As companies grapple with the lack of employee diversity, one upcoming summit aims to bridge the gap between the tech world and the transgender community.
The second TransTech Summit, which opened up early registration in July, will take place October 20 at Groupon’s headquarters and features workshops in web and app, media, design, and business technologies. Founded last year by the star of the FX TV show Pose and TransTech Social Enterprises founder Angelica Ross, the TransTech Summit will have speakers, an online job fair, a networking mixer, and live-streaming for those unable to attend, said Hope Giselle, project manager for the TransTech Summit and TransTech Social Enterprises.
“We’re thrilled to host the TransTech Summit for the second year in a row. Groupon prioritizes the recruitment and retention of top talent and diversity, and we’re proud to have transgender and gender-non-conforming employees as part of our family,” Corey Flournoy, Groupon's Global Head of Inclusion and Diversity, wrote in an email. “Having diverse teams makes us a stronger, more successful company and helps us better understand and meet the needs of our customers and merchants everywhere we do business.”
Majority of the speakers are unconfirmed, but Ross will be the keynote speaker during this year’s summit, Giselle said. Attendees will be able to mingle with “top tier” companies. The summit organizers chose to host a virtual job fair to allow attendees to apply for jobs but avoid overwhelming the company executives attending the summit, Giselle said.
Giselle did not confirm which companies will attend the job fair or mixer. Last year, the summit featured notable companies and LGBTQ advocates like Brielle Harrison, engineering and manager and project architect at PayPal, and trans advocate Gloria Allen.
At first glance, the tech sector appears to be a white cishet male-dominated sector, making it difficult for trans individuals to visualize possible tech career paths, Giselle said. Trans job applicants sometimes fear being passed over for job opportunities because of their ability to “pass,” meaning their appearance matches the typical aesthetic of their gender identity, she said. However, unlike some industries, many tech jobs allow employees to work remotely, allowing them to circumvent those social obstacles.
For LGBTQ workers, the technology sector can be particularly stressful. LBGTQ employees are most likely to be bullied 20 percent and experience public humiliation or embarrassment 24 percent, both at significantly higher rates than non-LGBTQ employees, according to a 2017 Ford Foundation study examining why employees voluntarily left tech jobs.
“You don’t think of [the trans] community when tech comes up, which is why a lot of trans people don’t get those jobs,” Giselle said. “A summit like this equips people with the tools to be able to be ready should they chose to be in a workspace… and this is a career path that you could choose that nine times out of ten, you don’t have to worry about that.”
For non-trans attendees, Giselle said she hopes they understand the importance of having a diverse staff, not just in terms of race or cisgender but in terms of the LGBT community, too. Having a well-rounded staff ensures that tech companies won’t have easily-preventable cultural faux pas common with companies with less diverse staff and leadership, she said. Transgender attendees, she added, should come away from the summit with the encouragement and information needed to enter the tech world.
“We want [trans people] to walk away with the ability to empower themselves,” Giselle said. “If you want to see more representation of your community, you have to be a part of the change that comes with that.”
