It’s Pride month, a time where a lot of companies throw up a rainbow logo and talk about why having a diverse team matters to them. I always love seeing the splash of colour as I’m scrolling through social media, or wandering the internet – but let’s be honest, if this is all the company is doing is it really making a difference?
At The Masterminds Group we have a pride committee, we meet throughout the year and talk about the same topics:
- Should we change our logo?
- Should we get new pride merch? (the answer is always yes here!)
- Should we make a post? (yeah I get the irony of this post… stick with me)
But, we also share something different – about how to be more inclusive, about posts or blogs we’ve read recently that highlight what others are doing and what we could do better. One thing that matters at The Masterminds Group is that everyone feels welcome, that everyone’s voice is heard, and that everyone can bring their 100% whole authentic self to work – and this post is a story about why this matters.
Who Am I?
Well this got deep quick, but before we move on, let me tell you about myself – probably some of you already know some of this. I’m Jess Pomfret, my pronouns are She/Her and I started working at The Masterminds Group (MMG) in November 2021. Before joining I’d been a SQL Server DBA with a variety of companies both in Ohio, USA and then back in the UK (where I’m originally from, even though my accent sometimes says otherwise!).
I came out as a lesbian in my late teens and have been mostly out since then (I say mostly, I moved to Ohio in 2005 and wasn’t totally sure how out I wanted to be there, a story for another day). I was lucky throughout my life to be surrounded by other queer folks, people who I could see living their lives as normal, and people I could ask questions and advice from.
See, I grew up playing football, and since I was decent I quickly started playing for the local women’s team, where several of my teammates were out queer women. This made my life so much easier, you always hear about queer folks who have feelings they can’t explain and no reference to figure it out – this was never a problem for me because I could see the explanation around me every day.
If you can see people like you doing things, you know you can do that, too! Whether it’s watching Christina Koch make history on the Artemis II space mission, proving women can be badass astronauts, or just seeing a football teammate with a wife and family living their best life.
This is why I care so much about representation!
Representation Paid Forward
Seeing queer folks living their lives when I was figuring stuff out made my life much easier – which is why I am committed to paying this forward, and being out and my authentic self as I wander through this world.
At conferences and in my daily life I don’t hide who I am, or the fact that I have a wife, I’m open and honest about it – mainly because it’s who I am, and it’s absolutely exhausting to try and hide a part of who you are. I do recognise that I have a certain privilege that allows me to do this, and it’s worth noting that I understand not everyone is this lucky and is in a spot where it is safe to be who they are.
A few jobs ago I was part of an Employee Resource Group for LGBTQ+ folks, and we had an activity one day with the senior leadership team where they had to talk about their weekend, what they’d got up to, without gendering their spouse. Basically, proving how difficult it is to be thinking carefully about what you’d say, and worrying about slipping up and revealing your sexuality. Try it – exhausting!
Why this matters at The Masterminds Group?
So pull it back around Jess, why is this on The MMG company blog? Well it’s pride month, and as I said a lot of companies use this month to highlight their inclusivity and the diverse teams they have. The difference is I feel that, all year long, at this company. I never worry about being my whole authentic self here – and I would guess that my teammates would all say the same.
We know that diverse teams bring diverse opinions and therefore diverse solutions – this is critical in the projects and problems we see day to day as a consultancy firm – but that’s not the main reason we care about this – our team is close and we care about the people and creating a space where everyone has the best opportunity to be themselves.
In the end of the day, what matters the most to me is that the culture at MMG allows me to bring my authentic self to work, and be who I am.
Maybe this will show someone else in the community (or not) who’s struggling or in the confused stage that it’s ok to be who you are!
