trans in the workplace

In 2011, Kim Malek and her cousin, Tyler Malek, founded the ice cream company Salt & Straw to create a community gathering place where people can treat themselves and experience “moments of wonder” together.

As such, the company embraces people from every walk of life. Each store window displays a sign that states, “We Welcome All,” and they take steps to make each person who walks through the door feel comfortable being their authentic self.

Cofounder and CEO Kim Malek spoke with Cloud Dancers about her views on the role of business in the pursuit of social responsibility and the steps she has taken to make her workplace better for all, especially those who identify as trans*.

Malek’s kind nature and excitement over having these meaningful conversations are immediately apparent even in the age of video conference interviews. “Yay! We did it!” she exclaimed when we entered the meeting. Immediately I was put at ease, glad to know she was as eager to do this interview as I was.

Collaborating with other organizations or foundations like ours is nothing new to Malek, as she believes in working together to bring about social change. Malek grew up wanting to go into politics, but instead went into business when she realized the advocacy that was possible in the private sector.

She observes, “Business has to be at the table and part of those conversations. The government can’t do it all on its own. Nonprofits and governmental agencies can’t do it all on their own. All three have to come together to make change.” She continues, “It’s good business to be investing in the right ways. Not only is it the right thing to do for society, but it’s actually just good for your business.”

“It’s good business to be investing in the right ways. Not only is it the right thing to do for society, but it’s actually just good for your business.”

When reflecting on this idea of social responsibility, Malek says it goes beyond writing a check. “To me, it’s looking into the core of your business and how you do business, breaking apart each of those components to figure out how you can use your business to make a difference in the world.”

She gives examples (and there are a lot) of Salt & Straw’s business practices that work toward this goal. “For instance, we buy a lot of ingredients,” she says. “The cost of entry today is that you would buy organic ingredients that don’t harm the environment. You would expect us to do that.”

Social responsibility, though, goes beyond meeting basic expectations. “Let’s go to a deeper level and ask, ‘can we buy from mostly minority or women-owned businesses so we can use our purchasing power to help a first-generation farmer in the Bay Area where we’re her largest customer? And then can we use our marketing power to promote her and make her known?’” The question, Malek continues is, “‘How can you take what you’re doing every day and use that to invest in the community in a unique way?’”

Kim and Tyler Malek work together to dream up unique flavors which benefit the community.

With over one thousand employees, Malek says hiring is a huge opportunity to make business more equitable and safe for all. “We ask ourselves, can we use that to offer first jobs to people and train them in unique ways? Can we use our hiring to offer jobs to people who are reentering the workforce? How can we format our training program so that we’re known as a company that, if you used to work there you have these incredible skills? And maybe we even hold job fairs with different industries at the end of the summer to say, ‘We have this incredible talent pool that we’ve just trained – hire them!’ It’s radical that you would do that because you want to hold onto your people (and we do, by the way), but at the same time, could we be a launching pad for employment in other places?”

“And while you’re here, look at our benefits!” she exclaims. “Since Day One, we’ve offered benefits for people who are transitioning and just making sure that, if we get complaints, we hold everyone accountable and we have a culture where that’s not swept under the rug. We investigate and take care of issues. We’re not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but we’re on a journey to take the right next step each time.”

“Since Day One, we’ve offered benefits for people who are transitioning”

Supporting trans* individuals has been a “no brainer” since founding the company. Salt & Straw set up its benefits program in 2011, and Malek states, “Maybe it was a little newer to offer that benefit back then, but it was available, so it was like ‘of course we’re going to do that!’”

Beyond this financial assistance, she notes, “I think the challenge we’ve had over the years is making sure that we as a company are prepared and educated to support people who are transitioning. It’s one thing to give that benefit, but how does the company provide the right support? There’s a lot going on in your life when that’s happening, so what accommodations can we make more broadly so that you can be successful as you transition?”

The transgender community cites safety as its number one concern in the workplace (McKinsey), and these best practices along with Salt & Straw’s zero tolerance policy for any sort of safety concerns seek to mitigate this fear. Malek states, “We educate people about that on day one. Whether it’s from customers or coworkers or members of the community.”

Again, looking into the core of her business, Malek reflects, “We’ve done that successfully and I think sometimes we haven’t. Probably our biggest area of opportunity is to continue to make sure that it feels like a safe, supportive place as someone’s going through that.”

Malek’s response to this is training, focusing on the management, and ensuring that each level of the business reflects these values. She raises the question, “If you’re a manager at a Salt & Straw and you have a team member who’s transitioning, how do you talk to them or the rest of the team and explain what’s going on in a way that’s supportive? And even how do you handle customer conversations? Because that can be hard too!”

Malek continues to work directly with guests, even in her role as CEO.

She stresses the importance of having training around this and communicating a plan for employees should these situations take place. “You need to have a plan of what to do because otherwise, you don’t know what to do in the moment. You need to talk about it with your coworkers, with your manager, and then when it hits you, you’re like ‘oh yeah, I know what to do!’ Otherwise, in the moment it’s too hard to navigate.”

“I honestly believe that there are a good number of organizations out there that would advocate for their team members,” she continues, “I just honestly don’t know if they’re thinking about it. So we need to talk about it and get best practices out there. Because there’s no environment where someone working in the hospitality industry should be made to feel like they have to endure that kind of thing. And it’s serious. And it happens.”

“There’s no environment where someone working in the hospitality industry should be made to feel like they have to endure that”

Society as a whole might be slow to catch up, but Malek cites this as a reason to take swift action where necessary. “If there’s any whisper of a concern, then the management team will be willing to face that, get involved, and take action,” Malek says.

She adds, “This is really hard to do, and you hear companies all the time saying they don’t want to go through that. But you have to. Every single time. Every time.”

