How To Create An LGBTQ-friendly Workplace

Speaker A: Over 8 million workers in the US identify as LGBTQ. And according to a report by the UCLA School of Law, over 40% of LGBTQ workers reported experiencing unfair treatment at work, including being fired, not hired, or harassed because of their sexual orientation or gender identity at some point in their lives. That's nearly 4 million workers harassed in the US alone. And the third of those end up quitting their jobs or just leaving the industry entirely. This is a cycle that needs to stop, and it starts with you here learning about some of the unique challenges facing LGBTQ in the workplace today. So you might not know what to say or do, and that's okay. That's what we're covering in today's episode of Agency Accelerated.

Speaker B: M.

Speaker A: Welcome back to Agency Accelerated, the show for agencies who want to grow and scale. Stick with us to learn how you can simplify your growth strategy with a solid takeaway every episode from agency owners and experts in the industry. I'm Stephanie Liu, and I'm here in beautiful sunny San Diego. And those of you watching live right now, let us know where you're tuning in from. Just go ahead and type it in the comments. You know, I love to see your names. And if you're watching the replay, leave the comment hashtag replay. Just remember that those who watch and engage live have the opportunity to get their questions answered in real time. And if you're watching on YouTube, remember to like and describe. Head on over to agorapulse.com calendar and subscribe so you don't miss any episodes. And make sure to stay until the very end because you'll get a chance to get your hands on a creative way to grow and scale your marketing agency. And so shout out to the crew who's here with us today. So happy to have you Today on Agency Accelerated, we're talking about the LGBTQ community and how most businesses are doing too little to support their own employees. Specifically, like I said at the outset, nearly half of U.S. employees who identify as being a part of this community have reported being treated unfairly in their job. Not only that, though, but sometimes they don't even report it at all. Let's be honest, this is contributing to exponentially higher rates of stress and poor mental health, which leads to millions of employees quitting their jobs only to add additional stress and really just risk facing the same harassment and unfair treatment in new jobs, new careers, new industries. But honestly, it doesn't have to be that way. There's a lot that businesses can do to break this cycle, and so the question really is what is that? And that's exactly what our guest today, Stephen Wakabayashi, is going to talk about to us on the show. He's a really, really good friend of mine, and I can't wait for you to meet him. After leading creative teams at many notable brands and agencies, including Apple, Google, and Walmart, Stephen is now creating pathways for queer bipoc creatives into the design industry through QT Bipoc Design, Creating safe spaces for bipoc communities within mindfulness through mindful sites, and designing the equitable products and experiences for clients with his creative agency, Stranger Creative. He's a creative director, changemaker, and founder of mission driven organizations empowering historically marginalized communities. All right, so, Stephen, welcome to the show.

Speaker B: Hi.

Speaker C: Thank you for having me. Jazz hands.

Speaker A: I know, right? That's totally us. Now I'm wondering, did we do that in the office? Like, when I say, I'm like, I

Speaker C: need help with something. We sat, like, five feet away. For anyone listening, it's just, like, steps away. And little did I know we would still be connected to this day, like, decades later.

Speaker A: That is true, because you're on the other side of the country and I'm here still on the West Coast. But I feel like every now and then I slide into your DMs, um, and I'm just like, hey, friend, how are you doing? And we'll have, like, one of our late night chats. At least I think it's late night for me. And then I remember you're, like, three hours ahead. I'm like, why are you still awake?

Speaker C: I asked myself the same question.

Speaker A: Good, good, good. So, Stephen, let's set the stage. Yeah. In your experience, what are the needs and areas where the LGBTQ community where it's like, it's unique, or perhaps they're being treated as unique and different and really, they just shouldn't be.

Speaker C: Yeah. So, love the intro. Just the setup for this, uh, show. And I just wanted to also lead with a couple additional statistics. LinkedIn in 2021, last year did a survey with LGBTQ communities within the workplace, and a few statistics came out, came to mind. 25% of, uh, folks were denied raises or promotions due to their identity. 31% faced microaggressions or discriminations openly. And about another 25% left their job after not feeling accepted. And further beyond this, as we talk about people being out and open, we see a huge population of folks who are openly queer, openly gay, lesbian, lgbtq out in the real personal lives, finding that they have to be A different type of individual within the workplace, just to stay employed, have a job, and more often than not, in one way or another, staying professional. And so I think one of the biggest issues right now, especially just with what's happening in the country, too, is this conversation around, how do you show up truly yourself, right? Your whole self, your whole identity within the workplace in a way that, uh, not only accepts you, but actually celebrates you, especially as a part of doing the work.

