risking your life in your transportation choice. That’s not logical, so I think that impacting the systems around people’s choices become the ways you ensure equity and access.”

“It’s important that there are engineers building models and algorithms to make non-driving easier and more attainable,” notes Samponaro. “I’m most excited about my work when I’m bringing the human dimension to that essential product development. Given how much this area impacts the lives of people, having a people-centric perspective on the work of transportation has been an asset that I can bring and that I find great satisfaction in.”

A Culture of Belonging

“Growing up, I just passed as someone that people assumed was straight. So I struggled mostly in the context of work with a feeling of being closeted, unless I chose not to be,” says Samponaro. “Always coming out over and over again has its own challenges.”

Working in a highly male-dominated industry, she has often been the only woman or one of few women at the table. As a married lesbian mother of 4.5 year old twins, the years have brought internal and contextual changes that have helped her feel confident in embodying her own voice.

“Getting to a place of success and building my career trajectory involved feeling bad about myself at times and being slightly insecure that it wasn’t going to go my way, whether it was the raise or the promotion,” she notes. “If I spoke too loudly in the meeting, was I going to be called out for being rude, as opposed to be appreciated for being assertive? As I became more senior, the biggest feedback I received was that I was not being considerate enough in my tone, the kind of feedback that I feel men don’t receive. So the context of being queer just layered on top of those feelings of insecurity and asking if I belonged.”

Samponaro notes that achieving successes is different than having an inherent feeling of ease and belonging: “The overwhelming sense I used to have was as hard as I was trying and as good as I was doing,” she recalls, “I wasn’t going to get asked to that drink or get added to that bike ride or get included.”

Samponaro accredits much of the belonging and encouragement she now feels to being in an environment where there is a dedicated emphasis on building an equitable company culture.

“I have personally grown to a place where I could feel belonging, but then Lyft is just a wonderful place to work in terms of the emphasis it places on creating affinity groups, recognizing people’s differences, celebrating them and creating opportunities for that to be happening all the time,” she observes. “There’s so much structure built around ensuring that the company is doing equitability, right. The intentionality is key.“

Now that she feels more confident in her voice, Samponaro seeks to become the ally that she realizes she may not have dared to be: “ln my attempts to make sure I kept my job and kept growing in the way I wanted to, did I do enough speaking out on behalf of others around me? Did I do enough ally work? I think the answer, probably up until recently, is ‘no.’”

Samponaro is recognized by those who mentor her for her focus and determination to create change through the work she does. She has learned to embrace her sensitivity and capacity for empathy, though at times challenging, as an asset which has enabled her to truly impact the communities she serves.

By Aimee Hansen

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LGBTQ+ Culture is Changing: Are Companies Ready to Redefine Inclusion?

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LGBTQGenerational change is redefining how we relate to identity, particularly among LGBTQ+ people. The traditional ‘category’ approaches to D&I have helped to form the basis of anti-discrimination policy, but are not suited to creating inclusion.

Last June, federal protections passed in the Supreme Court for LGBTQ+ people at work and the vast majority of Fortune 500 companies have strong non-discrimination policies. Yet policy is not the same as culture. Building inclusion requires weaving through every single level and interaction of an organizational culture.

As Boston Consulting Group (BCG) authors, in “A New LGBTQ Workforce Has Arrived—Inclusive Cultures Must Follow“, point out: “Yet despite these efforts, the unavoidable fact is that most LGBTQ employees do not feel truly included in the workplace.”

The LGBTQ+ Community Is Radically Changing

According to BCG, many organizations are failing at inclusion because they are failing to understand the changing and holistic identities of today’s LGBTQ+ community. BCG conducted a survey of 2,000 LGBTQ+ employees and 2,000 straight employees, in partnership with NYC LGBT Community Center, in March 2020.

They found the younger generations of the LGBTQ+ community look very different to their predecessors, and these differences matter.

