January 24, 2025 • 37 mins
TOPICS FOR TODAY INCLUDE:
- Rollback of LGBT supportive initiatives across business and government
- Pushback from some shareholders of major brands to stop the DEI rollbacks
- What all these exec orders mean for small businesses
Welcome to the Austin LGBT Chamber Podcast where we chat all things local and national business. Join Tina, Colton, Fiona and Amy every Friday.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to the Austin LGBT Chamber of Commerce podcast. I'm Tina Cannon, your host and CEO
(00:15):
of the Chamber. On today's pod, we're going to talk about local business news and in the
headlines this week, lots of bad shit, rollback of LGBT supportive initiatives across business
and government. Although the next story is pushback from shareholders that say, hang
on a minute. And then lastly, what all these executive orders are meaning for small business.
(00:38):
We'll be back. Howdy all. Welcome back. I'm here with Colton and Fiona. Amy is resting
up. How are you guys doing? Yeah. Trying to, trying to keep that queer joy going. First
(01:07):
week of the new administration. It's a good year to be a good year to be a therapist.
Business is booming. We have to laugh. Otherwise, I think we just go running through the streets
naked. I don't know. I know one of my best friends is a therapist actually. And yeah,
I broke down in tears with my father two days ago. So that night I was like, oh sugar, I
(01:28):
really need help. Brittany help. But no, it's great. It's fun. Got each other. Yeah. Yeah.
We can get lots of liquor stores. We're good. It's fine. Amazing. We'll all be in a 12 step
program by the end of the year. Exactly. And it'll be full of chamber members. The trick
is like, just don't watch the news. Don't watch the news and find ways to get active
(01:53):
and engaged. Cause if you're on a 24 hour binge watching, your brain is just going to
get smushy. Yeah. We'll hit you with some headlines in a second and kind of roll through
like what you can expect as a small business owner and as an advocate. But like it just,
you can't listen to constant squawking on the box. Yes. Find some time to do things
(02:15):
that make you happy. Yes. Yeah. What makes you happy? Well, I went on a five mile walk
the other day. Wow. Okay. Walking doesn't really make me happy, but it was a nice walk.
Yeah. And I've been drawing more. That's good. It's a good outlet. Yeah. And then I'm really
trying to, I don't know, only watch movies. Like, I don't know that demonstrate queer
(02:38):
joy. If you can see him now, he's like wiggling in his chair, like the letter S I just dropped
on my paper, like those little balloon things at the mattress stores, you know, that the
arms, that's what he's looking like right now. Yeah. Just trying to figure out how to
stay happy. What do you, what do you, what makes you stay happy? So I only listened to
(02:59):
NPR in the morning. Yes. I meditate, I do yoga. And then after breaking down on the
phone with my dad, I realized I need to do something more fun. Right? Like everything
I do is centered around, you know, equity and helping people. So I am going to start
learning country dancing. Cause I've, I've been wanting to do this, you know, for over
(03:20):
two decades. I'm like, why am I not going to lessons for country dancing? So there's
a mavericks. Well, there's mavericks. Like we went to that event with the mayor of Limerick
and we met that young person who teaches country dancing. So I emailed her yesterday and like,
please give me the details. So yeah, I'm going to go learn country dancing. That's fun. Yeah.
(03:41):
That's super fun. I watched trash TV. That's my take my mind off of it, which is what's
trash TV. Like any kind of like reality competition show, anything that's like that I can't relate
to or I watch or, and or listen to Dateline incessantly. So it's either a bunch of weird
bimbos on a beach or murder death kill. All the middle stuff. I can't, I can't deal with
(04:08):
the middle stuff. What about baking shows? No, it would be murder death kill if I want
to. No, not my jam, but yeah, definitely try and find ways to stay excited and entertained
this year. Let's take a look. So the first bit of bad business that we've heard or bad
news that we've heard is the government rollback of DEI programs. Trump signed executive orders
(04:32):
on Monday and Tuesday that aim to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the federal
government. They said, quote, we will forge a society that is colorblind and merit based,
said Mr. Trump in his inauguration speech, a memo from the US personnel management office
call for all federal DEI programs to be placed on leave by Wednesday evening. White House
(04:56):
press secretary confirmed the move on a post on a social media site, citing CBS reporting,
I will say to the orders cut funding for so-called as they say, DEI initiatives across all agencies
in order to end DEI inside the federal government. That was according to Trump administration
officials. They also said that they would direct the office of management and budget
(05:19):
to end all related mandates, policies, programs, across agencies, all initiatives that promote
diversity, equity, inclusion, inclusion within departments. His aim is to restore what he
considers to be a merit based hiring system. There was also a letter that went out on the
socials about NASA this week. Basically, if you have a contract with the federal government
(05:41):
based on DEI, that died. If you are an employee of the government based on DEI, your job just
ended. And if you're anything but a middle aged white male, you're fucked, like pretty
much in the government at this point. But also some middle aged white men also a part
of our DEI umbrella in some way as well. They are, you know, we have people with disabilities.
(06:04):
Yes, it's the dick ones. It's the ones that are dickish. Yeah, those ones. Yeah. Yeah.
It's just it's a it's a it's like the frat club has taken over. Is that what they call
it? Not a club fraternity is a fraternity club. I think it's an organization. Okay.
I don't know. I don't know. I was never in one of those things. I feel like it's like
those like the guys who crushed beer cans on their foreheads in college. Those are those
(06:27):
those are the ones in charge right now. And we all have to just deal with it. Yeah. Well,
is opportunity for new things? Yes, you had to shut up with the positive attitude. Your
excessive positivity. I just want to throw up. No, no, we can be miserable for a bit.
(06:49):
For a bit. Yeah. But no, the story I think is this the is this the I know that's the
next story isn't it the Walmart thing? Yeah. Okay. No, this like I've got friends who either
work for the federal government or have had contracts. So yeah, I've been getting the
text this week. And yeah, it's really disheartening. It's really scary times for some people out
(07:09):
there. Yeah, I think it's because we were talking earlier, right? People miss the point
of what DEI means. They just think it means that you're just going to give somebody a
job because of the color of their skin. Yeah, I don't think he actually knows what it means.
Yeah. What does it mean? So I want to be the DEI consultant. I am I'm on this amazing thread.
I want to give a shout out to the Tuck Business School at Dartmouth because I won a scholarship
(07:35):
to go to their business certificate program last December through disability in certified
body. People with disabilities and businesses. And so I'm on this really cool thread about
47 of us. And one of my friends Heather Cox, who has certified my company and she can help
companies get certified. And so we were just chatting and you know, she was sharing about
(07:57):
the hypocrisy of Elon Musk, because he was looking to excuse his Nazi salute as an autistic
self-stimulatory behavior. Realizing that he was leaning on his disability. Exactly.
And disability inclusion and some people call it sensitivity training or basically like
(08:19):
I would say general human awareness building is DEI. Right. And unfortunately, DEI has
gone in the last couple of decades of people only looking at quotas and looking at numbers
and saying, yeah, we need this people, this many people of color, this many women, this
many LGBTQ plus people have been focusing on the numbers and not looking at the intersection
(08:44):
of what it means to be human. And so I'm, you know, it's so logical in some ways why
these people in power are reacting this way. But unfortunately, DEI, I don't think has
been going in a great direction anyway. And so I think this is an opportunity while it
scares us, I think it's an opportunity to like do a lot of work beneath the surface.
