Forged in Fire: LGBTQ+ Leadership Forged In Fire

No spoilers, but the path to authenticity and her gender identity taken by Executive Director of Film and Television for Hearst Magazines Jude Harris, is not one you might expect. She's using her uniqueness and perspective to help tell queer stories in a difficult market and paving the way for trans and queer executives to follow her trail. Along the way, there were a lot of difficult things to let go of, but empowered her to own her narrative. In addition to leadership insights, Jude penned a story, with advice that is "excellent for any dark day when all you can do is hope for a better future and start walking in that general direction," which is the epilogue to Forging Queer Leaders: How the LGBTQIA+ Community Creates Impact from Adversity.

In a life of many acts, Joanne Carroll knew she was one of the little girls from an early age, but didn't share it with the world until her late 50's. Once out, she discovered a passion for helping others; she was the one throwing starfish that had washed ashore back into the sea. It was a later realization that something must be wrong for so many starfish (trans people) to keep turning up in distress that pushed her advocacy work into another gear. Now in her mid 80's, Joanne continues tirelessly to work on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community in Pennsylvania, being named two years running as one of the 100 most influential LGBTQ leaders in the state.
Note: This was our first live episode with audience questions, but we had some technical difficulties.

When asked to explain the benefits and the challenges of LGBTQ+ leadership, we're often stuck relying on anecdotes because data gathering is difficult in a world where we often remain hidden. Dr. Luke Fletcher and Dr. Shaun Pichler, authors of the new journal article Songs of the Self: The Importance of Authentic Leadership and Core Self Evaluations for LGBT Managers, join us for a discussion about developing the academic underpinning and gathering the data on what makes LGBTQ+ leadership so powerful. We also cover their personal journeys, how they developed into leaders and researchers, and where we go from here to continue building the case about the value of LGBTQ+ leadership.

For Transgender Day of Visibility, Queen Victoria Ortega explains how transgender people are contouring the American Dream into a more expansive and inclusive dream. Keys to her work are empowerment, community connections, skill development, and a sense of service. We explore how she set shame aside at an early age and used her family's penchant for critical thinking to become a celebrated multi-talented leader in her Los Angeles community and around the world. Believing in the power of storytelling developed within the community, she leverages her intersectionality to guide organizations and systems toward transformational change that is both meaningful and effective. Don't miss this one!

Athlete. Teammate. Friend. Mentor. Cybersecurity Expert. Workforce Developer. Dr. Safi Mojidi has excelled in a huge variety of roles. He is a community leader creating a future where cybersecurity is sound, respect of privacy is inherent, and technology is leveraged equitably for all. Importantly, he's using his experiences and challenges as a black man of trans experience to build the talented, technologically savvy, workforce of the future. His mentorship and skill-building passion help create a workforce where people from underrepresented communities are ready to deliver value on day 1 across a wide range of technical disciplines.

As someone with multiple minority statuses, Dr. A.C. Fowlkes, puts the onus on himself to create space for other individuals with multiple minority status. Having broken through a lot of glass ceilings, he's had a number of different times where he just wanted to throw in the towel. But understanding that if he didn't do something, people in the future, perhaps even his own child, would face the same barriers he's kept fighting to remove those challenges. Dr. Fowlkes has challenged stereotypes and false beliefs across industries, worked to help many of society's most stigmatized individuals, and is the author of the new book, Transgender Inclusion: All the Things You Want To Ask Your Transgender Coworker But Shouldn't.