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Meet & Greet: Shane Windmeyer, CEO and Founder of Campus Pride

Interviews

In this week's Meet & Greet interview, Campus Pride's founder and executive producer Shane Windmeyer, shares the history of Campus Pride, the challenges LGBTQ+ people still face as students and young employees, and how companies can work with organizations like Campus Pride to provide a safer, more inclusive environment for the community.




 

myGwork: Can you tell us a bit about your role at Campus Pride and career journey to date? 

 

Shane: I am the founder of Campus Pride, and I founded the organization in 2001 as an online clearing house for LGBTQ+ students. As a young college student, I was oftentimes looking for resources when I was coming out, and so campus pride was a way for me to create an organization that would be there for young people who are LGBTQ+ and coming out and organizing on their campus. Shortly after graduating, I worked with a couple other of my colleagues in developing Campus Pride Net, which was the first iteration of Campus Pride. Since then, the organization has grown into a full fledge 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and we work with 1400 different college campuses across the country. We continually provide new programs and services to help create safer, more inclusive campus communities, as well as to help build future leaders amongst LGBTQ+ students. 

 

myGwork: What's the biggest highlight of your career to date and why? 

 

Shane: The biggest highlight of my career would be the fact that Campus Pride has now been around for 21 years. We celebrated our 20th anniversary last year, and I feel as though that's a huge accomplishment to have dedicated my personal and professional life to an organization that I founded. It continues to grow and continues to do really great work for the movement, as well as to help young people live their authentic selves and be all of who they are. Something I'm very proud of to date is the fact that Campus Pride is continually serving and helping people across the country. 

 

myGwork: What are the main challenges that LGBTQ+ graduates face when looking for their first new role? 

 

Shane: Campus Pride Career Connect is launching this November in the US, which is an online safe space portal for LGBTQ+ young people to be matched up with LGBTQ+ friendly companies; to help them find internships and jobs, but most importantly, to help them with job prep skills and career readiness and to be mentors and connectors to the workplace. I would say one of the challenges that LGBTQ+ young people face with any career is finding people who can support them, who are like them, or where they can see themselves in a particular job or career.


Oftentimes, LGBTQ+ young people are not sure if a certain field or industry is really open and accepting or affirming, for them to live their full, authentic self. One example might be aeronautics, maybe being a pilot, for a trans young woman. How many trans young women or just women in general do you see as pilots? So, it's important that young people see themselves in jobs in order to break down some of the systemic barriers that can be around gender or race or sexuality. A huge deal for LGBTQ+ young people today is not only “Is the company LGBTQ+ friendly?” (having rainbow flags; showing up at Pride parades), but is the culture truly one that welcomes and embraces all employees to be their full authentic self at work? 




 

myGwork: What attributes are companies looking for in new recruits today and how is Campus Pride helping graduates/students attain those skills? 

 

Shane: Companies are looking for diversity and inclusion, they're looking for applicants that represent society and their customers, and the more diverse that an employer is, the more welcoming they are to all customers or to all types of products. I would argue that the more diverse company is, it opens them up to different types of problem solving and different ways to develop new products depending on what industry they're in. Campus Pride is helping this by providing job fairs, a job board that we have online at Campus Pride. Jobs, as well as the Campus Pride Career Connect, which will go online in November.

 

myGwork: How important is LGBTQ+ inclusion in the workplace for graduates?

 

Shane: LGBTQ+ inclusion in the workplace is vitally important to creating an environment where a young person who is in their first job after college can be their full authentic self. I really encourage employees and their companies to ensure that they're active in it and practicing their policies. What that means is making sure how LGBTQ+ people are treated on their first day on the job, their first year on the job, is one that is truly inclusive, and allow someone who's LGBTQ+ to live openly and honestly and do their very best work. In order to do their very best work, they have to feel included, and they have to have a workplace that is positive and welcoming. Where there aren’t assumptions with pronouns or gender, where there's healthcare that's affirming to LGBTQ+ people, where there's bathrooms that are accessible for people regardless of gender, whether that be a family restroom or some sort of single stall, lockable restroom in the workplace office. That's all vitally important. I do think that it is paramount that companies practice not only pass policies, but actually practice workplace inclusion on a daily basis in the office or in their workplace. 

 

myGwork: Do you think organizations are doing enough to prevent LGBTQ+ graduates/new hires from returning to the closet after being out at uni? What more can organizations do to help LGBTQ+ graduates be their authentic selves at work? 

 

Shane: Companies need to build relationships with LGBTQ+ young people at early stages in their life. Organizations like Campus Pride should be part of the diversity and inclusion workplace plan to be able to get recruits in as sophomore juniors, doing internships, building authentic relationships. And that's why we’re launching the Campus Pride Career Connect as a safe space for LGBTQ+ people who are looking for jobs, to find internships, jobs, and mentors; and to develop job prep skills and career readiness from other employees that are LGBTQ+ inclusive, as well as allies at companies to truly build those connections with the LGBTQ+ friendly employer.