(09:06):
And remember the analogy of the iceberg, like 10% is above. Right. That's what we're aware
of. Whereas there's a lot of there's 90% underneath. Right. And I think when we quote unquote,
DEI programs, the labels changing, but the work continues, behaviors continue, humans
continue to exist. And so there's, I think there's a lot of 90% of stuff happening beneath
(09:30):
the surface within businesses of all sizes, including massive corporations, government
entities everywhere. Like there are people doing really good things. And there's really
good people in the world. They're going to continue on the path of doing the right thing.
And make sure they recognize different people's experiences and what that brings to the table.
I mean, diversity is there's a study after study about how a diverse workforce has a
(09:54):
positive impact on the economics of your company. Correct. There's just no shortage of those
types of stories. It's just, unfortunately, that's fear is driving the narrative and fear
drove the narrative of this entire election cycle. Yeah. On many levels. And unfortunately,
the brunt of that was our community. Yeah, for sure. And those are the first first actions
that he took at the desk or gender. I mean, first of all, first of all, what happens to
(10:19):
intersex people? I'm sorry, but it's like, how can you say, oh, we're defining like there
are only two sexes or two genders? Well, contraception. Like we're all non binary. Oh my gosh. One
in 100 people are born into sex. They have any combination of male and female sex tissue,
chromosomes and or one in 100 people, one in 100 for those who were in the back and
(10:41):
didn't hear. It's more common than red hair. It's just, yeah, I was going to say it's just
as common, but it's either just as common or more than common. And so there are so many
people who fall out of the binary spectrum of biological sex and gender. I mean, it's
just impossible to implement such a mandate. Just demonstrates that way. What's that all
(11:05):
saying? Right. Just keep talking and you'll demonstrate your level of ignorance to me.
You know, like it's just all what he's doing. Yeah. I didn't see a presidential order on
the reduction of price of eggs. That was so widely talked about. I did not either. I did
see the one about birthright citizenship. Yeah. Yeah. Hello. Has he seen his own family?
(11:26):
Hello. Hello. Is this thing on? Hello. Your wife is an immigrant who got here on a bullshit
visa. The Einstein visa. Come on. Come on. How did she get the Einstein visa? Let's be
real. But I did dig her spy versus spy hat. That was very lovely. Yeah. It was very strategically
placed so that he couldn't get near her face. Yeah. Smart move. Yeah. Couldn't really see
(11:48):
her eyes. I think she's trying to like hide what she looks like so we won't recognize
a body double later. She doesn't have to go to things. Fascinating. Absolutely fascinating
woman. Like I avoid looking at the news or social media. So I only get to see like little
clips that people send in massive group threads. She cracks me up. She knows exactly what she's
(12:09):
doing. Yes, she does. She's probably smartest of the bunch. No doubt. So some shareholders
are saying, I'm going to go and they are saying stop all these rollbacks of DEI. Walmart,
that is, is in hot water. More than 30 shareholders representing 266 billion in assets are demanding
(12:35):
answers over the company's rollback of its DEI efforts. In a letter to the CEO, one of
the investors accused Walmart of yielding to pressure from anti DEI groups. A move primarily
the faith and values focus shareholders say is very disheartening. They're requesting
a meeting with the senior leadership of the board to discuss the shift in policy. The
group says it has long raised concerns about the risk of discrimination and inequities
(12:59):
for over 30 years. The letter published last week points out that Walmart has not provided
any financial or business justification for the policy change and emphasize that they
already share data that shows the financial benefits of promoting DEI. I'm kind of surprised
to hear that from Walmart. God damn. Now I got like Walmart. I love this story. I love
(13:25):
it. I have to go to Walmart again. Come on, Target. Why did you have to jack shit up and
like what I always used to be in the camp of, oh my gosh, you know, Walmart's the devil.
I could never go to Walmart. Right. And then I went to the Bentonville film festival in
2021 and Walmart Walmart is like from Bentonville family from Bentonville. And it's amazing.
(13:50):
Like quick side note, has anyone been to Bentonville? It's like Walmart. Oh, gorgeous. Like, yeah,
is it pretty? It's really cute. It's really pretty. We should do a road trip. We should
not. It's still in Arkansas. Anyway, you can't knock something unless you've tried it. I
(14:10):
can knock that. But anyway, so Walmart though is a big supporter of this film festival and
I got to meet and know people from Walmart. And then as a small business slash growing
empire myself, I've had lots of interaction with the DEI team and supply diversity team
at Walmart and realize they're really good people doing really good things. And this
(14:32):
is I think often what happens is like under the surface, these corporations that you think,
you know, nasty are actually doing really cool things for people and their employees
and their customers. Anyway, so I started going to Walmart. I mean, they're doing some
good things. They need to like increase the wage so that they're not creating a whole
generation of poverty that rely on social services to meet the needs of their employees.
(14:53):
Agreed. Just for any of you who are listening, I got you covered. You don't have to email
us. I got that. They need to pay more for their employees and a living wage because
they are pretty much subsidized by the US government. But yeah, on the on the supplier
diversity side, they're doing the right things. And now apparently on DEI, they're doing the
right things. So I mean, these shareholders, thank goodness, like this is going to go to
(15:15):
a Walmart where we don't have to go to Walmart or we don't have to go. But I think this,
I think for me, this is a positive sign of the power of people, people with power who
have money. Yeah. And the shareholders are like demanding. Yes. Not just taking like
(15:35):
what is the financial decision that you made as a CEO that this is going to help our bottom
line because all the financial research demonstrates that diversity makes your business stronger.
All of it. All of it. So yeah, I think this is fantastic. Yeah, it's good. I'm still not
going on a cruise. It's like I always describe cruises like I don't want to spend like a
(15:56):
weekend inside locked inside of a Walmart. So I always describe a cruise. These are not
the people I want to be hanging with for like a week. What about a Disney crew? That's if
I commit high crimes and misdemeanors, that's my punishment. How many cruises have you been
on? None. My mother, I hated eating Brussels sprouts or trying things. I've seen these
(16:22):
people. Try it. I grew up in Vegas. I have seen these people. I know the people who go
to the posh casinos versus the ones who go to circus circus. The ones who go to circus
circus. Those are the shitheads that are on the boats that I'm going to be stuck with
for seven days. So it's not going to happen. Yesterday I was, I was twisted in a mood yesterday.
I think it's just carrying on from that. Yeah. This poor security guy almost caught my wrath
(16:45):
of just angry yesterday. I just calmed myself down. What about the QE two though? What is
that? Oh, the, oh, that, that maybe the Queen Elizabeth. Yeah. Gary and Noel just went on
that last year. I want to say, and they had a great time. That actually sounded cool.
Yeah. Yeah. It's a bit more posh of an experience. It is like I have friends. One of my friends
celebrated his 50th birthday. Yeah. Two, two gay men went on a QE two cruise. They go breaking
(17:09):
news. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, I went like there's a, what's the other one? The Scandinavian
boat, the Viking or the one that's like no casinos, no kids. Yeah. Like I'm in like that's,
I can read a book and be calm and I don't have people splashing their pee filled pool
water on me. No, no. If there were no children, how do we get on this subject? I don't know.
(17:32):
Because clearly we can hopefully get a cruise line to recover over the chamber. Yeah. Celebrity
cruises. I'll do the cruises everybody. I will not be cruising. So what does all, do
some of these orders that Donald Trump has signed mean for small businesses? What's the
(17:53):
impact? So he's talking about tariffs on imports. He's talking about energy policy shift, regulatory
changes, tax policy, supply chain. So let's just roll through them kind of quickly. He
is talking about tariffs. I think he was on TV this morning, in fact, talking about tariffs,
but they're looking at anywhere from 10 to 25% of tariffs on Canada and Mexico. That'll
increase costs for small businesses that are reliant on goods for this, for, for what they
(18:17):
do. It'll also have an impact on gas prices. We do a lot of oil purchases out of Canada
from their, their supply. Energy shifts. He's looking at reversing previous climate policies.
