MINNEAPOLIS — Starting a new business is a challenge in itself, but for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, their identities can present an additional hurdle.
There’s often pressure on these entrepreneurs to withhold aspects of their personal lives from professional circles to steer clear of controversy.
Since last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision to legalize same-sex marriage, more LGBT business owners are driven by shifting public opinion and diversity-hungry companies to start openly embracing who they are.
“While people may be out in their personal lives, connecting it to their business is a relatively new phenomenon,” said Jonathan Lovitz, vice president of external affairs at the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. “But doing so has been incredibly beneficial for them.”
Erica Fields, president of St. Paul-based grain trader Brooks Grain, didn’t come out as a transgender woman until she was 53 in 2007.
Even then, she only came out to a few friends. Just five months earlier, Fields had started her business providing rye to whiskey distilleries like Jack Daniel’s and Jim Beam. Fields feared how the revelation might be perceived by her clients in a male-dominated industry.
“I thought if I just came out, I would lose everything,” said Fields, who waited until 2009 to tell clients.
That fear, echoed by many LGBT entrepreneurs, stems from a desire to avoid friction with potentially less accepting colleagues or clients, said Jay Miller, founder and creative director of the Minneapolis branding firm Imagehaus.
Since starting his own firm in 2000, Miller joined NGLCC’s Supplier Diversity Initiative, which he calls a “professional way to come out” that is less frightening.
The program, which began in 2004, certifies LGBT-owned businesses and connects them to a network of “corporate partners” looking to improve diversity in their supply chain.
It follows similar initiatives that promote businesses owned by women, people of color, veterans and people with disabilities.
Recently, there’s been a spike in interest for the certification. The national roster of certified LGBT businesses jumped from roughly 500 in 2013 to 896 by the end of July.
About 140 companies – including Delta Air Lines, General Mills and Target – use the program’s directory to find LGBT vendors. This year, NGLCC added the Democratic National Convention, Major League Baseball and defense contractor Northrop Grumman.
The certification can help a new business get noticed and make new connections, said Teresa Mock, owner of wedding planner L’Etoile Events in Minneapolis.
Mock attends NGLCC and Quorum events, such as Quorum’s annual luncheon on National Coming Out Day.
At last October’s luncheon, Mock found vendors she’d like to use for future events. Mock, who started her business in January 2015, displays her NGLCC certification on her website and says it’s a good way to filter out a “poor match.”
“When someone looks at the website and sees that (certification), and if that’s a reason they don’t want to work with me, they have to look no further,” Mock said.
Miller said he got his certification after an executive at Office Max, a longtime client, asked him about it because the office-supplies retailer wanted a way to quantify how much it spent on diverse vendors.
It’s a way for companies to go beyond preaching diversity as they feel pressure from groups like the Human Rights Campaign, which tracks workplace equality at Fortune 500 companies.
“They can’t just say it anymore,” Miller said. “They have to actually follow through with what they say by action, and it needs to be in a way that is measurable.”
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