How Pride and Joy Foundation’s Impactful Benefit Survey can increase diversity and talent retention in your workplace 

^{By: Becca Ladd}

When employers are looking to attract key LGBTQ+ talent into their workplace, a good place to start is with employee benefits. But how can employers looking to become inclusive leaders create a benefits package that truly reflects what LGBTQ+ workers are looking for and brings in those key employees? That’s where the Impactful Benefits Survey comes in.

How the survey helps the LGBTQ+ Community

The Impactful Benefits survey gives LGBTQ+ people, their allies and parents the chance to tell employers which workplace benefits are most inclusive and beneficial to members of the LGBTQ+ community. If you've been looking for a way to share your thoughts on workplace benefits, this is your chance to have your say.

The survey seeks to create the workplaces people in the LGBTQ+ community have been fighting for. Whether it's...

"My TEDx talk changed my life."

- Elena Joy Thurston, Founder of Pride and Joy Foundation

Being on stage and connecting with people is something that Elena never struggled with. In the past, when she found herself in the middle of a messy divorce and struggling to take care of her four kids, these skills are what saved her.

With no other marketable skills, no work experience for the past 15 years, and no savings, she relied on her eagerness to dominate the stage and her ability to connect with people. She worked with one of the best speaker coaches for four long months to master public speaking and her hard work paid off.

She got accepted on her first try in applying to a TEDx event. This may not be for everyone, but she knew at that point that it was meant to be - it's her journey. As she stood in that iconic red circle carpet on stage, in front of about 900 people eager to listen to what she has to say, she realized a crazy new reality.

Being queer is a superpower.

As a...

Legacy is a brain trust for women speakers and thought leaders, led by Alexia Vernon. This group of female entrepreneurs and thought leaders are committed to helping other purpose-driven female entrepreneurs.

The Legacy Fund came from a portion of each member’s investment, and the group is getting ready to make its first investments in women founders. Legacy aims for this grant to help women-identified entrepreneurs in scaling the revenue and impact of their businesses.

In its inaugural year, The Legacy Fund will award two, unrestricted grants of $1500 to women-identified founders who serve as business leaders of for-profit or nonprofit businesses.

Plus, each recipient will receive a complimentary ticket to Alexia’s 2-day, Las Vegas speaker training event in 2022 ($397 value). Women-identified applicants who also identify as BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, live with disabilities, chronic illness or survived trauma are particularly encouraged to apply.

Applications...

Editor’s Note:  We first published Jake’s story in July 2020.  It is now a year later, we felt (and Jake agreed) that the timing was right to share his story again.  Jake is one year into having “fired” his homophobic side and if you’ve followed him on Social Media, you know just how amazing his life has become.  If you’re new to his story, have a read and then check him out.  It’s a beautiful journey.  

It Was Time For Him to Go

I’m coming off a high. I just fired someone, and it was one of the crowning achievements of my adult life. I made sure to make a scene of it too by gathering everyone into the conference room, laying out a long list of offenses, and walking him out of the room and building to never return. It was awesome!

Nine months earlier I came out as gay to my wife of 13 years. I married her with the best of intentions, desiring to do all that was expected of me as a man in...

As Pride Month 2021 comes to a close, here is a review of the most commonly asked questions from parents of LGBTQ+ kids.    

I’m pretty sure my kid is LGBTQ+ but they haven’t come out.  Why aren’t they being honest with me?  

Not being out with your parents is very common in the LGBTQ+ community. The coming out journey begins with being out to yourself, and depending on the environment you're being raised in, it can feel unsafe to be authentic even to yourself, let alone your parents. The more comfortable a child is with their own identity, the more likely they'll come out to their parents.  

Obviously, parents and caregivers influence that comfort level. But home life can be very accepting and the child might still struggle to accept their identity themselves. It’s a very personal journey, which can feel disconcerting since we’re their parents. We wiped their bums for goodness sake! We feel heavily...

I did it!!!

I thought obtaining a perfect credit score was impossible but by some miracle, I finally have an 850.