The administration of course, aims to boost fossil fuel production. He's shut down wind
energy. That's going to piss off a lot of Texas farmers that like, have you driven out
(18:39):
into the panhandle? Yeah. Like everybody's got wind farms because they're making money.
Anyway, he's looking at regulatory changes on deregulation. Of course, of all the DEI
programs and how small businesses will need to navigate to all the different shifting
landscapes and the legal challenges that will come of them. He's talking about tax policy
(19:00):
adjustments, doubling taxes on foreign nationals. This one's a big one, the foreign nationals
and companies along with withdrawal from the global corporate tax deal. It can have a big
effect on small businesses engaged in international trade. It will really alter the competitive
dynamics. There's just a lot going on in and around what he's trying to do with tax policy
(19:22):
as a direct tax policy or as a, what do you call it? His tariff plan. And then you can
just supply chains. We're still in recovery from some of these supply chains. Like some
of the 2025 automobiles aren't even on the lot yet because of supply chain disruptions
still reeling from COVID. But he's looking at all these new tariffs and policy shifts
may really continue to exacerbate these supply chain problems. So it's important for small
(19:47):
business to start looking for supplier A, B, C, and D that you could possibly lean on
to adjust your sourcing strategies. And that of course will hit your costs and your timing
and your efficiency. So a lot of changes coming down the way that small businesses just need
to be aware of and not putting all their eggs in one basket. Like if you're a small business
and you're ordering all your stuff from one vendor in one country, like you really need
(20:11):
to diversify who you're working with. You know, those tariffs are going to hit and we're
just not going to know what's going to happen. Sounds exhausting. And that's just this week.
Sounds like bad business. I don't know. Oh, he's great a business. Remember every business
he's had has all turned into failures and bankruptcies, but it's fine. He'll do fine
(20:34):
with the country. But that front row, front row seats, that group at that front row, the
boy club was amazing. They're all going to be fine. Yes. And we've talked internally
about what do we do with with social media? And I'm curious to hear what you all are doing
with your company's social media because it's it's the way that that's a lot of our small
(20:55):
businesses reach their customer base. But I know with with Metta's recent announcement
of their dropping of DEI and really just kind of leaning into the bro club hard. Perms included.
Like what are you doing with your small businesses out there? Shoot us an email. Let us know
info at Austin lgbt chamber.com. But like we've talked internally, like do we drop it all?
(21:16):
Yes. No. Like how meta is so hard to get away from. It's sticky. I mean, and it's not the
best tool for everything. But like Facebook events do really well with getting the word
out. I mean, Instagram. It's it's how we connect. I know I've switched over to blue sky. I try
(21:39):
to do a lot on there too. But unfortunately, it's a human connection. What I've stopped
doing is any kind of purchasing of ads or anything advertised on their social media
platforms. So I want and I know they're counting me as a user and that goes into the numbers
that they're throwing out for people to buy ads. But if I just a don't buy an ad for my
small business or for the chamber and then be if I don't buy anything from these people
(22:03):
that are advertising, then the advertisers will go. Well, I'm not getting any bounce
from my buck. I'm going to go advertise somewhere else. Yeah. So it's kind of my initial like
flag in the ground. They also meta owns WhatsApp. Yeah, that's tough. Incredibly useful for
global conversations. And of course, you know, many countries use WhatsApp over any other
(22:27):
form of messaging. I don't know what they do with like our data. What do they do with
our data on what's because it's very just texty SMS looking right? There's not ads.
There's not profiles. Yeah, there's no there's no ads. There's no profiles. But I'm guessing
this is going to go above my pay grade. But I think I mean, it's understanding all that
they have the data on us. Yeah. And so then selling that data to companies that will then
(22:49):
target you and market you in different ways. Right. And especially like location sharing
and knowing where your location is. So all that kind of stuff. Yeah. So if I were messaging
somebody in Australia, I'd probably get a lot of ads for back end travel to Australia
or something like that. On other platforms. Right. Yeah. Across channel. I also turned
tracking off on Instagram and Facebook in my phone settings. OK. So that they cannot
(23:15):
track my other apps and choose. Yeah. OK. Yeah. I've just yeah, I've just really tried
to not support any of the ads that are on there and not place ads because I've had
it really difficult to just to detach from it because we're all addicted to it. Well,
I'm trying not to. I mean, it didn't live. It didn't exist back early on. And we just
(23:37):
picked up the phone and called each other. But now this is how we get our word out. It's
like I'm on it all day long. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I can do that. I also think that everything
we do in life is going to have some kind of ripple effect or impact and you're never going
to avoid doing business with or living or working with some actor that goes against
(24:03):
your values and position. I mean, I'll never eat Chick-fil-A. So you never eat Chick-fil-A.
But we might have a drink of some kind of variety. And where's the bottle come from?
Where's the label come from? How deep do we know? You know, it's like there's all those
all the different layers in the chain, right? Supply chain or whatever chain is of like,
(24:28):
you know, just like looking at random stuff like where was that tape made that held that
box together? You know, what were the values of the political decisions? Agreed. It is
super hard. It's hard as a small business to navigate all that too, because maybe you're
a small business and you're trying to buy make it up like bags for your restaurant to
go bags. Yeah. And you're trying to keep costs down, right? So you're ordering them from
(24:51):
China probably. Yeah. And now China is going to get hit with a tariff. So 25% of the cost
of that bag that you've been buying for them is now going to go up. So you really need
to as a small business owner look at other supply chain options. If you're looking for
people to do business with, of course, check out our membership directory online. You just
go on to austinlgbtchamber.com and then go find our member directory and plug in what
(25:16):
you're looking for and do business with those folks. And then let's just kind of hold together
and figure it out as we move forward in this next next couple of years.
So switching switching gears to something more fun, let's do some fun facts with Fiona.
Well, this one, I think is fun. It's a little bit nerdy, because it's another statistic.
(25:46):
But I really wanted to I was considering about these board members. Here we go. Pull it over
here. Board representation, because when I read about that Walmart story of how the shareholders
were like, coming back on this decision, I wanted to uplift the fact that only 0.9 so
(26:10):
less than 1% of seats on Fortune 500 boards are from LGBTQ plus people. So we know that
in the US, our population is around 7.6, you know, edging up to 10% of the population is
queer. And yet we're less than 1% of positions on boards. And then you've got studies, of
(26:33):
course, like the Boston Consulting Group found that organizations with above average diversity
and leadership generated 45% of total revenue from innovation, compared to only 26% of those
with below average. So there are multiple studies demonstrating that a diverse opinion
and a diverse lived experience helps make money. And it's not a mark, a marginal help.
(26:56):
That's a big number. Huge. I know it's huge. And so there is there is a guy called Fabrice
who dot who has a email. Well, he's this he is founder and executive director of the Association
of LGBTQ plus corporate directors, and has a weekly newsletter, which I love and I am
(27:17):
comparing it to what is it? Lady Whistledown? Oh, Lady Whistledown. So for for breeze one
day we're going to have a chat. And I decided that you have to read his newsletter is like
reading the gay lady whistledown of queer business news. It's amazing. But I think like
(27:41):
just I think these ripple effects we're going to see eventually, that pulling back externally
on de I stuff and inclusion is going to have a negative business impact. And this is what
I think is going to be a way of demonstrating how inclusivity and diverse perspectives in
leadership, not just leadership, but everywhere in life, actually makes everybody more money
(28:05):
and will decrease the cost of eggs. That's a killer. So if I'm a CEO of Acme, Brit Corporation,
big whatever tech company here in town, and I have been told by, or I've said, I'm going
to I'm going to kill all the DEI programs. Now, maybe you're the CEO of whatever tonsils
and toenails incorporated. Okay, now is your time to be able to grab all this amazing talent
(28:31):
that is going to be running away from my company to yours. And so now your diversity of thoughts
is going to, as we've seen in the data, increase your bottom line. Yeah. And there's going
to be this big shift in control and power of who has the real talent going forward.