Among the sample, 54% of the LGBTQ+ workforce is women, but that rises to 71% of those aged 25 to 34 and 78% of those age 18 to 24 (Gen Z). The number of women identifying as bisexual is rising strongly, and there’s a marked increase across all genders in those identifying as multiple sexual orientations or ‘other’ orientations.

For example, among the 45-54 LGBTQ+ cohort, 57% identified as gay, 17% as lesbian, 29% as bisexual and only 7% as other. Compare that to the 25-34 cohort – where 15% identified as gay, 15% as lesbian, but 47% as bisexual and 23% as other.

The younger LGBTQ+ workforce is also far more racially diverse than their older counterparts. Only 7% of 55+ LGBTQ+ people are nonwhite, whereas 53% are nonwhite among 18 to 24 year olds. Only 5% among 55+ are Hispanic, whereas 34% of the Gen Z group identify as such. And only 2% of the 55+ community identity as women of color, but 28% among under 35 years do.

“Today’s LGBTQ workforce has undergone a fundamental, generational shift, both in how it defines itself and what it expects of workplace inclusion,” writes the BCG authors, also stating: “Consequently, the diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in place at many companies, while beneficial, are no longer sufficient.”

Persistent Gaps In Cultural Inclusion

LGBTQ+ people still experiences gaps in feeling open and comfortable at work.

BCG found that 40% of LGBTQ+ employees are not out at work, and among those who are, 54% are closeted with clients or customers. 36% have lied or “covered” parts of their identities in the past year. Three-fourths experienced at least one negative interaction related to their LGBTQ identity at work in the past year, with 41% experiencing more than ten.

According to McKinsey research, LGBTQ+ women are twice as likely as straight women to feel like an “only” in the room, to feel they can’t talk about life outside of work and to “play” along with uncomfortable sexual discussions and humor. They are about 1.5 times more likely to hear jokes about gender or sexist comments, and to have experienced sexual harassment.

BCG found that half of senior LGBTQ+ managers have experienced colleagues refraining from networking with them, though this is less reported among more junior levels, where the younger generation is more attuned and aware of inclusion.

“These numbers illustrate the difference between diversity (in which a company hires people from different backgrounds) and inclusion (those people feel free and encouraged to bring their authentic selves to work),” writes the BCG authors. “The gap between the two carries a steep price in terms of engagement.”

Culture Impacts The Ability to Thrive

When a person is able to be who they are, they thrive. When they do not feel they can be, or that they must edit themselves, their ability to show up suffers.

Back in 2018, Human Rights Campaign research found that 25% of LGBTQ empties stayed due to an inclusive culture and 10% left because of a non-inclusive culture.

BCG found that LGBTQ+ employees who routinely experienced discrimination were 13 times more likely to have quit a job and 7 times more likely to have declined a job offer because of company culture, compared to those who never experienced it.

“D&I leaders must focus on culture change in order to improve employees’ interactions with colleagues, direct managers, and leadership—what we call the ‘1,000 daily touch points.” writes the BCG research team. “Our research shows that breakdowns in these touch points are a major barrier to inclusion.”

Breakdowns are “comments or actions that highlight prejudice, demonstrate a lack of empathy, or make an individual or group feel isolated or unwelcome.”

When it comes to thriving in a culture, LGBTQ+ employees who did not experience discrimination, relative to those who routinely did, were far more likely to feel recognized for their full potential by their manager, feel they could risk the innovation of making mistakes and trying again and wanted to consistently do their best work.

Compared to closeted peers, out employees were twice as likely to feel safe to speak up. They were also 1.5 times more likely to feel recognized and empowered by their manager and safe to take creative risk.

McKinsey also reports that relative to closeted peers, out LGBTQ+ women leaders are more likely to feel they have equal opportunities and access to sponsors, and a positive and supportive relationship with their manager.

They’re also half as likely to plan to leave their current employer within a year.

Inclusion for All, As a “Segment of One”

Non-discrimination policies and practices, and equal access to benefits and resources, are now the baseline of D&I. But as BCG points out: “These programs tended to cover formal interactions but did not address daily, informal interactions. Nor were they meant to activate the entire workforce around inclusion.”

