The number of visible, openly LGBTQ+ senior leaders across the private sector and government is at an all-time high. However, this cohort tends to not represent the full diversity of the LGBTQ+ community, especially with respect to racial, ethnic, gender diversity, and ability, among other characteristics. Barriers to career advancement—and even employment itself—are compounded for those LGBTQ+ people that also embody other marginalized identities. The daily unconscious bias, legacy and systemic systems of racism, and other forms of discrimination come to bear on the daily working lives of LGBTQ+ people across identities. A Black, Transgender woman navigating her workplace cannot take a breather from racism to cope with anti-transgender bias or gender inequality: at any given moment she is faced with all at once, in addition to her job or attempts to get a job. Meaningful change and programming to advance the next cohort of LGBTQ+ leaders must be intersectional to be effective.
In 2021, Out & Equal launched the Diverse Leaders Fellowship (DLF) to support underrepresented LGBTQ+ leaders. Part of a broader strategy to enhance opportunities and build cultures of inclusion, the fellowship is intended to increase the pipeline of out early- and mid-career underrepresented LGBTQ+ talent in Fortune 500 companies.
2023 Diverse Leaders Fellowship Program
Application Required – Applications are due by August 11 with rolling notifications.
The 2023 Diverse Leaders Fellows (DLF) cohort will convene onsite in advance of the Workplace Summit in Orlando, FL. In closed group sessions on September 11, 2023, fellows will explore professional development topics such as leading with authenticity, executive presence, personal branding, and more. Fellows will also be invited to participate in the Workplace Summit conference from the 12th through the 14th.
Who should apply?
We invite high-potential LGBTQ+ leaders who identify as transgender and/ or nonbinary, women, people of color, and/or people with disabilities, to apply to participate in the third cohort of the fellowship. Applicants must identify as an LGBTQ+ member of one or more of these underrepresented groups. They should also be in the early-to-mid career stage, with no more than 15 years of work experience.
Apply to this program if you’re interested in:
- Identifying your leadership style
- Engaging in career trajectory planning
- Maximizing your leadership presence
- Expanding your network of fellow LGBTQ+ professionals.
Learning Outcomes:
- Understand the relationship between authority, influence, and impact.
- Explore how formative moments of bias effect leadership approaches.
- Define the intersection of your strengths, passions, and the ever-changing needs of your organization and the marketplace.
- Identify personal spheres of influence and learn strategies to inspire passion and drive toward shared goals.
- Identify self-limiting beliefs that are holding you back and rewrite the script with new empowering beliefs to guide how you show up each day.