31 episodes

A podcast that celebrates the careers of LGBT professionals around the world throughout the month of June 2022. We talk about how much has changed for LGBT inclusion in the workplace, and how much change is still needed. 

Fiftyfaces Focus 2023 Pride Special Aoifinn Devitt

    • Business

A podcast that celebrates the careers of LGBT professionals around the world throughout the month of June 2022. We talk about how much has changed for LGBT inclusion in the workplace, and how much change is still needed. 

    Ray Tierney - Cybersecurity Expert: On Security, Safe Spaces and Life Hacks

    Ray Tierney - Cybersecurity Expert: On Security, Safe Spaces and Life Hacks

    Ray Tierney is a cybersecurity specialist who was formerly a paramedic.  Prior to that she was a Security Forces Security Specialist. We chart her path through school and into a series of professions that were explicitly intolerant towards LGBTQ identities and discuss how she was "outed" initially by a polygraph test, which contained particularly intrusive questions.We talk then about her transition, societal pressure that led her to detransition, and then the decision point that led to her committing to her transition once more. We discuss the rising tide of opposition and hostility to transgender people across the country (US) right now and the real stresses that this causes in their everyday life.  We speak about allyship and where it is genuine and where it is not and the advice that Ray would have for her younger self. Finally Ray cites a number of organizations and affinity groups, including those listed below, which have supplied support and community to her and she recommends them as resources for others. Trigger Warning: This podcast contains a discussion of suicidal thoughts. If you or anyone you love is struggling please seek help from one of the organizations below or one of the suicide helplines in your country.  https://www.thetrevorproject.org/https://translifeline.org/www.veteranscrisisline.netThe 2023 Pride Series is kindly sponsored by members of our Rainbow Network including Laura J. LaTourette, who is a financial planner who describes her practice as one designed to enable LGBTQ+ folx make a plan to simplify their lives to enable them to live authentically and leave a legacy of love. Based in Dahlonega Georgia but with a national client base Laura has a particular interest in working with LGBTQ+ elders. You can find out more about Laura's practice by following her on:Linked Inlinkedin.com/in/lauralatourette Twitter: LauraLaTourette

    • 32 min
    Ronnie Woo - Chef and TV Personality: A Four Star Journey of Authenticity

    Ronnie Woo - Chef and TV Personality: A Four Star Journey of Authenticity

    Ronnie Woo is the chef and owner of The Delicious Cook, an LA-based private chef company that specializes in four-star dining experiences. He is an accomplished chef, television personality, and cookbook author (Did You Eat Yet?, March 14, 2023) celebrated by his fans and peers alike for his infectious personality, background in dating & relationships, and creative Asian-American cuisine, which combines Asian dishes with All-American influences. Our conversation starts by discussing Ronnie's childhood and love of food, which we trace through his high school years and early years as a model.  We talk about entering television, and the sometimes stop/start journey that that can entail, and how a recalibration of expectations and dreams is often necessary throughout life. Ronnie discusses what works for him and how he processes feedback in order to improve.  We hear how he connects with his audiences and the role that mentors and role models have played for him throughout his life. You can find out more about Ronnie on the following website: www.ronniewoo.com and his IG is @ronniecwoo.The 2023 Pride Series is kindly sponsored by members of our Rainbow Network including Laura J. LaTourette, who is a financial planner who describes her practice as one designed to enable LGBTQ+ folx make a plan to simplify their lives to enable them to live authentically and leave a legacy of love. Based in Dahlonega Georgia but with a national client base Laura has a particular interest in working with LGBTQ+ elders. You can find out more about Laura's practice by following her on:Linked Inlinkedin.com/in/lauralatourette Twitter: LauraLaTourette

    • 22 min
    Erryca Robicheaux DEI Leader: Visibility and Acceptance, with a side of Joy

    Erryca Robicheaux DEI Leader: Visibility and Acceptance, with a side of Joy

    Erryca Robicheaux describes herself as shaping the future of Diversity and Inclusion through technology.  She is a certified DEI leader and strategist as well as a Neurodiversity ERG lead. Erryca grew up in Louisiana in a deeply religious household where attending church multiple times a week was common.  She describes some of the belief system and backdrop to that time, and then how she was “outed” at church which was when she had to tell her parents that she was gay.  Her journey back to the church is one that we discuss, as it reveals the complex, intersecting, aspects of that relationship that many members of the LGBTQ+ community have to navigate. We move then to her career and discuss the intersectionality of her neurodiversity with being gay, and how this is actually quite a common area of intersectionality, particularly for lesbians.  This requires a particular kind of inclusion that is in tune with the individual’s needs but just because it requires effort, Erryca’s view is that it is an effort worth making. Erryca is an advocate for better visibility and acceptance on LinkedIn which is where I came across her profile, and she talks there about sometimes being forced to lead a double life and suppress a side of herself for corporate acceptance. She also discusses the pushback that something like a social media post can attract, in particular a recent one in which she was pictured with her jeep and a rainbow flag on Instagram in a joyful image that was actually grabbed by Jeep for their own post.  You can find some of Erryca’s social media posts here: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7067926967219597313?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7067926967219597313%29including the famous Jeep Instagram pic that effuses such joy.The 2023 Pride Series is kindly sponsored by members of our Rainbow Network including Laura J. LaTourette, who is a financial planner who describes her practice as one designed to enable LGBTQ+ folx make a plan to simplify their lives to enable them to live authentically and leave a legacy of love. Based in Dahlonega Georgia but with a national client base Laura has a particular interest in working with LGBTQ+ elders. You can find out more about Laura's practice by following her on:Linked Inlinkedin.com/in/lauralatourette Twitter: LauraLaTourette