Speaker A: I love that.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker A: Because oftentimes, I think when we choose our career, and especially even our employers, we want to feel supported and we want to feel as if we could bring, uh, something to the table that really shows our different perspectives, then we could all learn from each other, especially from a creative agency. You know, it's not like one particular community is just all the same. It's like we all have our own values, beliefs and attitudes and different things. And when we get to brainstorm off of those ideas, then it makes it

Speaker C: really fun who we design for. Right. Like, just to put it out there. Right. Agencies, especially, you're creating products that not just touch one demographic, one population. Right. You're creating products, services, everything that touch a whole myriad of people across the world, too. And so, especially as we think about who we're designing for, one really key factor of just making sure our products are successful in that is to also have the people who are designing for as a part of the process. Right. As a part of the team, as a part of the dynamic that really goes to not just vetting out some of the features of functionality, whether it's good or bad, but just getting the myriad of ideas into it. And the question is, how are we truly creative?

Speaker A: Yeah. Um, I love it. And so why do you think it's so important for employees or employers to be supportive of this issue?

Speaker C: Yeah. Specifically for the LGBTQIA community, especially right now here in America, we have legislations, laws that are unfortunately not supported, supportive of many folks in our community, especially our trans communities. And so why employers have to be very cognizant if not setting up ways in which they're protecting their community members, is one just to ensure that people can just show up to work.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker C: Uh, just people can show up to work. And then I think the second part is people truly being able to love the work, be openly themselves, just especially as we talk about mental health. And then also layers of just, like, safety as well, just being able to show up without the fear of retribution, without the fear of being harassed, without the fear of being fired. Right. I'm sure all of us can relate to whenever we're in a job and we're just like, sitting on coals, right? Or spikes or just, like, fear, right? This impending fear, it's not a good place to be in. And why we need to set these things up is to help our communities not have that environment.

Speaker A: And it's interesting because oftentimes people ask, well, what's the impact when, you know, if the LGBTQ community isn't supportive, what are the consequences of that? And I often find that when those type of big events happen, especially things that come across in the news of like, hey, this just happened, and it impacts. It's more like for the LGBTQ community, when they go into work, it's not just business as usual. You know, there's things that are still playing in the background in the peripheral. And so even though we try to keep ourselves busy with work and, you know, all the things in Slack and Asana and all those things. Right. It's not like it doesn't have an impact on us. And so.

Speaker C: Absolutely.

Speaker A: In your experience, what's the impact when they're not supportive?

Speaker C: Uh, yeah, I think you bring up a good point. First, I want to touch on the fact that if it doesn't impact us, right, whether we don't identify as LGBTQIA or what we call passing, right, we are part of a culture that may not necessarily on the outside look as though we're part of the community. We can set aside these things that we sometimes don't have to deal with it. Right. And it's a privilege that so many people in the community are not afforded.

Speaker B: And.

Speaker C: And so as we talk about just like, what is our day to day, these laws, legislations, just the way we are treated is really every single day in passing, whether it's in the workplace or whether outside we come into contact with. Myself personally, after being in many different workplaces, many different agencies, in house places, I found that, you know, one, there's been a lot of potential opportunity for education. But the second part, part is also finding, you know, what is my voice and how am I able to show up as just like myself, especially as a creative leader, you know. And then for the longest time, I. It's so funny, you know, the way I talk. It's just become such a special part of me now. But for the longest time, you know, I didn't talk like the average male. My voice tone is slower, a little bit more. You would have is like queer enunciation, something different. But for the longest Time I was like, to fit into the workplace, I have to change myself, I have to morph myself. And so I was taking, believe it or not, I was taking speech classes on the side to just figure out how I can change the way in which I talk to match those of my colleagues that I would identify with.