Inclusion occurs through the informal interactions that make up the 1,000 daily touchpoints of an individual experience. But traditional categorization approaches to D&I (of race, gender and ethnicity) can backfire here as relationships to identity evolve to be personal, intersectional, fluid and multiple, especially with younger generations.

Harvard Business Review (HBR) authors from Boston College found that “employees who identify in ways that do not conform to the norms used to define and categorize them at work are more likely to feel marginalized, and even threatened.”

When the way identity is represented is simplified and misaligned to the complexity with which an individual sees themselves, a person’s sense of “identity autonomy” and “identity legitimacy” are compromised. So is motivation, engagement, performance and satisfaction.

HBR authors found that organizations can no longer assume that identities can be naturally divided into singular or binary categories, that identities that individuals claim in one moment are fixed, that identities are self-certain, or even compulsory.

As BCG also highlights, several demographic factors and life factors contribute to a holistic identity that impacts how one LGBTQ+ person uniquely experiences the touchpoints within an organization. All of this means inclusion comes down to adopting a “segment of one” D&I lens that embraces the self-identified, overlapping and fluid nature of identities, now.

Grant Freeland, senior partner and managing director at BCG writes the “segment of one” approach is about: “accepting colleagues and co-workers as they are—and judging them on the basis of what they contribute to the greater good, not whether you approve or disapprove of the identity they embrace, or whether they make you ‘comfortable’ or ‘uncomfortable.’”

Inclusion is the current, nuanced and necessary organizational work of creating inclusion for everyone by fostering a culture that embraces each individual as he, she or they defines themselves.

By Aimee Hansen

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Noelle Ramirez: Project Manager, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, PGIM

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Noelle Ramirez“I bring to the table my lived and learned experience as a woman, a lesbian woman, a Hispanic woman,” says Noelle Ramirez. “The things that kept me quiet in the room before are the things making me speak the loudest in the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion space.”

She speaks to showing up visibly to create belonging, how to expand the diversity of recruitment, and the prerequisite importance of culture.

Being The Representation You Want To See

Given her love for people and their stories, Ramirez chose to study immigration throughout her undergrad at Dartmouth. During recruiting season in college, she never saw herself, as a Puerto Rican woman, in asset management. Literally. The recruiters and classmates on that track did not look like her.

“I didn’t see myself, and the lack of representation was something that I shied away from,” she recalls. “But a lot of my perceptions were really misperceptions. I just did a talent research project at PGIM, where we found there’s a huge perception issue for the wealth and asset management industry felt by not only women, but also Latinx individuals, Hispanic individuals, black individuals: I don’t see myself, so how could I go that route?”

So when Ramirez moved to a focused diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) role in asset management, she did so with intention.

“I can be the representation that I want to see and make an impact in an industry that needs more people like me,” she says. “Highlighting different voices is something I want to do—you don’t have to be a math major or male or straight in this industry. You can show up, do a good job and succeed. I found there’s some amazing, diverse people in this industry. They’re just not the voices we have traditionally highlighted first.”

Casting A Wider Net for Recruiting

“The most rewarding piece of my work is to create an opportunity and open a door, where traditionally that door may not have existed,” says Ramirez, “to be able to put that spotlight on someone who might not have been seen and say, ‘I see you and there’s space for you here.’”

In the Latinx talent space, Ramirez experienced one of her biggest moments of impact when she and a colleague dared to cast a wider net. They traveled to Hispanic-serving institutions in Florida, well outside of the typical target schools, and met Luisa Maria Machado Artimez, a first generation American who came to the US at the age of 12 from Cuba and served in the US Army for a year before starting college. Ramirez found Luisa to be “one of the most inspiring young women that I’ve ever worked with and probably will ever know.”

Ramirez and her colleague agreed they wanted to find a way to invite Luisa into the industry via an internship at PGIM. She joined the summer program, was a star performer and is returning next year.

