LGBT+

Collaborated with STEMPotential to release a limited {Be Gay Do Tech} shirt for pride month! 

I was featured on Polywork's own blog (thanks, Nova!) as part of their pride celebration spotlight alongside other awesome superstars!

Read the interview here 

🤗 INCLUSIVE WORKPLACES 🤗

Here's a little throwback post...

I'm really honored to share the stage with these amazing speakers Raga D'silva (She/Her) Author, Speaker, Entrepreneur, Speaker Advisor, Roch Vilo & Wendy Alison Yung (she/her/hers) who have done great work in their communities pushing for LGBTQ+ rights and promoting inclusivity.

Thanks to the #ShhOUT conference for having me, a virtual full-day #PrideMonth event on LGBTQ+ advocacy in Asia organised by Human Resources Online. 

Here are some takeaways and reflection after the session:

- When it comes to true inclusion, everyday interactions with peers and leaders matter as much as organizational policies or formal processes. As an individual, no matter our sexual orientation or gender identity, we should be “that safe space” for our LGBTQ+ employees.

- The first step toward improving the experiences of your LGBTQ+ employees is to understand their challenges. All leaders (or any individual) should stay connected to what it means to be LGBTQ+ at work; this type of learning never ends.

- Do note that a member of the LGBTQ+ community will have to constantly come out throughout their lives. It is a conscious decision that we make day-to-day. Practice empathy with that.

- Education can help ensure that your LGBTQ+ commitment is lived throughout the organization. It can decrease the frequency of microaggressions, root out unconscious bias, promote respect toward LGBTQ+ colleagues, and equip employees to recognize and respond to inappropriate behavior.

Inclusion is a long-term endeavor, and there’s still a long way to go for many companies around Diversity and Inclusion - but it's indeed an exciting opportunity for growth, isn't it?

🌈 NATIONAL COMING OUT DAY 🌈

It's National Coming Out Day today. Thanks to Oracle's LGBTQ+ ERG for having me on this panel to share about my coming out experience and talk about the topic of allyship. Thanks to Xavier Pinneau for the great moderation and Diamanta Lavi-Hartsuiker for reaching out!

We all deserve the right to live our lives genuinely, completely and honestly. But coming out can be a very difficult process for many people in the LGBTQ+ community.

Here are some of the takeaways from this session:
- Don’t push yourself and never feel pressured or obliged at coming out.
- Develop a support network of friends who are accepting and supportive before coming out.
- Don’t come out in anger or retaliation. Be patient with others. Some people take longer to digest the information than others. And recognize that you might not get the reaction you are wishing for.
- Everyone can be an ally, no matter of your sexual preferences. Members of the LGBTQ+ community can be allies to others in the community too!

It is important to recognize that not everyone in the LGBTQ+ community faces the same struggle. The lesbians, gays, transgender, bisexuals, pansexuals, asexuals, and many other terms, all go through a different journey and it is crucial that we educate ourselves on the differences, and strive towards being better allies for one another in the community.

Hope to see more organizations in Southeast Asia build safer and more inclusive workplaces for our LGBTQ+ folks, allowing them to bring their true and honest selves to work.

Such an amazing and fun time to be on Hold Up! Episode 4 -
Reviewing online comments about LGBTQ+ in Singapore

Come watch how we react to these online comments. If you have a weak heart, I will suggest skipping it...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2got057dmy4

Wrote a paper on the gay liberation movement!