As you know, June is LGBTQ Pride Month. It’s a special time of year when people are encouraged to discuss and celebrate the gay community. In New York City, the month culminates with the annual Pride Parade — a storied tradition that began in the 1970s and has since transformed into a citywide festival.
Not wanting to miss out on the fun, many New York City tech companies participated in the festivities, either by marching in the parade, sponsoring floats or hosting events throughout the month to educate and inspire their employees. Built In NYC chatted with a handful of NYC tech companies to find out exactly how they show off their #Pride.
Squarespace, one of the most popular website-development platforms, served as an official sponsor for this year’s NYC Pride Parade. Last year, the company made headlines for a rainbow-themed balloon installation outside of their Downtown headquarters. This year, the company partnered with florist and Squarespace user Sarah Lineberger to create a stunning floral masterpiece on the building’s facade.
Justworks, the company that builds one of the leading human resources platforms, went big for this year’s Pride festivities: employees joined the march this past Sunday with a very groovy disco theme. The company has been involved in past parades, as well.
“We believe a diverse workforce creates a more vibrant workplace," said Camilla Velasquez, SVP of Product and Marketing Strategy at Justworks. "We are thrilled to be participating in the 2018 pride march alongside the people who make this city so great. Our theme this year is '24/7 love,' because we believe in supporting love and equality, whenever, wherever, whoever.”
Marketing tech firm Yotpo went all out this month by bringing the best of Pride to its employees. The month started on an educational note, with the company hosting Lane Beauchamp, director of communications for charity organization Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, for an informational session on the history and impact of HIV/AIDS.
The company also purchased tickets for employees to attend the Best of Queerball comedy show at the legendary UCB Theater.
Finally, Yotpo raised $600 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS by selling Pride Kits, containing materials to prep for this past weekend’s Pride Parade, to employees for $20 a piece.
Digital publisher Dotdash served up a mix of educational and fun activities for its employees this month. A Pride in Media panel hosted industry experts from across the city, and was open to both employees and the general public.
A Pride month happy hour featured every employee’s favorite event: drag queen bingo. At 4 p.m., a “pride cart” helped liven long summer afternoons with music, candy, temporary tattoos and more.
Throughout the month, the Dotdash office was decorated with pride-related swag, and informational screens highlighted the history and significance of the Pride movement. The company also hosted a month-long fundraiser in support of Live Out Loud, a charity that provides resources for LGBTQ youth.
All of the Pride Month activities were hosted by the Dotdash Diversity and Inclusion committee, which the company formed in 2017 to help build a supportive company culture.
This month, financial investment company Betterment hosted a community-wide happy hour, with employees and friends of the company kicking back, enjoying food and drink and reveling in the sense of community that Pride Month inspires.
“It's always such a great hit and is an amazing event to celebrate diversity and inclusion,” said a company spokesperson. “Betterment is committed to cultivating an inclusive environment that recognizes and respects diversity of thought, behavior, experience and background.”
Cybersecurity firm SecurityScorecard showed off their pride this month by changing their blue logo to a vibrant rainbow version.
VP of People Operations, Trent Blanchard, told Built In NYC how the company works every day to promote inclusion: “SecurityScorecard walks its talk in regards to diversity and inclusion efforts. Creating an inclusive, more diverse company brings different opinions to the table, which translates to better business decisions. We honor people of all orientations, backgrounds and cultures, and wouldn’t be as successful as we are today without our strong team and fearless leadership.”
Fitness company Aaptiv is home to an active LGBTQ group known as the Aaptiv Queer Alliance, or AQuA. Needless to say, AQuA spearheaded this month’s efforts, which were designed to be open to all company members. AQuA designed a series of daily Slack messages that sent the team information about LGBTQ history and culture. While the messages were short and sweet, an Aaptiv spokesperson told Built In NYC that “these brief nuggets of information have spurred longer conversations over lunch and on other occasions in the office over the course of this month.”