And so, yeah, I mean, I feel a little bit bad for some folks here. Of course, Austin's
(28:55):
a big tech employed hub, but I feel like you can just walk across the street and find a
company that's doing a better job and that respects you and what you bring to the table.
And that company is going to financially benefit from it and their show rules are going to
see it. And at some point, there's going to be some blowback on these permed hair, Cuban
drug dealing looking CEOs that are now running companies. I don't understand what Zuck is
(29:22):
doing. What is this look that he's pulling off these oversized t-shirts with like what
the Zuck like big chain jewelry and a perm? Like what kind of masculinity? Because that's
what he's talking about. We need more masculinity in business. But you just you just need a
hairdresser that loves you. Yes, I do. I think there's going to be a talent drain. I think
(29:47):
other companies, if you're if you're if you're smart, you're going to lean into this hard
and you're going to go recruit all of these folks who are not happy where they are or
have just been laid off from where they are. And you are going to financially reap the
rewards of this. This insane movement from those who lack a spine, especially thinking
about future recruitment and retention. You got close to 30% of Gen Z identifying as LGBT
(30:10):
Q+. And so these are your people that are entering your workforce and are going to be
leading your company in decades to come. And they're refusing to stay in boxes. I mean,
Facebook is already considered like people at people my age and above you. Right. So
the younger ones aren't even on it. Right. Meta is kind of Instagram is kind of leaning
(30:31):
that way. It's funny. And I can't even keep up with like all the new ones that pop up
every other day. Yeah. The same people I'm recently I've seen more and more people saying
I'm just quitting social media. I'm just like, yeah, getting rid of it completely. Honestly,
if it wasn't entwined in my work life, I would there's no reason for me to be on it otherwise.
Yeah, I would absolutely get rid of Facebook. Yeah, if I did not need a per word. Yeah.
(30:55):
And it's unfortunate because you have to have a profile to be able to manage your works
profile. Yeah, like we can't just have a chamber profile and just log in as the change. You
still have to have a personal. Yeah. To log in. But we're doing a lot more on LinkedIn
to want we tremendous. It's actually become my note, my new go to I know of an age where
that's nerdy, but it's just same remarks and celebrations of like business achievements
(31:18):
and who got promoted. It's just different. It's not like, you know, I don't see a picture
of your cat nor do I have to see any of your political hatred. One side or the other. Yeah,
I would just leave cat pics to family and friends. Yeah. So we just need to have a whole
new version of it where the only thing that I will the AI will let you post our cat pictures
(31:42):
like that should be it. I'm going to I'm making my own social media platform. But you have
to be invited. OK. And there's not going to be a ton of people on there. So a group tired
of it. Group thread. Pretty videos. Speaking of getting together as a group, what do you
get for us on events? There are plenty of opportunities to engage coming up. You can
(32:09):
register now for our February 5th luncheon at the county line on the lake. Yum. That
is county line on the lake. I always get them confused. So do not be like me. We will have
Deirdre and Jackie with IGC in good company. They will be speaking on the Texas legislature
and nonpartisan civic engagement. Yeah, it's super important. They are so good at this
(32:34):
lecture. So, so good. Be sure to book. There is limited seating. Our luncheons always sell
out because we have great members and it's reliant on the look number of seats at the
location. So definitely go online and register. And Deirdre and Jackie are doing some really
cool stuff. They have some updates from the last time they spoke to you all. So it should
(32:55):
be awesome. They were in our South by Southwest panel, weren't they? They were. They were.
She moderated. I did. I loved it. But we had such a good time. And they're so smart and
so smart and like, yeah, they're amazing. And the food accounting line. Delicious. If
you are not a meat eater, please let us know in advance. Oh, yeah. But even if you're not
(33:15):
a meat eater, they do a good job. Yeah. You don't get just like a coleslaw. Like they
do a good job. Yeah. Yeah. And Skeeter, please bring Tina more flowers. That was so cute.
On February 19th, we are partnering with the NGLCC on a virtual event celebrating and honoring
Black History Month. Participants will learn about influential black figures who have made
(33:38):
remarkable contributions to civil rights, science, literature, politics and beyond.
We will also share some notable LGBTQ plus community members who have impacted black
history. You can also join us on February 20th for our monthly chamber happy hour. We
will be at El Raval, one of the NGLCC Grubhub Austin LGBT Chamber Community Impact grant
(34:03):
recipients. We love working with Laura, Leila and the team. So come celebrate with us on
February 20th. And last but not least, on February 22nd, we are returning to Lockhart,
Texas as part of our small town Big Pride program. We're still ironing out a couple
(34:24):
more details before we open registration. But if you know of any Lockhart businesses
that you think would be a good fit for the program, please send them our way. Let's show
up and support Lockhart's LGBTQ plus owned and allied businesses. I'm ready for the booze
cruise back out to Lockhart. Super excited. So much fun. We had a good time there. It
was easier to get around Lockhart when we did Lockhart versus Taylor, just because the
(34:47):
proximity of this of it being a proper square. Yeah. I've never been I couldn't make it
last year. So I'm really excited for you. Yeah, you'll have so much fun. It's got like
a shopping sprint because now there are so many members that are in Lockhart that are
part of the chamber. So we try and sprint to each one to like make sure that we we showed
(35:08):
them love support, do a lot of shopping there. And then yeah, I think we had 15 members last
time we were there. And it was hard since then. So how does it work? What do we get?
We get on a bus in downtown Austin, and then we have a few drinks along the way. Right.
And then then what do we do when we get there? When we get there? Yeah, I will have a map
(35:28):
printed out. Okay, with locations, different business locations, and a list of the businesses,
a schedule of events. We haven't exactly figured out the schedule yet. Okay. But typically
we'll have a joint ribbon cutting somewhere in the town. And people just kind of pair
(35:49):
off and they go shopping and they we kind of see each other across the street kind of
wave and like, hey, go to the store. It's great. Go over here. Yeah. And then you'll
hear hear people yelling like, we're all going to old pal at seven. Yeah, whatever. It's
kind of like a scavenger hunt shopping excursion with booze. Amazing. Yeah. And you don't have
to drive. I mean, you can drive out there and meet us if you want to and come back on
(36:13):
your own time and on your own dime, or you can just get on the bus with us. And it's
a cute bus. It's not like, you know, a school bus. And then the bus comes back early evening,
early evening. Yeah. Okay. Good. Now I'm really looking forward to it. And I'm on a text
thread with lots of queer identified women, primarily lesbian. I'm sure some of them are
(36:33):
by I was trying to recruit. I tell you, we know we're the majority. I want I want to
get a whole bunch of them signed up. So I don't know, maybe maybe I get so many we get
two buses. That would be iconic. Get a lesbian limo. Yeah, lesbian limo. And then I don't
(36:56):
know what we would have a short bus. We also have lots of member events coming up soon,
including a conversation on book bands, queer cinema screenings, the future of I 35 and
more. You can find out more information about all of these at Austin LGBT chamber.com. No
(37:19):
shortage of events and fun things to do. Thank you as always for joining us. If you want
to learn more about becoming a member of the chamber and chamber events, visit us at Austin
LGBT chamber.com. Do you want to be a guest or sponsor email us at info at Austin LGBT
chamber.com. Listen to our show every Friday, wherever you get your podcast. Be sure to
follow us. Thanks. We'll talk to you next week.
