The Power and Potential of Authentic Connection

Living Out Loud, Faithfully

Author, Vice President of the GLAAD Media Institute, and Lutheran Deacon Ross Murray joins Edelman's Gurpreet Brar and Faith McIver in conversation to discuss his life and experiences as a spiritual person within the LGBTQ+ community.

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GLAAD said about Ross's recent book Everyday Advocate: Living Out Your Calling to Social Justice: "Drawing on his own experience, Ross encourages readers to discern their own call to advocacy, learn to identify injustices and respond faithfully by incorporating big and small actions into their everyday lives."

Trans Representation at Work

Dani D'Amico, McKinsey & Company New York Partner, joins Christiane Schulz, Edelman Germany CEO and GWEN (Global Women’s Equality Network) Lead, in conversation on an Authentic 365 Pride Takeover. USA Today recently reported that a review of leaders at America's 1,000 largest companies found that just 10 out of thousands of named executive officers identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community, underscoring the importance of increased representation. In this episode, Dani shares her experience as a transgender woman navigating a corporate leadership role and what it means to be a role model for future transgender executives. 

On the Frontlines for Trans Rights

On the Frontlines for Trans Rights: A Conversation with Rep. Zooey Zephyr and Journalist Erin Reed 

Edelman’s Lauren Gray (she/her/hers) and Lou MacAfee (they/them/theirs) will host this episode, uncovering what it means to be on the front lines advocating for trans rights in the United States with Montana State House Representative, Zooey Zephyr (she/her/hers), and LGBTQ+ Journalist, Erin Reed (she/her/hers).  

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Representative Zooey Zephyr identifies as transgender and, in a recent high-profile incident that sparked controversy, was censured and banned from the House floor after speaking out against a bill that would ban healthcare for transgender youth. Erin Reed is a leading transgender journalist who writes for Erin In the Morning and recently wrote an influential point-by-point rebuttal in response to the alleged Missouri whistleblower on transgender healthcare.

Faith at Work

This episode of A365 will discuss religious acceptance in the workplace and how we can all recognize various faiths in a respectful and inclusive way.  

Isabel Wong (Hong Kong) will lead the conversation with Eboo Patel, Founder and President of Interfaith America to address understanding and embracing different religious identities in the workplace, and how people and organizations can be more inclusive and supportive of diverse religions around the globe.  

Authentic 365 – Faith at Work

Isabel Wong [00:00:00] Hi, I'm Isabel Wong with Edelman, currently based in Hong Kong. Now for this episode we are going to have a deep dive into the topics of religious acceptance, best practices in the workplace for interfaith dialog, and how religious identities are very much part of the broader diversity and inclusion conversation. And joining me for this conversation is Eboo Patel, founder and president of Interfaith America. Eboo is also a former faith advisor to President Barack Obama. So, Eboo, thank you so much for joining us from Chicago. It's great to have you with us on the show.  

Eboo Patel [00:00:40] Isabel, it's great to be with you. Thank you for having me.  

Isabel Wong [00:00:43] Thanks for joining us. Now, before we kick start the deep dive conversation, in order to set the scene right, I would like to have you help us understand and give us a brief introduction to our international audience about the work that you do at Interfaith America.  

Eboo Patel [00:01:01] Sure. So about 25 years ago, I founded an organization called Interfaith Youth Core. Actually founded it when I was a graduate student at Oxford University. And we ran programs all over the world. And the big idea was that, we should, it was going to strengthen the global fabric to bring young people from different religious identities together, to discuss the shared values between their faiths and to act on those positive values like compassion and hospitality and service. As the organization developed, we rooted it in the country in which I'm a citizen of the United States, even though I was born in India and educated in part at Oxford. I'm an American citizen. I've grown up here. I feel most comfortable in this culture and the organization as we would have here in the big idea of the organization whose name is now Interfaith America, but which started as Interfaith Youth Core, is that religious diversity can be a great strength of a nation in a world if faith is a bridge of cooperation and not a barrier of division or a bludgeon of domination. That's the case at city level, at the national level, and certainly also at the company level. And I'm excited to talk to you, Isabelle, about how positively and proactively engaging religious diversity can strengthen the fabric at both Edelman and for Edelman's clients.  