Not many people in my life know that I was a victim of financial abuse by a person that I was in a relationship with from age 23 to 26. He maxed out my credit cards that originally had no balances on them and he stole a boat and 5th wheel travel trailer that were only in my name. When I finally ended the toxic relationship, I came home to an empty apartment after work one day. He obviously didn’t take it very well so he did as much damage as possible before he fled from our state with my money and personal belongings.

He left me in financial ruins. I was in 6 figures of debt, I had $800 more in expenses than income each month, and more money stress than I can describe. I felt betrayed, suffocated by debt, and totally hopeless.

Like so many other LGBTQ+ people, I didn’t have anyone to help me financially so I taught myself how to create and follow a...

Mindfulness is something we could all use more of as we re-enter the real world, especially kids. Despite our efforts to limit it, the amount of screen time they’ve had this past year has skyrocketed because of distance learning on computers for hours throughout the day. 

And, as if that wasn’t enough, they have been isolated at home, without face-to-face contact with their affirming friends, family, and community. 

Suffice to say, this last year has been anything but normal. Quite the contrary. We could say it was as rare as a unicorn... albeit an isolated unicorn, at home on the computer. You get the point.

Now that we embark on returning to socializing, having somewhat of a real summer, and going back to school in the Fall, it’s important to support your kiddos with Mindfulness practices as they transition back to the real world.

What is Mindfulness? 

Mindfulness is awareness of the present moment, with kindness and curiosity, and...

In the past few years, people are becoming more and more open and accepting towards the LGBTQ+ community. However, there is still a lot more to be done in order to achieve a safe and welcoming society for the community, especially in the corporate world.

Most companies nowadays have been making changes and "diversifying" their employee pool and welcoming LGBTQ+ workers since people are more eager and confident in fighting for equal rights. This is a huge step forward in the corporate world especially when there are still places in which simply not conforming to gender roles would already be considered "unprofessional" and "unethical".

But are these companies doing enough to provide the benefits that would most appeal to LGBTQ+ families? How are they measuring that?

Pride and Joy Foundation created a survey in order to guide the companies towards the first step in realizing how much of a positive impact they can have on the lives of LGBTQ+ families. This is about how these companies...

Pride and Joy Foundation is a proud Community Partner of ONE Community’s 5th annual Point of Pride LGBTQ Inclusive Summit. This year’s event runs June 21st-24th and begins with the up-to-the-moment State of LGBTQ+ Arizona presentation followed by three can’t miss panel discussions: LGBTQ+ Issues at the Capitol & Moving Forward, Building an Inclusive Workplace Culture, and Socially Responsible Business Advocacy

State of LGBTQ+ Arizona

The summit will kick off with a presentation on the importance of LGBTQ+ Workplace inclusion to attract and retain top talent to your organization, the current State of LGBTQ+ Arizona, and the path forward to a state that celebrates, respects, and protects us all presented by ONE Community President, Angela Hughey.

LBGTQ+ Issues at the Capitol & Moving Forward

The expert panelists Mesa Mayor John Giles, Regional COO of AMR/GMR and the Chair of the Mesa Chamber of Commerce, Glenn Kasprzyk, Glendale Chamber...

Parenting is already the hardest job in the world, and when you add sexuality to the mix, it gets even more challenging.

Whether your child is just beginning to question their sexuality or is ready to buy every rainbow they see, we are here to provide connection and support. Without judgment.

'Cause parenting is hard enough without being judged by other parents. We see you and we need you.

Join us on www.PrideAndJoyParents.com!

Parent Connection is a support network for parents who needs help and guidance in handling matters relating to their children's sexuality.

Acceptance, support, and understanding are one of the best things that LGBTQ+ children will ever receive, especially from their parents. As such, we all know that you, as parents, want to give your best to your child, however, you're not invincible.

Parenting is already a challenge of its own, your child's sexuality being part of the equation opens up a whole other set of challenges. Our goal is to provide a safe space...