Speaker A: You're like, how do I look and sound? The role of what they think I should sound, and ah, be like, but hey, if you're just tuning in, we're talking with Stephen Wakabayashi about how businesses can communicate better with their employees and be more supportive of their needs. But first, a quick video about how Lovepop uses AgoraPulse to communicate better, both internally and externally.

Speaker D: LovePop Cards is a 3D greeting card company and we are about five years old. Um, and we are based on the idea of, um, creating magical moments. And so our company's mission is to create a billion magical moments. So I am the director of Customer Happiness, which means, um, I'm responsible for sort of being the voice of lovepop to our customers and then also being the voice of our customers within lovepop. Um, so it goes in both directions. So before we transitioned to Agora Pulse, one of the things that was really difficult for us was that we had a high volume of ads where customers were commenting and wanted to interact with us or wanted to tell us what they thought of the products or advertising advertising. And we had a limited number of licenses for our social media monitoring tool. And so we were unable to keep up with the inbox, and the inbox was actually unable to keep up with the volume of ads we were running. And so we both weren't getting all the comments that were being added to all these ads and we couldn't reply to what we were getting anyway. So when we moved over to Agora Pulse and we got to the point where we had an inbox that captured direct messages, it captured the listening, and we were able to pull in the ad comments in the same place. We could use it just like we would use any other inbox like in our ticketing system. It's really changed our ability to follow up with customers and make sure we're being responsive and interacting with them when they want. Also, a little hidden feature that I love is that you can see the history of any customer's comments with us. So sometimes we'll get a comment and we're not exactly sure either if they were talking to us earlier or if this is somebody who has been giving us a hard time for a while. And you can just click on them and, and see their profile and get an idea for how they've interacted with us over time.

Speaker A: Hey, so if you'd like to learn more about how agorapulse helps thousands of agencies grow and scale their business, head on over to Bit Ly addagencyrevenue. And with that, let's go back to your agency with Stephen Wakabayashi. Okay. You and I were talking about how sometimes in the agency or in the roles that we play in the professional workplace, we feel like we have to look like and sound like a certain way. And you were starting to tell us about how you invested outside on your own to be like, how do I speak? A certain way to perhaps build rapport with your coworkers. And I'd love for you just to expand on that a little bit more, like why you felt the need to do that and how later down the line, you just embrace who you are now.

Speaker C: Yeah, for sure. And for the longest time, and when we were working together, it's funny, at that place, I wasn't openly out to many people too. It's like we were talking. We totally, I'm out and about. But to many of the other colleagues, I was like, just be this professional around them, right? Like this stoic, silent, deep voice professional. And even I was studying just like changing my voice, changing the way I enunciated stuff. Because there were many times when I would present. I'm going to be in meetings where I'm trying to pitch, I'm trying to, uh, sell things. I'm trying to put whatever product, team or something out there to certain folks with negative reception. And I thought it was all me. And over the years of just doing a lot of internal work with myself and just even growing my many organizations, I've learned that sometimes we have to understand and where to draw the line of where our work ends and where the work for other people begin. And it's not only liberating but also really important because at the end of the day, we can't do the learnings for everyone, right? And there's no way in which I can change myself to a point that somehow make people learn the things I was not really, frankly giving them the opportunity to learn and accept, you know. And so I would say in the past few years, I've really embraced just who I am myself. Unapologetically. I come to my presentations with a myriad of dynamics. I, you know, like speaking high pitched, speaking low pitch, fast. I'm just so excited about the work that I'm doing, and I found that it just captivates people so much more because I am just being authentic. I'm just being myself. And I think, again, going back to why it's so important, you know, not only is it going to sell our business, improve our working conditions, improve rapport, it just make our working place so much better. But it's just our work is just better for it, you know, when we allow people to show up authentically themselves.