Isabel Wong [00:02:27] Mm hmm. Yeah, I do very much look forward to our discussion as well. And I know that for this conversation, we are going to touch on the concept of religious diversity and also religious acceptance. So I just want to get your help to help our audience understand the concept of religious acceptance as well. And why is this so important?  

Eboo Patel [00:02:48] Sure. So so religious diversity is just a fact of our world and a fact of most nations in the world. Meaning that there are people from different religious identities who are living in close quarters together, whether that's in the United States or in India or Brazil or Australia or the United Kingdom or Morocco or South Africa. Anywhere in the world you have people from different religions living together, working together, studying together, playing on sports leagues together, etc.. We don't talk about religious acceptance at Interfaith America because we don't ask people from one religion to accept the doctrine of another religion. It's not about acceptance. It's about cooperation. The idea is not that that Muslims who believe that Jesus is a prophet of God, but not the son of God, should accept the Christian doctrine about Jesus. The idea is that Muslims and Christians should cooperate positively. So we speak of religious diversity, should give rise to interfaith cooperation where faith is a bridge and not a barrier.  

Isabel Wong [00:03:58] Yeah, I do very much agree with that as well. And the very foundation of it is also fostering a sense of, you know, ability to appreciate spiritual values, beliefs and faith based practices. You know, there are different from opposed by removing prejudices and stereotypes, which is very much the kind of work that you do also. And it requires mutual respect. Now, I would like to take a deeper dive into embracing religious diversity at work, because obviously when it comes to this topic, a lot of people would just be thinking, how can we really do that? And for authentic 365 this podcast, the kind of conversations that we create, are all about how can one really bring oneself authentically to work. And in our view, one must also feel comfortable to show all sides of himself or herself that includes one's religious identity, because religion is very much an essential part of personal and community identity. So. Eboo, from your perspective, should we speak about our religion, our faith at work? And if so, what is an authentic way to approach it?  

Eboo Patel [00:05:10] Sure. So, Isabel, I'm in a slightly adapt the question, and I'm going to say that I think it's important for any company, for for employees to feel like they can bring their best professional self to work and that that company is able to serve its clients and its customers and the community in which it is and in the best possible way. So the question for me is not can you bring your authentic self to work? I appreciate that. That's the question of this podcast. That's not my principle question. The principle question is, can you do your best work at work? And if you are Jewish and keep kosher and there is always a mixing of meat and cheese and there's never any kosher food available, you might not be able to do your best work if you are Hindu and are vegetarian, and there is meat in every dish at the cafeteria at work. You might not be able to do your best work if you are Muslim and you don't drink alcohol on account of your faith. In every social event at work involves copious quantities of alcohol, you might not be able to do your best work. And this is why it's important for a company to positively and proactively engage religious identity when it comes to their employees. To ask the question, can employees from different faiths do their best work here? Are there are we do we have an environment that is respectful of people's diverse religious identities? The framework we use that at my organization, Interfaith America is respect, relate, cooperate. Do you have an environment that respects the identities of diverse people, that encourages positive relationships between them, and that facilitates cooperation on common projects? The beautiful thing about companies is that the common projects are obvious, right? The client work that you're doing, the creative work that you're doing, the initiatives and campaigns that you're working on at Edelman, those are obvious. And so you have a shared project to encourage cooperation. And I think this is one of the reasons that companies can really be leaders in interfaith cooperation efforts, because you naturally have employees from diverse religions present. You naturally facilitate positive relationships through a close environment, and you have shared projects in which to encourage cooperation. There are many parts of who we are which are totally legitimate but but are probably not the best fit for the workplace. And what comes to religious diversity? A good example of this is conversion. It's perfectly legitimate for Christians or Muslims or somebody from a different religious identity or in fact a philosophical worldview like atheist who seeks to bring other people to their faith or worldview. It's a perfectly legitimate activity, but that's not what you want happening at a workplace. The question is how do you engage religious diversity in a way that encourages people to bring their best professional self to work again? People should be able to wear clothes that are appropriate for their religious identities. People should be able to eat the food that is required by their religious identity. People should have a place to pray. If they need to pray, they should have the appropriate days off if they need to take days off for religious holidays, etc. That's a positive and proactive engagement of religious diversity at work that encourages people to bring their best professional self without inviting dimensions of their identity, which are perfectly legitimate in other spaces and churches or mosques or temples, but not appropriate at work. So I would I would offer a framework that is different from authentic self or wholesale. I would offer best professional self.  

