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I am incredibly excited to announce the debut of Pride in Your Path’s first ongoing video series: the LGBTQ+ Career Stories interview series! Beginning today, interviews with LGBTQ+ individuals from all walks of life will be featured on the Pride in Your Path YouTube channel, covering topics related to the day-to-day details of their job, their career path and educational journey, and how their identity and work life relate to each other.

Two years ago when I first began to build what would become Pride in Your Path, I knew that stories from our community had to be a central part of this endeavor. Not only is hearing about the ins and outs of an occupation an important part of career development, but being able to hear and see LGBTQ+ people thriving in a variety of careers opens up possibilities to LGBTQ+ youth and young adults.

Various studies show that for young women and people of color, seeing or meeting someone who shares their identity can increase their likelihood of pursuing or staying in a field where they’re underrepresented, like many STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields. While we don’t have as many studies about the LGBTQ+ community, many of us know from experience that it’s the same for this community too. Simply put, representation matters. And this video series is all about increasing representation.

My goal is that when a young LGBTQ+ person watches these videos, not only will they learn about new careers and industries, but they will also see people who look and sound like them succeeding in a career. I hope that parents, teachers, and mentors also see this video series, and see that there is hope for the young people in their lives to live authentically as themselves as they pursue their passions.

Several interviews are currently in the editing queue and will be released to YouTube over the next few months. Visit the YouTube channel to subscribe, and stay tuned to hear from a DEI Trainer, a Data Scientist, and more!

Meet the first two interviewees

The first guests featured in the series are Kai Walsh (they/them), a digital marketing strategist and social entrepreneur, and Dr. Em Matsuno (they/them), an assistant professor in Counseling and Counseling Psychology at Arizona State University.

In each of their half-hour interviews, Kai and Em talk about what a day in their professional lives look like, what it’s like being nonbinary in their career fields, and the importance of community building and mentorship.

You can watch their interviews here:

Who do you want to meet next?

What careers do you want to learn more about? Have you ever been job searching and thought, “I’ve never met a queer person in this industry” or “Can be out as nonbinary in this kind of company”?

I want to know who YOU want to hear from! Send me an email and share who you’d like me to interview next. Your idea can be as broad as “someone in engineering” or as specific as an individual who you think would make a great interview guest.

Do you want to share your story?

Do you identify within the LGBTQ+ community? I would love to hear from you! No matter your career or your identity, I invite you to reach out if you’re interested in sharing your story.

To help foster diversity among interviewees, I especially invite individuals who identify with one or more of the following to reach out:

  • do not have a bachelor’s degree
  • are over the age of 45
  • identify as a person of color
  • identify as a man
  • work in the trades or outdoors
  • work in transportation, logistics, or retail
  • work in food or hospitality

If you’re interested, please send me an email and include your occupation and a brief introduction about yourself. I am scheduling interviews around late February/March at this time.

How to support the series

Producing a video series takes a lot of time and effort, especially when you’re a one-person show. If you’d like to support the production of this series, it’s easy to do so. You can become a patron to set up a monthly contribution or visit the tip jar to make a contribution of any amount. Thank you for helping me make a difference!