“That’s why I do this work. It’s easy to make the case for casting a wider net when you know someone like Luisa has been brought into the organization and succeeded,” she says. That’s when the higher-level support comes and then you can create an entire strategy around that.”

Making the Business Case

“You’re not going to move mountains when it comes to DEI in a month, or even a year. We’re fighting things like systemic racism that have been in place for generations,” she says, “so it’s important to celebrate small wins.”

Ramirez emphasizes being strategic and data-driven in the DEI sphere.

“For some people, it really is showing them exactly what they are missing by not caring about this,” she notes, “creating that story and walking them to that finish line, so they can take the step to make the change in the organization.”

For example, one of her DEI focuses has been on identifying where core Latinx talent is concentrated in the organization, to establish allyship to support that talent in moving towards more leadership positions.

“The Latinx population is becoming the majority minority—this is, the fastest-growing population, a more educated and entrepreneurial population, set to become the majority homeowners in the next 20 years,” she observes. “If the industry doesn’t have a strategy that’s going to capitalize on this talent, we’re completely missing the boat from a business perspective.”

She notes the “three P” factors that are barriers to Latinx recruitment in the industry:

  • Perception: This is not an industry that I see anyone like me in.
  • Talent Pipeline: I don’t even know or understand what asset management is, so how would I choose it?
  • Passion & Purpose: Can I feel good and passionate about wealth creation?

“If we don’t know the barriers to address,” says Ramirez, “then how are we going to work towards them as an industry?”

“Job hunters today are looking for a career that aligns with their values and that they can feel good about – and rightly so, we should feel passionate about purposeful in the work we do every day.”

Ramirez feels there needs to be more emphasis on getting different voices out there to attract a diverse talent pool as well as sharing stories about how companies are doing good and can align with your values, like PGIM’s huge investment in the community of Newark, New Jersey.

Put Culture First and Create an Inclusive Environment

When it comes to advice on making career-related decisions, she tells others: “Culture first. Seek out advice from people that are already there. What has their experience been? Do they feel comfortable? Do they feel like they can bring who they are to the table? If the answer is yes, that’s a good place to start. It takes away a lot of productivity and energy to not be who you are.”

“Go somewhere where you can be yourself. I’m very passionate in my delivery and it’s part of my culture. Making sure I’m in an environment where that doesn’t have to be shut off is important,” she says. “Look for environments that are ready to receive you, because that’s where you’ll be your most productive, innovative, creative and strategic.”

Another core component of Noelle’s team’s work is to create a safe space so that people can comfortably share as little or as much about their own experience as they wish.

“I’m a lesbian. I can talk about my partner every Monday morning. I would say as an industry, we are behind in creating safer spaces where people can be 100% themselves,” she notes. “We have an LGBTQ+ Think Tank at PGIM, which is comprised of Out leaders across the organization, which is thinking of ways to highlight LGBTQ+ voices and to give them a platform to share and educate.”

For me, I made the conscious decision to be out at work, especially when I joined the DEI space, because I felt like there weren’t many out people that I could go to and seek advice from, and I wanted to be that for someone else.”

Of her own intersectional identity, Ramirez notes, “I’m a white passing person and there’s privilege in that. Early on in my career, it was much easier to just blend. But moving into the DEI space, all of the things that made it uncomfortable now instead legitimize me and give me a platform to stand on.”

“How am I going to show up today from my voice?” Ramirez notes it’s a daily struggle. “From your voice to your hair to your clothes to your delivery, these are not necessarily things that are on everyone else’s mind.”

Ramirez is a huge athlete and since her father introduced her two years ago, she’s been obsessed with one the world’s fastest growing sports: pickleball—which combines elements of badminton, table tennis and tennis.

Played by people of all ages, not only has it allowed her to get outdoors daily during the pandemic, but she’s also made close friends with people she would have never otherwise met. Though her partner is more inclined to music than sports, she also often joins Ramirez on the court.

By: Aimee Hansen

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Lale Topcuoglu, Senior Fund Manager & Head of Credit, J O Hambro Capital Management

Lale Topcuoglu“Because I was gay, I felt my successes were always discounted by my family,” says Lale Topcuoglu of JOHCM.