Isabel Wong [00:08:51] Mm hmm. Yeah. I really like how you mentioned that. And essentially, religious beliefs inform a person's identity, way of life and everyday activities and behaviors. And religious diversity can essentially make a workplace really inclusive in the sense of allowing opportunities for everyone to, you know, work through biases. And then essentially it will come into this positive impact that would result in diversity of thoughts, freedom of choice of beliefs and expressions. Now, obviously, when it comes to introducing and creating a safe space for religious diversity, it it has its challenges. So through the years that you work in this space, what are some of the common challenges that you've seen when there are multiple and diverse faiths represented in the workpl

Beyond the Binary: Gender Identity and Expression at Work

This episode of A365 will discuss gender expression and identity in the global workplace.  

Rafael Franco (Brazil) leads the conversation with Edelman leaders to address several topics, including understanding and respecting pronouns, recognizing differences in inclusive language globally, navigating gender expression in the workplace and more. The episode will also explore the experiences of those within the LGBTQIA+ community in sharing their identity at work and in the world. 

Transcript

Dani Jackson Smith [00:00:01] It's who you are to work after hours and back at home. Exploring every layer. Finding out what makes you uniquely you. And letting that shine back out into the world. It's authentic. 365 A podcast that takes a glimpse into how some of the most inspiring people among us express themselves and make magic happen. I'm your host, Danny Jackson Smith, VP at Edelman by day, community enthusiast and lover of the people always. On this episode, we are engaging our colleagues across the globe in a conversation on gender identity, understanding that how gender is addressed and acknowledge shifts based on your location. Let's join the conversation now.

Rafael Franco [00:00:51] Hello. I'm Rafael from Brazil, Adama San Paolo. And we're here today to discuss to explore the stigmas around gender identity and expression, to go beyond the binary gender identity and expression at work. And for this conversation I have here, for different persons around the globe, we have Monika Tik Tok from Brazil whistles. She's a senior account manager. I will ask everyone to say your pronouns as well as tragedian director from Malaysia. Lauren Gray, Senior Vice President, New York Crisis and Reputation Risk Advisory. And Nick Nelson, Senior Vice President Austin. Welcome, everyone.

Nick Nelson [00:01:34] Glad to be here.

Monica Czeszak [00:01:36] Happy to be here, too.

Rafael Franco [00:01:38] So we just start with an open question to everyone. So one identity is important to us all, and should we be respected by everyone knowing the formal definition of gender identity and expression? What do those terms mean to you personally and your response? Again, please say your personal pronouns. Mo, you can you can start, please.

Monica Czeszak [00:02:03] Okay. Hi, everyone. Glad to be here. If everyone, I'm Monica. But let's see Mo for short. As you heard, my name is a little tricky. My pronouns are actually all the pronouns. And like the lady on the mall, that puts everything on the shopping carts. So he / she / they I'm comfortable with all of those. And to me, that's a special question because expression to me it's whatever I feel like that day. Sometimes it's braids, sometimes it's baggy clothes, sometimes it's nothing at all. I'm also very forth on getting out of that image that everyone that's nonbinary only wears pajamas. And I think expression is just feeling comfortable with yourself and being your best self every day, and that's particularly special at work. And I think respect only starts with us looking at each other and getting to know each other and asking questions and having safe spaces to ask those questions because it's not easy. Sometimes I'm very feminine, so people might assume I use she or her. Sometimes I'm very masculine, so people might assume similar he. But it's very fluid like gender and like expressions. So we have to be safe to ask each other questions and present ourselves as we are.

Rafael Franco [00:03:28] Okay, great. What about you, Asra?

Ezra Gideon [00:03:31] So yeah, my pronouns are he / him. I've recently transitioned from female to male about two years ago. And I guess, you know, I'm. How do I say this? It is more true to me being a he / him than it ever was before, you know, being in any other pronoun, to be honest. So it's most comfortable for me and this is the pronoun that I feel most myself. It's a little tricky here because the Malaysian language does not have a he / him / they / them, its all dia means they / he / she. So it's you know, it's it's an amazing language. Trouble is, in Kuala Lumpur, corporate language is still English. So but it's still kind of, you know, a yeah, there's a mix of of Malay and English. So it's it's not as difficult, I think, for us here in Kuala Lumpur as opposed to parts of other parts of Malaysia. But yeah, it's a it's those are the pronouns I'm comfortable within and I'm happy to to use whatever pronouns someone tells me they want. I will use that because I respected that, that they know themselves better than I do. So, you know. So, yeah.

