June 01, 2022
At Valtech, Diversity and Inclusion is core to all our work—with each other, with our clients and everyone in between. For us, it’s key we understand what inclusion means to all our Valtechies, so everyone feels heard.
Pride, a month dedicated to celebrating LGBT+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender+) communities all around the world, is an important marker in our global calendar, as an organisation represented in 22+ countries and 50+ cities. For us, our theme in 2022 is “recognising where we are, so we can shape where we need to go.”
Before Pride became a celebration, it started out as a protest. June 28, 1969 marks the start of the Stonewall riots in which the queer community responded to a police raid that began at the Stonewall Inn, a bar located in the Greenwich Village neighbourhood of Manhattan, New York, that served as a safe haven for the city’s gay, lesbian and transgender citizens.
With this in mind, we wanted to dedicate June as a time for Valtech and all of its Valtechies to celebrate how far we have come, whilst recognising we still are not at our end destination yet.
Valtech x My G Work
In our five-pillar diversity & inclusion strategy, hiring and community are two key pillars. With this in mind, we are very excited to announce our partnership with My G Work, a global recruitment and networking hub for LGBT professionals, graduates, allies and organisations to promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace and beyond. My G Work’s mission is to empower the LGBT+ community by offering individual members a safe space where they can connect with inclusive employers, find jobs, mentors, professional events and news.
As part of our partnership, all currently open and future roles at Valtech will be posted on My G Work’s platform, where we hope to reach a new diverse community of talent. Check out our profile here where you find all our career opportunities.
Alongside this, we are incredibly proud to support My G Work’s efforts in providing a safe space for LGBT+ workers to come together through their WorkPride conference.
“We’re delighted that Valtech has partnered with myGwork and supporting our annual five-day WorkPride event to strengthen its diversity and inclusion initiatives, and improve its outreach to attract LGBTQ+ talent. We thoroughly look forward to working with the Valtech team to develop a workplace culture that’s not only truly inclusive, but capable of retaining talent and attracting future diverse Valtechies,” stated the Co-founders of myGwork, Adrien (CMO) & Pierre Gaubert (CEO).
A Moment of Reflection
In June, we will be sharing regular educational posts on our internal community, to help provide insights to all our Valtechies on different gender identities, the role of legislation in LGBT+ rights and more.
To bring together our month, we are hosting an internal Pride event where we’ll delve into what Pride means to members of the LGBT+ community and how we can and must all stand up for LGBT+ rights. We’re honoured to have Devin Ibańez as our keynote speaker. Devin is the world's first openly gay Major League Rugby player and was one of the first players ever signed to the New England Free Jacks in 2019.
Born and raised in Brookline, Massachusetts, Ibañez has been playing rugby for over 13 years and his love for the sport has taken him all over the world. He has played in Australia, New Zealand, England, Canada, and Israel in addition to his home country. In 2017, he represented the USA and went on to win gold against South Africa in the World Maccabiah Games.
He continued his success by helping to lead his hometown club, Mystic River, to the 2018 D1 National Championship. Since coming out via an Instagram post in December 2020, Ibañez has set his sights on being an outspoken voice for all members of the LGBT+ community who are struggling to be themselves in sport.
At our event, we’ll also have an energetic panel of Valtechies who will add to this important discussion.
We’re excited for our first global Pride event and will continue to prioritise and embrace diversity and foster inclusion in all that we do.
A Pride Collaboration With Sitecore
To keep the conversation moving, we’ll also be joining a panel discussion with our partner, Sitecore. This discussion will be lead by Sitecore’s own Ryan Levitt (he/him), Vice President, Communication with Sheree Atcheson (she/her), Group Vice President of Diversity & Inclusion at Valtech and Jack Guest (he/him) Global Diversity & Inclusion Lead at HSBC, where we’ll be discussing the importance of inclusivity in the workspace.
To keep up to date with all of our efforts, please check out the Diversity & Inclusion section on our website.
