Pride 2022: Getting People Out and In

For the past two years, we have carried the spirit of pride amid a pandemic that has swept the world. We have learned to work remotely and have tried (and continue to try) to strike a healthy work-life balance and stay in touch with our loved ones. We moved events and workshops online due to closures and restrictions - hosting learning sessions that covered topics such as the ABCs of LGBT and trans awareness - recorded the experiences and memories of our own LGBTQI+ community, and learned to better navigate the challenges and social changes taking place around the world.

Although the pandemic is not over and there will certainly be many challenges to overcome, this year we are starting again. And so, for Pride 2022, Intercom is celebrating with the theme of getting out into the world and bringing people in. Pride is above all a demonstration, but it is also a celebration and a demonstration of solidarity. In this special Inside Intercom episode, we interviewed some of our teammates to learn not only about their lives and experiences, but also what it means to be an ally. You will hear:

Jessica Filizola (her), Dublin-based billing operations specialist Shauna O'Brien (her), a Dublin-based customer support specialist Ryan Parker (he/him), a Chicago-based Senior Support Specialist Jennifer Gore (her), computer scientist based in Dublin George Castro (he/him), a Chicago-based Senior People Operations Associate

To celebrate Pride, we wanted to share some of these conversations with you.

If you like our discussion, check out other episodes of our podcast. You can follow on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube or grab the RSS feed in the reader of your choice. The following is a slightly edited transcript of the episode.

Out in the world

Liam Geraghty: Hello and welcome to Inside Intercom, my name is Liam Geraghty. For Pride 2022, Intercom is celebrating with the theme of going out into the world and bringing people in. It's about sharing the lived experiences of those who are absent while equipping allies with the knowledge to support their peers in the LGBTQI+ community. With that in mind, on today's show, five Intercomrades sat down to share their thoughts with us.

Jessica Filizola: My name is Jessica. I work in the Dublin office and I work in the billing team. I am a billing operations specialist. So yeah, I work with clients, what they paid, what they didn't pay, and everything. For me, it's really important because I come from a family that hasn't been supportive and accepting of me when I've come out for the past few years. So everyone supporting me and being an ally was extremely important. Without the allies I've had throughout my life, I don't know how I would cope with this. So this is really important.

Shauna O'Brien: My name is Shauna, I'm based in Dublin and I'm part of the customer support team. As a queer woman, being an ally means knowing that people have your back. Personally I haven't had to deal with any sort of major backlash thankfully but I know there are people who do so it's good to know there are people who will support, who love you and support you no matter what. They don't even see that part of me, if that makes sense.

“Just ask questions. I know a lot of people would prefer you to respectfully ask them, for example, pronouns and things like that”

Ryan Parker: My name is Ryan Parker and I'm a Senior Support Specialist at Intercom. From day one, I knew my mom was in my corner. I asked for a Snow White birthday cake for my third birthday, and she gave me a Snow White birthday cake for my third birthday. Didn't say anything. I wanted to dress up in a dress and high heels and pretend I was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, and she thought nothing of it. And, if anyone said anything, she shut them up right away. So my mother was my first ally, and to this day, she is still my greatest ally, my best friend.

Jennifer Gore: I'm Jen from the IT team. I started eight weeks ago here, so I'm fairly new. I feel like a lot of people in the LGBTQ+ community have similar experiences walking around town, holding hands or showing affection in public, and at some point I think we have everyone noticed that people were maybe saying something or giving us that look, and again, that's when people...