Rafael Franco [00:04:52] That's great. Well, I'm making myself vulnerable here because I'm not a known non-native English speaker. So it's hard for us Brazilians as well to understand this gender way of speaking in English. So I will hand over to my English colleagues. My English speaker, English- speaking colleagues learning and make plays well.

Lauren Gray [00:05:17] Thank you so much. I actually wanted to start by just sharing a definition of gender identity and gender expression, just in case anyone who's listening in doesn't know those definitions. And these come from the LGBTQ+ advocacy organization GLAAD and its media reference guide online. Reporters can use that guide to help better understand and cover LGBTQ issues. For gender identity, it's really a person's internal, deeply held knowledge of their own gender. Everybody has a gender identity. For most people, it matches the sex that they were assigned at birth. For our transgender community members, it doesn't align with sex assigned at birth. And many people's gender identity is that of a man or woman. But for other non-binary community members, it just doesn't fit neatly into one of those two categories. And just to give you a little bit more context on that, there was a recent study by the Trevor Project that found that one in four Gen Z LGBTQ community members are non-binary with an additional other 20% questioning their gender identity, and one half of those Gen Z non-binary individuals actually don't identify as transgender. So what we're seeing is really a sea change in the breadth and variety of language that's being used to describe and understand how nuanced gender can be. For me, my pronouns are she her, hers. But as a member of the LGBTQ community, hearing people share their pronouns and seeing pronouns included in emails, signatures, or in zoom display names. It's really a signal of a more diverse, inclusive environment. And I think it's one of the very important things that our colleagues can do in the workplace as an outward sign of support for our community and for those who are also looking for other ways to be a stronger ally. I would encourage you to get to know your LGBTQ colleagues, acknowledge their partners or spouses or families in the very same ways that you would people outside of the LGBTQ community and read up on things, look at the news, watch what's happening as things develop, and try to acknowledge moments of significance to the community, moments when you have terrible setbacks and moments when we celebrate great progress.

Nick Nelson [00:07:38] Nick Yeah. Lauren Thank you so much for that. I think, you know, it's always helpful here and be reminded of my pronouns are he is and my name is Nick Nelson since I didn't start with that. I think one of the things that I am still learning is the conversation we're having right now. You know, I work in multicultural DEI space, and so I've had the privilege to learn about gender identity, gender expression, but I've also had to acknowledge my own privilege as a gender male and not having to understand people who don't identify in the same way. And it's been a really rewarding experience to learn so much and have conversations like these and facilitate conversations like these for clients and for our colleagues. And so I think what it means to me is just a learning experience still. You know, I'm 33 years old and I'm still learning so many things as if I was still in school. And I think that's been the great thing about this particular workplace, but especially the work that I do is it gives me an opportunity to educate and to bring clients and colleagues along on the journey with me. But it also provides an opportunity for me to learn more and then be more supportive of my colleagues who may not be who may not identify it the same way or feel confident or comfortable identifying the same way as I do. So I'm really glad to be in this space with you all and have this discussion because it's long overdue and it's always important to talk through and kind of hear the perspectives. And I am looking forward to walking away from this with a new perspective that I can then bring into my work and support everyone, you know, regardless of their walk in life.

Rafael Franco [00:09:35] And we have mentioned our journey to understand this this theme better. And also Lauren mentioned the pronouns on our email signatures. And this awake me about Monica because I have wrongly assumed her pronouns in the beginning as she / her only. And we never have talked about that before. So Mo, is there a best way to to make sure we are always using pronouns properly and inclusively, especially in a global firm like Edelman?

Monica Czeszak [00:10:12] Yeah. And I think that's the funny part because when you have different problems, sometimes it falls back to you to let people know about your names, but you're not always safe or comfortable with sharing. So when you have a widespread initiative like the email signatures, like Lauren said, you're showing other people that it's okay to introduce yourself and say your problems and ask people for their problems as well. To me since I relate