But as she has built her career, she has realized that sometimes you find validation in the unlikeliest of places.

Making Her Voice Heard

Topcuoglu joined Goldman Sachs directly after college and stayed for 17 years, at which point she decided to take a few years off and “became COO of my household,” as she describes it. When she was ready to go back to work, she said it was a serendipitous event that brought her to her current firm, which she joined in September 2017. Right now she is focused on building a business from the ground up, which is challenging in such a competitive field, but rewarding for the sense of achievement.

One of the most positive aspects of her work has come from a partnership she has with Bloomberg, as part of its “New Voices” program. She was invited to audition to help bolster the number of women represented in Bloomberg News, a lack caused by many women’s inadequate media training or belief that they weren’t adequately prepared to participate in news media. Bloomberg encouraged her, offering enhanced media training, and she applied and was accepted November 2018. The credibility she has earned though her media exposure has been life-changing, she says.

“This exposure, on TV, radio and print meant that suddenly I was validated for who I am,” Topcuoglu says, noting that she wears her pride pin on live Bloomberg TV as “a silent but powerful statement of who I am.” She also mentions the role that her current firm has taken in this success. “Its entrepreneurial spirit was the driving force in ‘getting me out there,’ rather than having the decision on whether or not to participate in media events become wrapped up in politics as often happens in larger firms.”

She is proud of her tenure at Goldman and becoming a managing director in just 10 years, which was another important validation milestone for her. However, she reiterates that one of her most cherished professional achievements to date has been Bloomberg’s decision to make her one of the market voices, which has also led to commercial opportunities for her current firm.

“The power of media has been immense, as I’ve come to realize the visibility you gain being on TV: You’re more recognized, and people want to listen to you more. The credibility it has offered has been fascinating and rewarding, personally and professionally. I would now like to use that privilege to pay it forward.”

Bringing Others Along

A self-described “Steady Eddie,” Topcuoglu says she wishes someone had told her earlier in her career it was OK to change jobs to get more nuanced opportunities. In addition she wishes she had known the importance of networking earlier on. “When you join a top-tier firm, it’s easy to assume you’ve made it and you’re done looking for a job, and it can be easy to lessen your focus on networking,” she says. “But then life happens, and you might end up in a situation where you realize you want to switch jobs or end up losing your job and up not working for another reason, and it’s not like a flip of a switch to suddenly start networking. It makes you look inauthentic if you just reach out suddenly,” she notes.

Topcuoglu advises younger women to focus on setting goals and continuing to learn. And she says it’s vital to be aware of your sponsors and mentors and assess potential candidates if you don’t believe you are being sufficiently supported. She had excellent mentors during her time at Goldman, she says, noting that none were men, which she found interesting given that they usually hold the most senior roles.

Now she is eager to pass on what she knows as a mentor to others. “If I can be instrumental in getting one extra person on the show or otherwise help them along, that’s critical to me. Each senior leader who pulls along one female can make a significant difference.”

As co-head of the LGBQT+ employee resource group for EMEA during her tenure at Goldman, Topcuoglu focused on mentoring and helping bring attention to their historical underrepresentation. At her current firm, J O Hambro, she is part of the newly established Diversity Council. “When you are presented with statistics, it looks a lot more real,” she says. “We always wanted to determine how to attract more of the community to financial services, and the only way to do so is to have more role models across all lines of the firm. I am very excited to be part of the Diversity Council to tackle some of the challenges and help pushing initiatives forward.”

She says that being aware of the issues related to diversity can be important for anyone’s career. “We are frequently on the road, meeting institutional and retail clients. It’s important to be able to connect to your client base that is as colorful as the rainbow.”

As the mom to two kids, ages 4 and 11, Topcuoglu stays busy just managing day-to-day life and a full career. “Family is a full-time no-pay job, which I certainly learned when I took time off between jobs.”

by Cathie Ericson

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The Value of Being Out as a Leader

LGBT flag_PixabayBy Aimee Hansen

With Monday’s ruling, this moment could offer a new permission slip for coming out at work for many.