Welcome to the Austin LGBT Chamber of Commerce podcast. I'm Tina Cannon, your host and CEO
(00:15):
of the Chamber. On today's pod, we're going to talk about local business news and in the
headlines this week, lots of bad shit, rollback of LGBT supportive initiatives across business
and government. Although the next story is pushback from shareholders that say, hang
on a minute. And then lastly, what all these executive orders are meaning for small business.
(00:38):
We'll be back. Howdy all. Welcome back. I'm here with Colton and Fiona. Amy is resting
up. How are you guys doing? Yeah. Trying to, trying to keep that queer joy going. First
(01:07):
week of the new administration. It's a good year to be a good year to be a therapist.
Business is booming. We have to laugh. Otherwise, I think we just go running through the streets
naked. I don't know. I know one of my best friends is a therapist actually. And yeah,
I broke down in tears with my father two days ago. So that night I was like, oh sugar, I
(01:28):
really need help. Brittany help. But no, it's great. It's fun. Got each other. Yeah. Yeah.
We can get lots of liquor stores. We're good. It's fine. Amazing. We'll all be in a 12 step
program by the end of the year. Exactly. And it'll be full of chamber members. The trick
is like, just don't watch the news. Don't watch the news and find ways to get active
(01:53):
and engaged. Cause if you're on a 24 hour binge watching, your brain is just going to
get smushy. Yeah. We'll hit you with some headlines in a second and kind of roll through
like what you can expect as a small business owner and as an advocate. But like it just,
you can't listen to constant squawking on the box. Yes. Find some time to do things
(02:15):
that make you happy. Yes. Yeah. What makes you happy? Well, I went on a five mile walk
the other day. Wow. Okay. Walking doesn't really make me happy, but it was a nice walk.
Yeah. And I've been drawing more. That's good. It's a good outlet. Yeah. And then I'm really
trying to, I don't know, only watch movies. Like, I don't know that demonstrate queer
(02:38):
joy. If you can see him now, he's like wiggling in his chair, like the letter S I just dropped
on my paper, like those little balloon things at the mattress stores, you know, that the
arms, that's what he's looking like right now. Yeah. Just trying to figure out how to
stay happy. What do you, what do you, what makes you stay happy? So I only listened to
(02:59):
NPR in the morning. Yes. I meditate, I do yoga. And then after breaking down on the
phone with my dad, I realized I need to do something more fun. Right? Like everything
I do is centered around, you know, equity and helping people. So I am going to start
learning country dancing. Cause I've, I've been wanting to do this, you know, for over
(03:20):
two decades. I'm like, why am I not going to lessons for country dancing? So there's
a mavericks. Well, there's mavericks. Like we went to that event with the mayor of Limerick
and we met that young person who teaches country dancing. So I emailed her yesterday and like,
please give me the details. So yeah, I'm going to go learn country dancing. That's fun. Yeah.
(03:41):
That's super fun. I watched trash TV. That's my take my mind off of it, which is what's
trash TV. Like any kind of like reality competition show, anything that's like that I can't relate
to or I watch or, and or listen to Dateline incessantly. So it's either a bunch of weird
bimbos on a beach or murder death kill. All the middle stuff. I can't, I can't deal with
(04:08):
the middle stuff. What about baking shows? No, it would be murder death kill if I want
to. No, not my jam, but yeah, definitely try and find ways to stay excited and entertained
this year. Let's take a look. So the first bit of bad business that we've heard or bad
news that we've heard is the government rollback of DEI programs. Trump signed executive orders
(04:32):
on Monday and Tuesday that aim to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the federal
government. They said, quote, we will forge a society that is colorblind and merit based,
said Mr. Trump in his inauguration speech, a memo from the US personnel management office
call for all federal DEI programs to be placed on leave by Wednesday evening. White House
(04:56):
press secretary confirmed the move on a post on a social media site, citing CBS reporting,
I will say to the orders cut funding for so-called as they say, DEI initiatives across all agencies
in order to end DEI inside the federal government. That was according to Trump administration
officials. They also said that they would direct the office of management and budget
(05:19):
to end all related mandates, policies, programs, across agencies, all initiatives that promote
diversity, equity, inclusion, inclusion within departments. His aim is to restore what he
considers to be a merit based hiring system. There was also a letter that went out on the
socials about NASA this week. Basically, if you have a contract with the federal government
(05:41):
based on DEI, that died. If you are an employee of the government based on DEI, your job just
ended. And if you're anything but a middle aged white male, you're fucked, like pretty
much in the government at this point. But also some middle aged white men also a part
of our DEI umbrella in some way as well. They are, you know, we have people with disabilities.
(06:04):
Yes, it's the dick ones. It's the ones that are dickish. Yeah, those ones. Yeah. Yeah.
It's just it's a it's a it's like the frat club has taken over. Is that what they call
it? Not a club fraternity is a fraternity club. I think it's an organization. Okay.
I don't know. I don't know. I was never in one of those things. I feel like it's like
those like the guys who crushed beer cans on their foreheads in college. Those are those
(06:27):
those are the ones in charge right now. And we all have to just deal with it. Yeah. Well,
is opportunity for new things? Yes, you had to shut up with the positive attitude. Your
excessive positivity. I just want to throw up. No, no, we can be miserable for a bit.
(06:49):
For a bit. Yeah. But no, the story I think is this the is this the I know that's the
next story isn't it the Walmart thing? Yeah. Okay. No, this like I've got friends who either
work for the federal government or have had contracts. So yeah, I've been getting the
text this week. And yeah, it's really disheartening. It's really scary times for some people out
(07:09):
there. Yeah, I think it's because we were talking earlier, right? People miss the point
of what DEI means. They just think it means that you're just going to give somebody a
job because of the color of their skin. Yeah, I don't think he actually knows what it means.
Yeah. What does it mean? So I want to be the DEI consultant. I am I'm on this amazing thread.
I want to give a shout out to the Tuck Business School at Dartmouth because I won a scholarship
(07:35):
to go to their business certificate program last December through disability in certified
body. People with disabilities and businesses. And so I'm on this really cool thread about
47 of us. And one of my friends Heather Cox, who has certified my company and she can help
companies get certified. And so we were just chatting and you know, she was sharing about
(07:57):
the hypocrisy of Elon Musk, because he was looking to excuse his Nazi salute as an autistic
self-stimulatory behavior. Realizing that he was leaning on his disability. Exactly.
And disability inclusion and some people call it sensitivity training or basically like
(08:19):
I would say general human awareness building is DEI. Right. And unfortunately, DEI has
gone in the last couple of decades of people only looking at quotas and looking at numbers
and saying, yeah, we need this people, this many people of color, this many women, this
many LGBTQ plus people have been focusing on the numbers and not looking at the intersection
(08:44):
of what it means to be human. And so I'm, you know, it's so logical in some ways why
these people in power are reacting this way. But unfortunately, DEI, I don't think has
been going in a great direction anyway. And so I think this is an opportunity while it
scares us, I think it's an opportunity to like do a lot of work beneath the surface.
(09:06):
And remember the analogy of the iceberg, like 10% is above. Right. That's what we're aware
of. Whereas there's a lot of there's 90% underneath. Right. And I think when we quote unquote,
DEI programs, the labels changing, but the work continues, behaviors continue, humans
continue to exist. And so there's, I think there's a lot of 90% of stuff happening beneath
(09:30):
the surface within businesses of all sizes, including massive corporations, government
entities everywhere. Like there are people doing really good things. And there's really
good people in the world. They're going to continue on the path of doing the right thing.