    • 25 min
    Dr Safi Mojidi of Hacking the Workforce: How to Move from Empowered to Employed

    Dr Safi Mojidi of Hacking the Workforce: How to Move from Empowered to Employed

    Dr. Safi Mojidi describes himself as a Point Guard of Cyber and Data Privacy.  He is the Founder and CEO of Hacking the Workforce, which co-creates employment opportunities for QTIPOC to upskill their lives and move from empowered to employed in cybersecurity. He is a Board Member and Director of Partnerships at TransTech Social Enterprises and has had a long career in cybersecurity. We start with a discussion of Safi’s roots in Nigeria and his prowess in sport, in which he played in the Nigerian national basketball team.  This formed a pillar of his youth and even still he sees his role as a Point Guard. We look at the field of cyber security and the fact that it can largely be done as a remote role today.  While this can enable a more inclusive work environment and a more diverse work force it can also be isolating and can diminish community. The challenge of finding gainful rewarding employment is one that lies at the heart of the Hacking the Workforce initiative, which is a non-profit focused on empowering QTIPOC to upskill their lives. Safi mentions that while there has been progress made in the workplace there is still a gap when it comes to intersectionality and individuals who may be trans and from an ethnic minority. Safi’s goal is to ensure that this segment does not fall through the cracks. Moving on to broader workplace issues, we discuss the toxicity that can exist at various workplaces and why “just leave” is not always the right answer, although it might be the most appealing one.  The 2023 Pride Series is kindly sponsored by members of our Rainbow Network including Laura J. LaTourette, who is a financial planner who describes her practice as one designed to enable LGBTQ+ folx make a plan to simplify their lives to enable them to live authentically and leave a legacy of love. Based in Dahlonega Georgia but with a national client base Laura has a particular interest in working with LGBTQ+ elders. You can find out more about Laura's practice by following her on:Linked Inlinkedin.com/in/lauralatourette Twitter: LauraLaTourette

    • 27 min
    Nathan Ortiz of Red Door Interactive: The Power of Inclusive Design

    Nathan Ortiz of Red Door Interactive: The Power of Inclusive Design

    Nathan Ortiz is an Associate DevOps Engineer at Red Door Interactive, based in the San Diego area. He previously was a software engineer at Trainsquare and prior to that was in the US Navy.  Our conversation starts with Nathan’s childhood in which he played a lot of different sports and after which he ultimately pursued a career in the navy. It was there that he found a supportive LGBTQ+ community which he quickly grew to treat like a family.  This was when he began to question his own gender identity and ultimately transitioned to identify as a man.  Now in the field of software design, Nathan describes what inclusive design really is, and why it is only through the lived experience of users that flaws or failures of a design can be revealed and addressed. The 2023 Pride Series is kindly sponsored by members of our Rainbow Network including Laura J. LaTourette, who is a financial planner who describes her practice as one designed to enable LGBTQ+ folx make a plan to simplify their lives to enable them to live authentically and leave a legacy of love. Based in Dahlonega Georgia but with a national client base Laura has a particular interest in working with LGBTQ+ elders. You can find out more about Laura's practice by following her on:Linked Inlinkedin.com/in/lauralatourette Twitter: LauraLaTourette

    • 25 min
    Vikki Le - Youtube Creator, Counselor and Ally: Love Letters, Visibility and Empowerment

    Vikki Le - Youtube Creator, Counselor and Ally: Love Letters, Visibility and Empowerment

    Vikki Le is currently studying in the medical field and is a Youtube content creator as well as marketing specialist.  She has focused on concept creation for transgender individuals including in the beauty, fashion and modeling industries and has spent time as a counselor to transgender youth. Vikki grew up in South East Asia, an area which is actually quite accepting around transgenderism.  She discusses her own transition, which she documented in quite a bit of detail on her Youtube channel mainly as she had found so little available on line in terms of knowledge sharing when she herself was considering her gender affirmation surgery. On her channel she was vulnerable and open and gained a huge following, some of it negative.  It was ironic that the negative attention that this disclosure attracted actually drove engagement and reach, and Vikki describes how she learned to drown it out and focus only on the positive messages. In her career Vikki has worked in a number of different roles including modeling and beauty, and she describes some of the treatment that she has received in workplaces which has amounted to harassment and overall inappropriate behavior.  She claims that this practice stems from a fetishization of transgender people that still persists in the media or popular discussions today, and it is her hope that when stories like hers and so many others are normalized that the diversity of transgender individuals will be seen and celebrated.  You can follow Vikki on her Youtube channel, which she describes as a Love Letter to Her Younger Self here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf0FFIM_5lPeEhCHiWoSfHQThe 2023 Pride Series is kindly sponsored by members of our Rainbow Network including Laura J. LaTourette, who is a financial planner who describes her practice as one designed to enable LGBTQ+ folx make a plan to simplify their lives to enable them to live authentically and leave a legacy of love. Based in Dahlonega Georgia but with a national client base Laura has a particular interest in working with LGBTQ+ elders. You can find out more about Laura's practice by following her on:Linked Inlinkedin.com/in/lauralatourette Twitter: LauraLaTourette

    • 30 min

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