What Pride is . . . at Valiantys

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 💜