In a victory landmark decision, the Supreme Court ruled that existing U.S. Federal Law (Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) protects LGTBQ workers from discrimination.

The statutory interpretation declared that the current prohibition of “sex” discrimination is inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Yet, for nearly half of us in the USA, being in the closet at work is a painful reality.

According to 2018 research by the HRC, 46% of LGBTQ+ workers in the U.S. remain closeted at work, only 4% less than the 50% figure ten years earlier.

Major factors for staying in the closet are fear of being stereotyped, fear of making others uncomfortable, fear of losing connections and fear of having attraction to others projected onto them just for being LGBTQ+.

Over 60% of all employees agree that spouses, relationship or dating conversations come up casually at least once a week, which can mean a lot of emotional energy on covering up. Yet, 50% of LGBTQ+ say that they know no openly out employees at their workplace. 28% admit that they lie during these conversations.

Fear of being unaccepted contributes to social avoidance at work (25%), feelings of unhappiness or depression (31%), distraction (25%) and emotional exhaustion (17%), among other negative impacts.

Not only does coming out require a sense of receptivity and support in the workplace, but also bravery, vulnerability and discernment.

It is only an individual choice, but it’s one that has positively surprised some major leaders who took the step.

Top executives speak to coming out of the closet

Top executives who are out offer personal insight on their coming out journey in Bloomberg, many reflecting retrospectively that the cost of not bringing their whole selves to work was too much… and they paid it for too long, perhaps unnecessarily.

Across stories, they express that while everyone’s experience is different, they wish they had known how much acceptance would show up for them once they decided to show up for themselves as LGBTQ+, unapologetically.

“I wish I had known earlier how well I would be accepted by my colleagues at Dow. I would have come out earlier, and my decision would have been far easier. I feared a lot of negativity that never came to fruition,” says Jim Fitterling, CEO of Dow, Inc, who came out only when already senior in the organization. “I would never tell anyone to come out when they don’t feel comfortable, but I know from experience there is a toll you pay when you try to hide part of yourself, and that the perceived pain of coming out is often worse than the reality.”

“I would say be yourself; bring your whole self to work. Please don’t go back into the closet—because you will be the one who fundamentally suffers for it,” says Inga Beale, ex-CEO of Lloyds of London. “And if you’re out at work, you and your business will benefit…I definitely, definitely regret not coming out earlier.”

Owning your LGBTQ+ belonging as an asset to the workplace

“I personally feel an enormous sense of responsibility to take that empathy and the fight I got from growing up different from the majority of the population in the world and draw on that to make sure that every space I’m in,” says Kim Culmone, Senior vice president, Mattel Inc in Bloomberg. “ I’m bringing the voice of perhaps the marginalized or forgotten community into that room of influence and power.”

Dr. Steve Yacovelli, author of Pride Leadership: Strategies for the LGBTQ+ Leader to be the King or Queen of their Jungle, identifies six traits that out LGBTQ+ leaders can leverage to magnify effectiveness as leaders, not only amidst your reports but overall in your greater leadership influence.

These include: being authentic, leading with courage, having empathy, effective communication, building relationships and influencing organizational culture – all of which are competencies that LGBTQ+ leaders more often have in spades.

“You see the concept of authenticity in generic leadership everywhere,” says Dr. Yacovelli, in OutFront Magazine, “and if I look at folks in our community living authentically as themselves, we’re already exercising that muscle just naturally by being who we are.”

Yacovelli notes,“…I’m seeing more folks saying leadership isn’t just your direct report or organizational structure, it’s about who you influence.”

LGBTQ+ leadership is good for business

The benefit to business of having LGBTQ+ in leadership is no secret.

Research across data for 132 countries has demonstrated that more human rights protection for LGBTQ+ people is good for economic development. Despite this, 70 UN member states still criminalize being gay, let alone being transgender or gender non-binary.

Coming out is foremost a personal decision, and one to be made by each of us.

