Tiffany Atkinson

I’m usually one not to repurpose content, but with Pride Month upon us, resharing my call to action from last year felt appropriate.

We’re only five days into June, and I’m sure by now your feed has already been inundated with rainbow flags from those you follow showcasing their support for the LGBTQIA+ community.

Just as I did last year, I want to challenge us to remember that Pride is more than posting rainbows to show your support.

It’s an annual reminder that we must work together to ensure the inclusion of LGBTQIA+ folks in our workplaces and communities.

This means our inclusion efforts need to go deeper than slapping a rainbow on our branding, marketing, and Zoom backgrounds during June.

Instead, we need to apply that inclusion where it matters and not stop on July 1st.

This month, I want to challenge us all to use whatever power we have to help LGBTQIA+ folks feel more seen and less othered by:

🏳️‍🌈 Making our hiring practices more inclusive.

🏳️‍⚧️ Highlighting LGBTQIA+ voices on our individual and company pages by resharing their content.

🏳️‍🌈 Asking those within the LGBTQIA+ community what they need from us instead of assuming.

🏳️‍⚧️ Buying from LGBTQIA+-owned businesses.

🏳️‍🌈 Hiring LGBTQIA+ speakers for our events.

🏳️‍⚧️ Using more inclusive language in the workplace.

🏳️‍🌈 Donating to LGBTQIA+ causes and nonprofits.

🏳️‍⚧️ Advocating for LGBTQIA+ rights (especially access to health care).

🏳️‍🌈 Speaking out against LGBTQIA+ hate speech (including purposeful misgendering).

I could go on...

But most importantly, we must all work together to create workplaces where people are seen and accepted for who they are, regardless of their gender identity, gender expression, sexual preferences, or any other aspect of their identity that ties them to the LGBTQIA+ community.

And we must challenge ourselves to do it all year long, not just during the month that everyone expects us to talk about it.

Sincerely,
An ally who wants to see Rainbow Capitalism come to an end

One of the most common questions I’ve received since announcing our new direction as an L&D consultancy focused on inclusive Women’s Leadership and Professional Development programs is whether inclusive Women’s Leadership programming is too niche.

For me, the simple answer is: No.

Developing programming with inclusion in mind isn’t too niche.

At best, it’s the bare minimum we should consider when developing programming.

Unfortunately, many Women’s Leadership and Professional Development programs don’t consider inclusion in their process.

It’s just assumed that because a program was developed for women it will automatically apply to all women.

We believe this one-size-fits-all development approach doesn’t serve the vast and diverse needs of women.

We also believe it’s a shortcut that programs have been taking for too long and it results in programs that put some women’s professional development needs over the professional development needs of others.

Ultimately widening the gap of representation of women with historically excluded backgrounds in leadership such as:

- Women of color
- Women living with disabilities
- Women who are veterans
- Women in the LGBTQIA+ community
- And so many more women who deserve to have their voices represented as leaders

We believe that it’s beyond time to fix this equity issue by ensuring every Women’s Leadership and Professional Development program is developed with an inclusive and intersectional lens.

And that’s why if you ask us “Is developing inclusive leadership and professional development programming for women too niche?”

Our answer will forever be: “No. Women aren’t one-size-fits-all. Their leadership and professional development programs shouldn’t be either.”

Not only because it’s the right thing to do, but the least we can do.

Stay tuned as we share more about our vision to usher in a new, more inclusive era of Women’s Leadership.

Take Care,
Tiffany