Malek says advocacy doesn’t stop at her business. Rather, her business is a form of advocacy. Salt & Straw has a number of exciting new programs and partnerships in the works, so stay posted and treat yourself to some ice cream – we all deserve to have moments of wonder.

By Jeremiah Ancheta

The Cloud Dancers Foundation recently sat down with Maeve DuVally, a transgender woman who is also the Managing Director of Corporate Communications at Goldman Sachs. Maeve shared her personal story about transitioning later in life while working at a prestigious financial firm. In our conversation, she gives advice on how to improve the Trans in the Workplace experience.

Realizing Her True Self

Maeve DuVally is the first to admit that her experience as a trans woman is not like most trans people’s experience. “Once I realized I was transgender and got to talk to other transgender people, I learned that all of our experiences are very different,” Maeve said. “There are a lot of people who have always known that something was off about their gender or felt a certain way about it. That wasn’t my experience.”

Although she didn’t quite realize back then, in retrospect Maeve said there were signs. For example, she said she didn’t like herself for most of her life, and thinks the disdain for “anything masculine” about herself might have been an early sign she was transgender. “There were periods of time where I liked experimenting with makeup and feminine clothing. When I was young, I would dress as a woman during most Halloweens. I never thought too much about it, but I do now. In retrospect, these signs make a lot more sense to me,” Maeve said.

Already well into her career with three children, Maeve described a pivotal moment during a fundraising dinner she attended in October of 2018. “The morning of that event, something popped into my head that said ‘Go get some makeup, you need to wear makeup to this event,’ and so I did,” she said.

Although she initially questioned herself and pushed back against the idea that she “always wanted to wear makeup, wear girl’s clothing, and look like a girl,” she eventually came to terms with the fact that inside, she had always been a woman.

We asked Maeve if this realization made her feel afraid. She said, “I wasn’t afraid because I wasn’t really doing anything yet. It was just self-realization. But once I realized it, I asked myself, ‘Now what do I do?’ Then I started to get anxiety.”

Navigating Life as Maeve

Source: Maeve DuVallly

For many trans people, the idea of coming out and living your authentic life is a difficult process. Maeve credits her ability to hear her voice and come out to two things: community and sobriety.

Finding support during all stages of a transition is crucial, and Maeve said she was lucky to find support in her personal and professional life. Maeve met with a trans acquaintance of hers and asked advice on how to proceed. The first thing she did, which she also advises other trans people to do, was find a good therapist.

Maeve also shared about her relationship between sobriety and being trans. She said, “I believe that I suppressed this voice through my use of alcohol. Once I got sober four years ago, that paved the way for me to have that realization. For me, my sobriety and my transness are very intertwined.”

Navigating life with the newfound realization that she is a trans woman led Maeve to try new things. “I started experimenting with clothing and makeup. The things that caused me the most anxiety were things that I was doing for the first time,” Maeve revealed. “The first time I walked into a makeup store; the first time I walked into a lingerie store; the first time I walked into a clothing store; the first time I wore a dress. There’s that anxiety that you’re going to be judged harshly by others.”

While out in her private life, Maeve had not come out to her colleagues at work. In January of 2019, Maeve told her employer that she was transgender and out in her private life. Goldman Sachs assigned a member of its Diversity and Inclusion team to be Maeve’s relationship manager, something Maeve credits with her positive workplace coming out experience. “Before I made the decision to come out in April 2019, I talked to [my relationship manager] periodically. Any concern that I had, she would try to address it. She helped me with every aspect of my transition at work,” Maeve said.

With support from her employer, Maeve agreed to allow the New York Times to profile her first few days being out at work. “The thing I didn’t anticipate was the power of that story,” Maeve said. “As a result of that story, many transgender people in various stages of coming out reached out to me. I discovered that my experience and thoughts could be useful to them, and this process has just continued.”

Improving the Trans in the Workplace Experience

Although Maeve describes her experience as a trans person in the workplace as overall positive, she also gave advice on how it could be improved.

By having a dedicated relationship manager, Maeve felt safe during all stages of her coming out process. She advises companies to have a similar process so that other transgender people might also have a positive and safe experience.

Another factor that Maeve credits to her positive experience was having an active LGBTQ+ network in the workplace, which she says has only grown. “We have a growing group of out trans people. We’ve also joined forces with the parents who work at Goldman Sachs and have trans kids. We consider them part of our group. Our insurance coverage of transition-related procedures is good but can always be improved. Each person’s priorities are different. What’s important to me at my age and what’s important for a ten year old who’s on Goldman Sachs’ insurance is very different. So we have a great little group.”

When asked about what workplace representation means to her, Maeve said “It’s quite simple. We want to feel comfortable being visible and we want to be completely accepted. I want to be accepted.” At Goldman Sachs, employees can place “ally badges” on their desk to let others know they support the LGBTQ+ community. Other companies can adopt this practice to foster workplace representation.

Finally, Maeve stresses the importance of education. During various times of the year that promote LGBTQ+ issues, such as Pride Month, Trans Visibility Day, and Trans Awareness Week, a wide audience of people, including cis gender people, are eager to learn about the transgender experience and how to support their trans friends and colleagues. Making support for the trans community, particularly at work, can and should be a year-round effort.

We’re All in Transition

One of the last things that Maeve told us was that everybody is in transition, and that the process never really ends.

“Everyone is trying to find out who they are,” Maeve explained. “The knowledge of who they are is going to evolve through their whole life. Everybody is in transition. People just tend to make a big deal out of transgender people because our appearance changes. I believe that a transition, just like anything else special in life, never really has an end. I’m going to be transitioning until the day I die. And that’s fine.”