And make sure they recognize different people's experiences and what that brings to the table.
I mean, diversity is there's a study after study about how a diverse workforce has a
(09:54):
positive impact on the economics of your company. Correct. There's just no shortage of those
types of stories. It's just, unfortunately, that's fear is driving the narrative and fear
drove the narrative of this entire election cycle. Yeah. On many levels. And unfortunately,
the brunt of that was our community. Yeah, for sure. And those are the first first actions
that he took at the desk or gender. I mean, first of all, first of all, what happens to
(10:19):
intersex people? I'm sorry, but it's like, how can you say, oh, we're defining like there
are only two sexes or two genders? Well, contraception. Like we're all non binary. Oh my gosh. One
in 100 people are born into sex. They have any combination of male and female sex tissue,
chromosomes and or one in 100 people, one in 100 for those who were in the back and
(10:41):
didn't hear. It's more common than red hair. It's just, yeah, I was going to say it's just
as common, but it's either just as common or more than common. And so there are so many
people who fall out of the binary spectrum of biological sex and gender. I mean, it's
just impossible to implement such a mandate. Just demonstrates that way. What's that all
(11:05):
saying? Right. Just keep talking and you'll demonstrate your level of ignorance to me.
You know, like it's just all what he's doing. Yeah. I didn't see a presidential order on
the reduction of price of eggs. That was so widely talked about. I did not either. I did
see the one about birthright citizenship. Yeah. Yeah. Hello. Has he seen his own family?
(11:26):
Hello. Hello. Is this thing on? Hello. Your wife is an immigrant who got here on a bullshit
visa. The Einstein visa. Come on. Come on. How did she get the Einstein visa? Let's be
real. But I did dig her spy versus spy hat. That was very lovely. Yeah. It was very strategically
placed so that he couldn't get near her face. Yeah. Smart move. Yeah. Couldn't really see
(11:48):
her eyes. I think she's trying to like hide what she looks like so we won't recognize
a body double later. She doesn't have to go to things. Fascinating. Absolutely fascinating
woman. Like I avoid looking at the news or social media. So I only get to see like little
clips that people send in massive group threads. She cracks me up. She knows exactly what she's
(12:09):
doing. Yes, she does. She's probably smartest of the bunch. No doubt. So some shareholders
are saying, I'm going to go and they are saying stop all these rollbacks of DEI. Walmart,
that is, is in hot water. More than 30 shareholders representing 266 billion in assets are demanding
(12:35):
answers over the company's rollback of its DEI efforts. In a letter to the CEO, one of
the investors accused Walmart of yielding to pressure from anti DEI groups. A move primarily
the faith and values focus shareholders say is very disheartening. They're requesting
a meeting with the senior leadership of the board to discuss the shift in policy. The
group says it has long raised concerns about the risk of discrimination and inequities
(12:59):
for over 30 years. The letter published last week points out that Walmart has not provided
any financial or business justification for the policy change and emphasize that they
already share data that shows the financial benefits of promoting DEI. I'm kind of surprised
to hear that from Walmart. God damn. Now I got like Walmart. I love this story. I love
(13:25):
it. I have to go to Walmart again. Come on, Target. Why did you have to jack shit up and
like what I always used to be in the camp of, oh my gosh, you know, Walmart's the devil.
I could never go to Walmart. Right. And then I went to the Bentonville film festival in
2021 and Walmart Walmart is like from Bentonville family from Bentonville. And it's amazing.
(13:50):
Like quick side note, has anyone been to Bentonville? It's like Walmart. Oh, gorgeous. Like, yeah,
is it pretty? It's really cute. It's really pretty. We should do a road trip. We should
not. It's still in Arkansas. Anyway, you can't knock something unless you've tried it. I
(14:10):
can knock that. But anyway, so Walmart though is a big supporter of this film festival and
I got to meet and know people from Walmart. And then as a small business slash growing
empire myself, I've had lots of interaction with the DEI team and supply diversity team
at Walmart and realize they're really good people doing really good things. And this
(14:32):
is I think often what happens is like under the surface, these corporations that you think,
you know, nasty are actually doing really cool things for people and their employees
and their customers. Anyway, so I started going to Walmart. I mean, they're doing some
good things. They need to like increase the wage so that they're not creating a whole
generation of poverty that rely on social services to meet the needs of their employees.
(14:53):
Agreed. Just for any of you who are listening, I got you covered. You don't have to email
us. I got that. They need to pay more for their employees and a living wage because
they are pretty much subsidized by the US government. But yeah, on the on the supplier
diversity side, they're doing the right things. And now apparently on DEI, they're doing the
right things. So I mean, these shareholders, thank goodness, like this is going to go to
(15:15):
a Walmart where we don't have to go to Walmart or we don't have to go. But I think this,
I think for me, this is a positive sign of the power of people, people with power who
have money. Yeah. And the shareholders are like demanding. Yes. Not just taking like
(15:35):
what is the financial decision that you made as a CEO that this is going to help our bottom
line because all the financial research demonstrates that diversity makes your business stronger.
All of it. All of it. So yeah, I think this is fantastic. Yeah, it's good. I'm still not
going on a cruise. It's like I always describe cruises like I don't want to spend like a
(15:56):
weekend inside locked inside of a Walmart. So I always describe a cruise. These are not
the people I want to be hanging with for like a week. What about a Disney crew? That's if
I commit high crimes and misdemeanors, that's my punishment. How many cruises have you been
on? None. My mother, I hated eating Brussels sprouts or trying things. I've seen these
(16:22):
people. Try it. I grew up in Vegas. I have seen these people. I know the people who go
to the posh casinos versus the ones who go to circus circus. The ones who go to circus
circus. Those are the shitheads that are on the boats that I'm going to be stuck with
for seven days. So it's not going to happen. Yesterday I was, I was twisted in a mood yesterday.
I think it's just carrying on from that. Yeah. This poor security guy almost caught my wrath
(16:45):
of just angry yesterday. I just calmed myself down. What about the QE two though? What is
that? Oh, the, oh, that, that maybe the Queen Elizabeth. Yeah. Gary and Noel just went on
that last year. I want to say, and they had a great time. That actually sounded cool.
Yeah. Yeah. It's a bit more posh of an experience. It is like I have friends. One of my friends
celebrated his 50th birthday. Yeah. Two, two gay men went on a QE two cruise. They go breaking
(17:09):
news. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, I went like there's a, what's the other one? The Scandinavian
boat, the Viking or the one that's like no casinos, no kids. Yeah. Like I'm in like that's,
I can read a book and be calm and I don't have people splashing their pee filled pool
water on me. No, no. If there were no children, how do we get on this subject? I don't know.
(17:32):
Because clearly we can hopefully get a cruise line to recover over the chamber. Yeah. Celebrity
cruises. I'll do the cruises everybody. I will not be cruising. So what does all, do
some of these orders that Donald Trump has signed mean for small businesses? What's the
(17:53):
impact? So he's talking about tariffs on imports. He's talking about energy policy shift, regulatory
changes, tax policy, supply chain. So let's just roll through them kind of quickly. He
is talking about tariffs. I think he was on TV this morning, in fact, talking about tariffs,
but they're looking at anywhere from 10 to 25% of tariffs on Canada and Mexico. That'll
increase costs for small businesses that are reliant on goods for this, for, for what they
(18:17):
do. It'll also have an impact on gas prices. We do a lot of oil purchases out of Canada
from their, their supply. Energy shifts. He's looking at reversing previous climate policies.