Speaker A: I love that you mentioned that, because sometimes I feel like when I worked in the agency, people didn't just stumble upon the agency. Sometimes they had other jobs or other backgrounds, or they came from a different field and they felt like, well, if I'm on the creative team, I should only talk about creative stuff and not what I did in other places or other campaigns because they felt that it didn't apply. And I think this goes back to your point of showing up as your true authentic self of, like, your experience is the difference that makes a difference. The reason why, I mean, what I would assume in hiring someone onto the team is I respect you and I value you because you have a different perspective that I might not even be aware of. And so I'm open to receiving as far as understanding, like, oh, wow, I never thought about that. I actually have someone that I work with very closely, and yesterday she was telling me about, like, oh, did you know that Beyonce's dropping a new album? I was like, I did not know, or like, something was happening. And it's so interesting because now in this phase of my life, what I have in focus of, like, my top five things that I'm focusing on are usually, you know, pick my daughter or do this or do that. And so I'm not always on top of what's new or what's happening with legislation and all those other things. And so being able to hear some like, hey, you know what, Maybe we shouldn't talk about that today because a really big decision was just made, you know, or like, hey, before you just jump into your next meeting, perhaps you should just, you know, have like, a little mental health check with your team. And so having said that, Steven, what should employers, marketing agencies, and even just managers in general, what could they start doing today to help?

Speaker C: Yeah, really good point. And what I will say too, just like, before I go on a preamble of just, like, all the tips and advice, but just even ourselves, right, as Asian folks, I'm sure there are things that we can point out, right, as Asian folks, coming into this space of things that are affecting our communities, our families, things to be more sensitive about our cultures. Right. And so why, you know, sometimes it may look like we're prioritizing and putting LGBTQ folks in a way, in a place to have to learn how to accept. We in turn, also open up ways that we can open up to celebrate and uplift other identities, people who come from marginalized racial identities, people who experience disabilities. Right. And then going back to your question of just what can employers do at the moment, some really immediately, you know, very actionable tips is first do an assessment, right? Assessment of who is in your organization. And so some of these information that we collect, especially with our employees, I think are very sensitive, especially the information. And we see legislation too, and how it evolves. We may have to be very, very sensitive with collects. So see if there's a way in which we can collect anonymous data just to better understand the identities of the people within our workplace. And a big part of the work we do and how we want to change, especially the workplace, workplace starts with how are we quantifying and capturing the change that we see and the change that we want to make? And so a big part of it is, especially when you do an index, better understanding LGBTQIA identities within your workplace, if you see a huge deficit representation whatsoever, I think it's a potential opportunity to reflect at, uh, how you may invite more of those voices into your space, starting with recruiting, starting with your pipelines, and so working with also then as we go into the next phase, how do I recruit? Right. And invite people into this space? One thing to understand is that when we don't have a lot of queer folks within the workplace, for example, I think it also is very hard for people to show up because they often become tokenized. And so for folks, tokenization is really this definition where this person is put as a central figure to define everything LGBTQ related for the org. A lot of work to do, right? And sometimes people just want to do the work and show up to do the work. And so one thing to underscore is how can you work with partners, right? Recruiting companies, recruiters who specialize and who are deeply embedded with communities to then help educate you on how you can increase your pipeline. There additional opportunity is how do you partner with different organizations who do specialize in helping to empower professional organizations, professional individuals. And so one of my nonprofits, QT bipoc Design, in particular, what we do is we accelerate and promote the growth of queer BIPOC creatives. To break into the design industry. And so we partner with companies who want more diverse design talent, UX talent, creative talent. And so we're more than happy to figure out ways that we can extend your pipeline. And then I'll, uh, just end really quickly with. The third tip is for people who do have queer folks within the organization, just ask them, how can I show up for you? And they will tell you. So often we want to be the protectors or we want to just do everything for people. And sometimes, yes, it comes from love, but what we can do is just ask people how we can support them and then just, uh, following suit with what their support and ideas are.

Speaker A: Yeah, I love that. Thank you. I love that you're creating that pipeline, but you're also creating a pathway. So you have the pipeline, the pathway to really help and lift up that community and make those connections. People have always heard me say this, but there are resources in relationships, so start building them now. If you haven't, like, already looked up Stephen on LinkedIn, that's the best place to find him, at least in my mind.

Speaker B: Good.

Speaker A: So, Stephen, what are some examples of brands that have been terrific allies that you've seen, and what was it specifically that stood out to you?

Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, there are many, many big organizations now doing amazing things, especially for the larger LGBTQIA organization. Just recently we had organization, if anyone's heard of the AIDS lifecycle, basically, uh, organization that helps, uh, helps fund and uplift and, um, have a greater awareness and funding to help improve the lives of those afflicted with HIV and aids. Primarily impacted mostly queer populations now. Right. Effects across the whole gamut. But we saw a huge outpouring of love and support, especially by our LGBTQIA members communities. We raised millions of dollars for the organization to help support everyone. So that's us coming together as a collective entity to doing work for the greater population. But also we have organizations such as Human Rights Campaign hrc, that basically does an index of different organizations of just how are you showing up equitably within your workplace? Do you have a safe space for people? Do you have outline documentation of how you're actually protecting your employees, especially those who are LGBTQIA within your workforce, outlined as part of HR documentation. Right. Do you have benefits supporting trans employees or benefits, uh, supporting same sex partnerships within your workplace?

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker C: And so, again, like, they're another amazing, amazing, great resource that I highly recommend checking them out. Hrc, that basically partners again, uh, freely, excitedly with organizations to see how you can truly create an Equitable environment for your LGBTQIA employees.

Speaker A: Thank you so much. Yes, a little ding over there. Super helpful. I know. And if you were like, wow, I really want to have access to these resources, just remember, we'll always have that for you in the show notes, you'd always find that there. Having said that, agency accelerated. Friends, we're getting close to wrapping up things here with Steven, so if you've got questions, now's the time. You know how it is. There's always a delay. So I've got one more question of my own that I definitely want to follow up with, Steven. But first, again, I want to give a quick shout out to the crew that is tuning in. If you have any other questions, go ahead and drop them in the comments for us. We would love to hear how we could stay connected with you and all the things. Having said that, Stephen, what advice would you give to members of the LGBTQAI community community today, and particularly those who aren't getting the support at work that they deserve? Like, do you still keep fighting that battle? Do you find somewhere else to go? Do you be that voice? Or what are your thoughts?

Speaker C: Effy M. Such a poignant question. A big theme that's been coming up from my life lately is this theme of going with the flow. Going with the flow that most resonates for you. And what does that mean? Right. Find people that not only accept you, but celebrate and uplift you. Right. But sometimes, if you can't and you have to keep yourself safe, do what you must to make yourself safe. And then the last part I will add is this is where community is really, really important. And so especially if you are queer, bipoc, creative, check out our organizations. But there's so many plethora of different organizations. If you are LGBTQIA and in tech, there's out in tech, lesbians in tech, many different organizations to support and just build community, not just with ourselves, but also with allies, to just create space for each other to talk about many of these issues with one another.

Speaker A: Stephen, you're always amazing to talk to, and this has been, um, one of those interviews that I've always wanted to have with you, and I'm so glad that we were able to find time. So thank you so much. I already said LinkedIn, but can you tell folks where's the best place to connect with you and learn more?

Speaker C: So LinkedIn is great. Username is just my name. Stephen Wokabayashi. You can also find me on, uh, Instagram stevenwakubayashi as well. And Then on Twitter, my name was too long. So you can find me on Twitter. Uh, AKU Waku. Just like, you have it down here.

Speaker A: I love it. Every time I see your. When I see that waku, I'm like, that's got to be, like, some fashion label line. I'm like, oh, what are you wearing on the red carpet today? I've got waku on. And I'm like, oh, gee, like, to

Speaker C: me, that's gonna happen.

Speaker A: It can happen. There's gonna be a merch shop that's gonna be dropping. You heard it here first, that's for sure. All right, so that's what we have today, friends. Remember, you can always find our podcast on Apple, and that's going to be a great opportunity for you to drop a review. And I'd love to know what you think. Right, Mike and I for sure would love to know what you think, and so give your feedback. We'd love to hear from you as well as, like, what other topics you'd like for us to cover. And so, with that said, I'll see you and your agency accelerating into the next show.

Speaker B: Sam. Uh, Ram m. Sam.

Speaker C: This podcast is heard along the Marketing Podcast Network. For more great marketing podcasts, visit marketingpodcasts.net.