But it’s also a true leadership choice that has the potential to expand beyond your personal experience to create a ripple rainbow effect within any organization and all who you interact with.

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OP-ED: Be an LGBTQ Ally to Help Your Daughter or Son Come Out

By Katherine Dean, head of Family Dynamics, Wells Fargo Private Bank

Have you ever worried about a child?

Wondering what’s on their mind and whether they are doing OK? And how things are going with school and socially for them? Any parent, as well as grandparents, aunts, and uncles, would most likely answer “yes,” especially as a child becomes a young adult.

My husband and I certainly don’t have this whole parenting thing figured out. What we have stressed with our 10-year-old son and almost-15-year-old daughter is the importance of two-way communication. And we’ve been intentional in saying repeatedly, “We love you. There’s nothing you can tell us that will ever change that.”

Giving Our Daughter a Safe Outlet for Her Feelings

During our daughter Grace’s eighth-grade year, we started to pick up on small things that made us wonder if she was gay. We knew it wasn’t our place to ask; we needed to wait until she was ready and comfortable to tell us that she was LGBTQ, and to see if that was even the case.

We had just decided to connect her with a therapist so she would have a confidential outlet to share her feelings and thoughts with a neutral third party. This point of connection was about navigating life as a teen, entering high school, and dealing with new social situations. As I remember from my own teen years, it’s a tough transition!

Grace’s Coming-Out Story

I’ll never forget the day. I was at work when I received a text message from my daughter asking if she could talk to us later. We hit a “parenting stroke of luck.” This was a moment of parent PRIDE here as this was a signal we were doing something right!

That evening, we pulled up with her privately in her room and asked what she wanted to talk about. She struggled to say anything and kept trying to get her words out, but they wouldn’t come. We could tell this wasn’t easy for her, but we continued to encourage her to share. She finally asked if she could write it down.

She proceeded to write on a scrap of paper: “I AM GAY.” Instantly, we could see her relief in sharing this news. We immediately got up and hugged her long and hard. We talked about how much we loved her and how thrilled we were that she decided to tell us, and we asked if she needed us to do anything to support her.

Right away, she shared her one request. She asked if our entire family could march in the 2019 San Francisco Pride Parade. Already involved in PFLAG (an organization for family, friends, and allies of LGBTQ people), I made a call to get our family added to the parade roster.

Celebrating Pride as a Family

Our family of four, plus our daughter’s best friend, met up with PFLAG in San Francisco for the big day. Grace wore a Pride flag proudly as a cape, and the rest of us adorned ourselves with Pride gear ranging from flags to beads to hats.

When we arrived, we were greeted by amazing floats, crowds galore, and a very positive vibe. It was inspiring to be surrounded by the strength and beauty of so many.

As the parade started, our daughter, unplanned, decided to carry the PFLAG banner in the front of our group, along with a few other girls around the same age. Our son donned a massive head-to-toe sign across the front of his body that read: “I am a brother.” Moving forward, the emotion overtook me as the crowds cheered and clapped, leaving me teary-eyed and so appreciative of the LGBTQ community’s acceptance of its newest member.

I left that day incredibly full of PRIDE. I was grateful that my daughter trusted us to share her true self and that, as a family, we were able to experience this amazing moment together. I thank all those who came before her for your hard work. The next generation is loud and proud and will continue to carry that work forward, alongside with their families and friends.

Sharing my own experience

Believe it or not, I attribute much of our parenting success to my job. At Wells Fargo, I am grateful to be a part of the Family Dynamics team. We focus on helping families flourish beyond their finances — we help them build communication and trust, prepare future generations, and create shared family purpose.

In my role, I often engage with families having communication challenges. I’m not sure these families realize it, but when I help them, they help me. I strongly believe that we all learn from one another and that everyone has important perspectives to share. I’m proud to be able to give back by sharing my own personal experiences.

To My Daughter and to the LGBTQ Community:

I am a mother. I am a friend. I am your ally. I will always be there for you. You are loved.

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