The administration of course, aims to boost fossil fuel production. He's shut down wind
energy. That's going to piss off a lot of Texas farmers that like, have you driven out
(18:39):
into the panhandle? Yeah. Like everybody's got wind farms because they're making money.
Anyway, he's looking at regulatory changes on deregulation. Of course, of all the DEI
programs and how small businesses will need to navigate to all the different shifting
landscapes and the legal challenges that will come of them. He's talking about tax policy
(19:00):
adjustments, doubling taxes on foreign nationals. This one's a big one, the foreign nationals
and companies along with withdrawal from the global corporate tax deal. It can have a big
effect on small businesses engaged in international trade. It will really alter the competitive
dynamics. There's just a lot going on in and around what he's trying to do with tax policy
(19:22):
as a direct tax policy or as a, what do you call it? His tariff plan. And then you can
just supply chains. We're still in recovery from some of these supply chains. Like some
of the 2025 automobiles aren't even on the lot yet because of supply chain disruptions
still reeling from COVID. But he's looking at all these new tariffs and policy shifts
may really continue to exacerbate these supply chain problems. So it's important for small
(19:47):
business to start looking for supplier A, B, C, and D that you could possibly lean on
to adjust your sourcing strategies. And that of course will hit your costs and your timing
and your efficiency. So a lot of changes coming down the way that small businesses just need
to be aware of and not putting all their eggs in one basket. Like if you're a small business
and you're ordering all your stuff from one vendor in one country, like you really need
(20:11):
to diversify who you're working with. You know, those tariffs are going to hit and we're
just not going to know what's going to happen. Sounds exhausting. And that's just this week.
Sounds like bad business. I don't know. Oh, he's great a business. Remember every business
he's had has all turned into failures and bankruptcies, but it's fine. He'll do fine
(20:34):
with the country. But that front row, front row seats, that group at that front row, the
boy club was amazing. They're all going to be fine. Yes. And we've talked internally
about what do we do with with social media? And I'm curious to hear what you all are doing
with your company's social media because it's it's the way that that's a lot of our small
(20:55):
businesses reach their customer base. But I know with with Metta's recent announcement
of their dropping of DEI and really just kind of leaning into the bro club hard. Perms included.
Like what are you doing with your small businesses out there? Shoot us an email. Let us know
info at Austin lgbt chamber.com. But like we've talked internally, like do we drop it all?
(21:16):
Yes. No. Like how meta is so hard to get away from. It's sticky. I mean, and it's not the
best tool for everything. But like Facebook events do really well with getting the word
out. I mean, Instagram. It's it's how we connect. I know I've switched over to blue sky. I try
(21:39):
to do a lot on there too. But unfortunately, it's a human connection. What I've stopped
doing is any kind of purchasing of ads or anything advertised on their social media
platforms. So I want and I know they're counting me as a user and that goes into the numbers
that they're throwing out for people to buy ads. But if I just a don't buy an ad for my
small business or for the chamber and then be if I don't buy anything from these people
(22:03):
that are advertising, then the advertisers will go. Well, I'm not getting any bounce
from my buck. I'm going to go advertise somewhere else. Yeah. So it's kind of my initial like
flag in the ground. They also meta owns WhatsApp. Yeah, that's tough. Incredibly useful for
global conversations. And of course, you know, many countries use WhatsApp over any other
(22:27):
form of messaging. I don't know what they do with like our data. What do they do with
our data on what's because it's very just texty SMS looking right? There's not ads.
There's not profiles. Yeah, there's no there's no ads. There's no profiles. But I'm guessing
this is going to go above my pay grade. But I think I mean, it's understanding all that
they have the data on us. Yeah. And so then selling that data to companies that will then
(22:49):
target you and market you in different ways. Right. And especially like location sharing
and knowing where your location is. So all that kind of stuff. Yeah. So if I were messaging
somebody in Australia, I'd probably get a lot of ads for back end travel to Australia
or something like that. On other platforms. Right. Yeah. Across channel. I also turned
tracking off on Instagram and Facebook in my phone settings. OK. So that they cannot
(23:15):
track my other apps and choose. Yeah. OK. Yeah. I've just yeah, I've just really tried
to not support any of the ads that are on there and not place ads because I've had
it really difficult to just to detach from it because we're all addicted to it. Well,
I'm trying not to. I mean, it didn't live. It didn't exist back early on. And we just
(23:37):
picked up the phone and called each other. But now this is how we get our word out. It's
like I'm on it all day long. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I can do that. I also think that everything
we do in life is going to have some kind of ripple effect or impact and you're never going
to avoid doing business with or living or working with some actor that goes against
(24:03):
your values and position. I mean, I'll never eat Chick-fil-A. So you never eat Chick-fil-A.
But we might have a drink of some kind of variety. And where's the bottle come from?
Where's the label come from? How deep do we know? You know, it's like there's all those
all the different layers in the chain, right? Supply chain or whatever chain is of like,
(24:28):
you know, just like looking at random stuff like where was that tape made that held that
box together? You know, what were the values of the political decisions? Agreed. It is
super hard. It's hard as a small business to navigate all that too, because maybe you're
a small business and you're trying to buy make it up like bags for your restaurant to
go bags. Yeah. And you're trying to keep costs down, right? So you're ordering them from
(24:51):
China probably. Yeah. And now China is going to get hit with a tariff. So 25% of the cost
of that bag that you've been buying for them is now going to go up. So you really need
to as a small business owner look at other supply chain options. If you're looking for
people to do business with, of course, check out our membership directory online. You just
go on to austinlgbtchamber.com and then go find our member directory and plug in what
(25:16):
you're looking for and do business with those folks. And then let's just kind of hold together
and figure it out as we move forward in this next next couple of years.
So switching switching gears to something more fun, let's do some fun facts with Fiona.
Well, this one, I think is fun. It's a little bit nerdy, because it's another statistic.
(25:46):
But I really wanted to I was considering about these board members. Here we go. Pull it over
here. Board representation, because when I read about that Walmart story of how the shareholders
were like, coming back on this decision, I wanted to uplift the fact that only 0.9 so
(26:10):
less than 1% of seats on Fortune 500 boards are from LGBTQ plus people. So we know that
in the US, our population is around 7.6, you know, edging up to 10% of the population is
queer. And yet we're less than 1% of positions on boards. And then you've got studies, of
(26:33):
course, like the Boston Consulting Group found that organizations with above average diversity
and leadership generated 45% of total revenue from innovation, compared to only 26% of those
with below average. So there are multiple studies demonstrating that a diverse opinion
and a diverse lived experience helps make money. And it's not a mark, a marginal help.
(26:56):
That's a big number. Huge. I know it's huge. And so there is there is a guy called Fabrice
who dot who has a email. Well, he's this he is founder and executive director of the Association
of LGBTQ plus corporate directors, and has a weekly newsletter, which I love and I am
(27:17):
comparing it to what is it? Lady Whistledown? Oh, Lady Whistledown. So for for breeze one
day we're going to have a chat. And I decided that you have to read his newsletter is like
reading the gay lady whistledown of queer business news. It's amazing. But I think like
(27:41):
just I think these ripple effects we're going to see eventually, that pulling back externally
on de I stuff and inclusion is going to have a negative business impact. And this is what
I think is going to be a way of demonstrating how inclusivity and diverse perspectives in
leadership, not just leadership, but everywhere in life, actually makes everybody more money
(28:05):
and will decrease the cost of eggs. That's a killer. So if I'm a CEO of Acme, Brit Corporation,
big whatever tech company here in town, and I have been told by, or I've said, I'm going
to I'm going to kill all the DEI programs. Now, maybe you're the CEO of whatever tonsils
and toenails incorporated. Okay, now is your time to be able to grab all this amazing talent
(28:31):
that is going to be running away from my company to yours. And so now your diversity of thoughts
is going to, as we've seen in the data, increase your bottom line. Yeah. And there's going
to be this big shift in control and power of who has the real talent going forward.
