The Content Wrangler and Heretto just hosted their latest Coffee and Conversation webinar, and it was a groundbreaking one. Transgender motivational speaker, workshop presenter, trainer, and workplace diversity and inclusion consultant Stephanie Battaglino joined Patrick Boseck and Scott Abel to discuss her experience as a transgender woman in the workplace. Having lived much of her life under the male privilege society allows straight, cisgender men, Stephanie’s transition threw her into a new category. 

While holding a corporate VP position at New York Life insurance comapny, Stephanie came out as transgender, making her the first person in the company’s history to come out on the job. She spent 25 years navigating the corporate space as a white, cisgender man, and moved up the corporate ladder with a singular focus: moving forward. She didn’t realize that her white male privilege was helping her in her career, nor did she realize how much privilege she actually had. She didn’t realize what she’d had until she lost it. 

Although Stephanie’s gender has changed, her skills, leadership style, and accomplishments remain the same. And yet, her new position as a woman in the workplace has created unprecedented hurdles. Since coming out, she’s gained new insights into the importance of language when communicating with transgender and non-binary individuals. Language matters, and an understanding of the language to use is one of the first steps toward transforming the workplace. Stephanie’s book, Reflections from Both Sides of the Glass Ceiling: Finding My True Self in Corporate America, depicts her journey, and discusses the importance of culture and language in creating inclusive workplaces. She believes that language begins with culture; you need to have an understanding of culture in order to transform policy into practice. Once you understand the culture, you can work to implement appropriate language, in order to meet people where they are — people you may not have encountered before, but who deserve to be communicated with in ways that resonate with them.

Incorporating inclusive language is one of Chillistore’s primary pillars. As Stephanie states, language starts with culture. Chillistore is here to help you understand cultural differences, so you can implement the correct language.