Hi, I’m Jamie and I use She/Her/Elle and They/Them pronouns.
Today, I can say I’m a proud transgender woman🏳️⚧️. Yet I struggled for too many years with my reality, feeling scared and ashamed about my gender identity and what it might mean to transition. A year ago, at the start of Pride, I made a public declaration of who I am, and the fear and shame began to melt away. It’s been a process, but my transition has been wonderful since then and I’m happier than I’ve ever been.
Pride means different things to different people. To me, it means a time when I get to celebrate what makes me, me. It’s a time to be open, visible, loud and proud🌈, but that’s not all.
Pride is . . .
- When you can say to yourself that you are worthy of love and self love
- When you can look in the mirror and smile just because
- When you find community and they embrace you
- When your workplace is open, welcoming, compassionate and accepting of everyone
- When the world lights up to celebrate our shared diversity
I am a transgender woman, but that’s just one part of my identity. I’m not an employee of Valiantys, I’m a member of the Valiantys family. When I opened up to this family last year (via blog post), as trans non-binary, they not only accepted me, they celebrated me!
Some of my favorite replies were:
- “It takes a lot of courage to write this article. I can only be proud that Valiantys is a place where people feel comfortable sharing who they are and what matters to them.“
- “Thank you for sharing with us Jamie- what an amazing journey you have been on”
- “So proud of you, Jamie!“
- “I feel so moved by this Jamie, and so proud of you for sharing, and inviting us to encourage and embrace you in all your purple glory – that takes a lot of guts and trust! ❤️ ”
- “I hope you feel embraced by all of us and it is really nice of you to share your story with us! We can learn so much from experiences like yours.”
- And this from our CEO Lucas Dussurget “Thank you for sharing this with us, Jamie! And congratulations – it takes guts to come out to your colleagues. As someone said, it makes me happy that you feel Valiantys is a place where you can be open and authentic about who you are.”
These replies showed me that Valiantys really practices an inclusive philosophy.
So at Valiantys, Pride is also. . .
- When you are celebrated for being you
- When you know you can be open and can expect unquestioned acceptance
- When you can write something like this and know that it will be embraced and shared
I am fortunate that I have this family and hope that through this example, others can learn and grow.
💜 Jamie 💜
More information about careers at Valiantys here