One way to keep employees from going back in the closet is to make sure that when they're recruited, you have a very open atmosphere. A company needs to speak out on workplace inclusion in their local community as well as a national community, and they need to practice what they what they say in their policy to actually put that into action in a day-to-day basis within a company. That will also help somebody not feel as though they can't transition as a trans person, or a non-binary person be out in the workplace.



 

myGwork: What types of initiatives should companies be investing in to not only attract LGBTQ+ graduates, but also retain them?


Shane: Campus Pride provides a number of resources, including our job board, we also do workplace fairs, but most importantly, I believe companies should be investing in authentic relationship building with young people. The Campus Pride Career Connect provides employees with an opportunity to volunteer and help out LGBTQ+ young people as freshmen, sophomores, juniors and even senior years, to get internships and jobs, and just to be a mentor. There are so many LGBTQ+ young people out there that just need a mentor or somebody to support them, to believe in them. The research shows that there's a lot of fear, trepidation and anxiety amongst LGBTQ+ young people in applying for a job. That impacts not only hiring of LGBTQ+ young people, but also retention work. So, building that authentic relationship will provide that student with someone that they know, within a company or potentially within a career industry that they can see themselves, they know that there's people who support them.


For a young person who's looking at going into a company, where there's not a lot of trans people who are visible, you can imagine being the first one or thinking that you're alone or isolated can be an added challenge on top of just doing the job. We want any person that is looking at a career to think that they can not only do the job, but they can succeed and be a wonderful employee for a company. And one way to do that is by making sure that diversity and inclusion is visible, by making sure that everyone feels a part of the team and part of the company. And that includes our trans and non-binary, lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer employees. So, I do think that’s where companies can do a better job and continue to invest - building authentic relationships. And they can do that with organizations like myGwork and Campus Pride on a day-to-day basis, building partnerships, and helping get in front of LGBTQ+ young people.


myGwork: What more can companies do to prove their LGBTQ+-credentials?


Shane: An informal survey that we carried out at our leadership camp with young people in 2018-2019 showed the fear and anxiety that LGBTQ+ young people still face today in applying for jobs and taking jobs. The qualitative information shows specifically that just because a company has a policy of inclusion, or they participate in the Pride Parade, trans people, non-binary people, specifically queer people of color and the intersections of all of who they are impact the systemic barriers that they still face in applying and ultimately taking a job with companies.


That's why it's so important that companies not only put in place policies, programs and practices that are inclusive of diversity and inclusion, particularly for LGBTQ+ people, but they really have to focus on the actions that they take. Are they involved in the community in a visible positive way? Are they speaking out when there's discrimination that occurs in public policy debates? Are they seen as an LGBTQ friendly company, beyond just showing up in a Pride parade? What else are they doing for the LGBTQ community, and particularly, the young adult community? The organizations like Campus Pride, the local youth organizations, that's where I would encourage companies to focus if they want the perception of their company to feel welcome and safe. Particularly in this day and age, a company needs to be seen as LGBTQ+ inclusive in order to have a diverse workforce, to have a customer base that is going to thrive, and ultimately be the one that is reflective of the diverse community that we have.

  

myGwork: What was your last holiday destination and where do you plan to visit next? 

 

Shane: For my 50th birthday, I went to Walt Disney World with my husband. We've been together 27-28 years, and we have two puppies that I absolutely adore called Liquorice and Godiva. We met when I was in college so we've been together over half of my life now. We love Walt Disney World and we go all the time. We stayed at the Fort Wilderness Lodge, we went to Magic Kingdom, then went to Hollywood Studios. That's our happy place; that's what I enjoy.



 

myGwork: What do you do to relax at the end of a hard-working day? 

 

Shane: I am actually a drag queen, so I do that as a creative outlet. My drag name is Buff Faye, a long-lost sister of Tammy Faye, an icon in the LGBTQ+ community who you may know of. She was a Christian-identified woman who ultimately passed away a breast cancer, but later in her life, she embraced people living with HIV who were gay and really was an icon because she didn't let religious bigotry get in her way of showing how she practice her religious beliefs, being a Christian and loving all people. Just a really kind woman who stood up for LGBTQ+ people when nobody else, particularly in the Christian community, was doing that. So, she’s the inspiration for my drag. Buff Faye is a national title holder, I won national Entertainer of the Year in 2019, and I perform across the country and do a drag brunch on the weekends. That keeps me enjoying life and having fun and not taking things too seriously. If you're ever looking for a drag show, you can check out Buff Faye on her website.



 


You can find more about Shane and connect with them here.


Shane will also be speaking at this year's #WorkFair panel, on how to secure a graduate job. Click here to sign up or find out more.



Check out some of myGwork's other recent Meet & Greet interviews, including:


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