Episode 9: Pride Beyond Parades - How to be an active ally
In this week’s episode, Steven Wakabayashi, founder of QTBIPOC Design, an LGBTQ activist, and podcast host on Yellow Glitter talks to Mousumi, Caitlin and Jill on what it means to be an ally beyond the pride parades.
“Allyship is something that comes after you’ve done the work.”
About Our Guest
Steven Wakabayashi is the founder of QTBIPOC Design – an organization that provides free and accessible design education, mentorship, and networking opportunities to LGBTQ+ designers of color. After leading creative teams on some of the biggest brands including Apple, Google, Salesforce, Sephora, Walmart, and Samsung, he is now dedicating himself to bring more diversity and equity to creative teams around the world.
Inspiration and Recommended Reading
Earlier in today’s episode, we talked about how “rainbow washing” has become a performative action for most companies with no real action behind changing their logo colors for the month of June. Entrepreneur wrote a really great article about why that’s actually harmful and how companies can take real action to support the LGBTQ+ community all year long that goes deeper than a rainbow logo.
Of course Pride Month is a great time to honor and support LGBTQ+ communities, but support shouldn’t be a switch that you turn off as soon as June is over. Organizations like The Trevor Project, Out in STEM, The Gill Foundation, It Gets Better Project, GLSEN, Pride at Work are all nonprofits that advocate for equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community year-round. Consider giving them a donation.
There are also ways to support Pride that are cost free. Education is a huge part of Pride Month. Using this month as motivation to learn about the challenges that face the LGBT community will help you be a better ally and gain a deeper understanding of Pride. Showing support and being an active ally and advocate for LGBTQ+ individuals and challenging harmful stereotypes is the easiest way to show support. Using the right pronouns, being inclusive and respectful of their sexuality are all small ways to show you’re an ally.
And if you would like to hear more from Steven, his podcast is Yellow Glitter and you can listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Additionally you can get involved in his efforts with QTBIPOC Design.
Where to Find Us
We’re on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and recently on LinkedIn. Interested in a guest post on our blog, or want to be a featured guest on the podcast? Email us at weareoverworked@gmail.com.
