One of my extraordinary clients, Elena Joy Thurston, is the Founder of The Pride and Joy Foundation – which is dedicated to LGBTQ diversity training and building self-awareness and safety in LGBTQ families and their allies.

(A graduate of The Spotlight Speaker Accelerator and current member of the Moxielicious Mastermind, Elena is also a brilliant speaker whose TEDx talk has garnered 40,000+ views in less than a year.)

There have been so many rich conversations over the last few months in communities and corporations around the U.S. about racism and white privilege – and our collective responsibility to address racism that is happening ideologically, institutionally, interpersonally and often, without us being aware, intrapersonally.

Unfortunately, there are far fewer complementary conversations about the unique, often-unaddressed needs of LGBTQ children and employees – and the rising rates of suicide in the LGBTQ community.

While working with Elena on her exceptional LGBTQ diversity training for organizations, I realized how much of what she is sharing is missing from (and needed in) conversations we, as families, are having – particularly with our children.

As Elena passionately shared during our conversation (which was initially recorded for our LGBTQ Family Town Hall), the more people that are practicing self-awareness, the safer the world is for LGBTQ people.

Whether you or your family members are part of the LGBTQ community, or you want to be educated about LGBTQ issues so you, your loved ones, and your company (and coworkers) can be better LGBTQ allies, you are going to learn volumes from our conversation.

In episode 206 of Moxielicious, Elena and I discuss:

• How to talk about sexual orientation and gender identity within your family – whether or not family members identify as LGBTQ

• How to make it safe for children (and grown-ups!) to ask questions about LGBTQ issues and terminology

• What it means to be an LGBTQ ally irrespective of your age (and creative ways to build allyship into your family or organization)

• How to utilize emotional intelligence in sensitive conversations with LGBTQ family members and coworkers
• Specific tools to identify suicide risk in employees and loved ones – regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• Get comfortable with visibility, identify your zone of genius as a speaker (and thought leader), create your signature presentation, and master my system to consistently book virtual and in-person speaking gigs in my The Spotlight Speaker Accelerator group coaching program – http://spotlightspeakeraccelerator.com/

• Learn more about Elena’s LGBTQ diversity training and family support programs at the Pride and Joy Foundation

• Watch Elena’s popular and soul-stirring TEDx talk, How I recovered from conversion therapy

• Read about Elena’s approach to LGBTQ diversity training (and best practices for LGBTG diversity training) on Medium
• Connect with Elena on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter
• Please leave a review and subscribe to Moxielicious via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify, so you never miss an episode!