And so, yeah, I mean, I feel a little bit bad for some folks here. Of course, Austin's
(28:55):
a big tech employed hub, but I feel like you can just walk across the street and find a
company that's doing a better job and that respects you and what you bring to the table.
And that company is going to financially benefit from it and their show rules are going to
see it. And at some point, there's going to be some blowback on these permed hair, Cuban
drug dealing looking CEOs that are now running companies. I don't understand what Zuck is
(29:22):
doing. What is this look that he's pulling off these oversized t-shirts with like what
the Zuck like big chain jewelry and a perm? Like what kind of masculinity? Because that's
what he's talking about. We need more masculinity in business. But you just you just need a
hairdresser that loves you. Yes, I do. I think there's going to be a talent drain. I think
(29:47):
other companies, if you're if you're if you're smart, you're going to lean into this hard
and you're going to go recruit all of these folks who are not happy where they are or
have just been laid off from where they are. And you are going to financially reap the
rewards of this. This insane movement from those who lack a spine, especially thinking
about future recruitment and retention. You got close to 30% of Gen Z identifying as LGBT
(30:10):
Q+. And so these are your people that are entering your workforce and are going to be
leading your company in decades to come. And they're refusing to stay in boxes. I mean,
Facebook is already considered like people at people my age and above you. Right. So
the younger ones aren't even on it. Right. Meta is kind of Instagram is kind of leaning
(30:31):
that way. It's funny. And I can't even keep up with like all the new ones that pop up
every other day. Yeah. The same people I'm recently I've seen more and more people saying
I'm just quitting social media. I'm just like, yeah, getting rid of it completely. Honestly,
if it wasn't entwined in my work life, I would there's no reason for me to be on it otherwise.
Yeah, I would absolutely get rid of Facebook. Yeah, if I did not need a per word. Yeah.
(30:55):
And it's unfortunate because you have to have a profile to be able to manage your works
profile. Yeah, like we can't just have a chamber profile and just log in as the change. You
still have to have a personal. Yeah. To log in. But we're doing a lot more on LinkedIn
to want we tremendous. It's actually become my note, my new go to I know of an age where
that's nerdy, but it's just same remarks and celebrations of like business achievements
(31:18):
and who got promoted. It's just different. It's not like, you know, I don't see a picture
of your cat nor do I have to see any of your political hatred. One side or the other. Yeah,
I would just leave cat pics to family and friends. Yeah. So we just need to have a whole
new version of it where the only thing that I will the AI will let you post our cat pictures
(31:42):
like that should be it. I'm going to I'm making my own social media platform. But you have
to be invited. OK. And there's not going to be a ton of people on there. So a group tired
of it. Group thread. Pretty videos. Speaking of getting together as a group, what do you
get for us on events? There are plenty of opportunities to engage coming up. You can
(32:09):
register now for our February 5th luncheon at the county line on the lake. Yum. That
is county line on the lake. I always get them confused. So do not be like me. We will have
Deirdre and Jackie with IGC in good company. They will be speaking on the Texas legislature
and nonpartisan civic engagement. Yeah, it's super important. They are so good at this
(32:34):
lecture. So, so good. Be sure to book. There is limited seating. Our luncheons always sell
out because we have great members and it's reliant on the look number of seats at the
location. So definitely go online and register. And Deirdre and Jackie are doing some really
cool stuff. They have some updates from the last time they spoke to you all. So it should
(32:55):
be awesome. They were in our South by Southwest panel, weren't they? They were. They were.
She moderated. I did. I loved it. But we had such a good time. And they're so smart and
so smart and like, yeah, they're amazing. And the food accounting line. Delicious. If
you are not a meat eater, please let us know in advance. Oh, yeah. But even if you're not
(33:15):
a meat eater, they do a good job. Yeah. You don't get just like a coleslaw. Like they
do a good job. Yeah. Yeah. And Skeeter, please bring Tina more flowers. That was so cute.
On February 19th, we are partnering with the NGLCC on a virtual event celebrating and honoring
Black History Month. Participants will learn about influential black figures who have made
(33:38):
remarkable contributions to civil rights, science, literature, politics and beyond.
We will also share some notable LGBTQ plus community members who have impacted black
history. You can also join us on February 20th for our monthly chamber happy hour. We
will be at El Raval, one of the NGLCC Grubhub Austin LGBT Chamber Community Impact grant
(34:03):
recipients. We love working with Laura, Leila and the team. So come celebrate with us on
February 20th. And last but not least, on February 22nd, we are returning to Lockhart,
Texas as part of our small town Big Pride program. We're still ironing out a couple
(34:24):
more details before we open registration. But if you know of any Lockhart businesses
that you think would be a good fit for the program, please send them our way. Let's show
up and support Lockhart's LGBTQ plus owned and allied businesses. I'm ready for the booze
cruise back out to Lockhart. Super excited. So much fun. We had a good time there. It
was easier to get around Lockhart when we did Lockhart versus Taylor, just because the
(34:47):
proximity of this of it being a proper square. Yeah. I've never been I couldn't make it
last year. So I'm really excited for you. Yeah, you'll have so much fun. It's got like
a shopping sprint because now there are so many members that are in Lockhart that are
part of the chamber. So we try and sprint to each one to like make sure that we we showed
(35:08):
them love support, do a lot of shopping there. And then yeah, I think we had 15 members last
time we were there. And it was hard since then. So how does it work? What do we get?
We get on a bus in downtown Austin, and then we have a few drinks along the way. Right.
And then then what do we do when we get there? When we get there? Yeah, I will have a map
(35:28):
printed out. Okay, with locations, different business locations, and a list of the businesses,
a schedule of events. We haven't exactly figured out the schedule yet. Okay. But typically
we'll have a joint ribbon cutting somewhere in the town. And people just kind of pair
(35:49):
off and they go shopping and they we kind of see each other across the street kind of
wave and like, hey, go to the store. It's great. Go over here. Yeah. And then you'll
hear hear people yelling like, we're all going to old pal at seven. Yeah, whatever. It's
kind of like a scavenger hunt shopping excursion with booze. Amazing. Yeah. And you don't have
to drive. I mean, you can drive out there and meet us if you want to and come back on
(36:13):
your own time and on your own dime, or you can just get on the bus with us. And it's
a cute bus. It's not like, you know, a school bus. And then the bus comes back early evening,
early evening. Yeah. Okay. Good. Now I'm really looking forward to it. And I'm on a text
thread with lots of queer identified women, primarily lesbian. I'm sure some of them are
(36:33):
by I was trying to recruit. I tell you, we know we're the majority. I want I want to
get a whole bunch of them signed up. So I don't know, maybe maybe I get so many we get
two buses. That would be iconic. Get a lesbian limo. Yeah, lesbian limo. And then I don't
(36:56):
know what we would have a short bus. We also have lots of member events coming up soon,
including a conversation on book bands, queer cinema screenings, the future of I 35 and
more. You can find out more information about all of these at Austin LGBT chamber.com. No
(37:19):
shortage of events and fun things to do. Thank you as always for joining us. If you want
to learn more about becoming a member of the chamber and chamber events, visit us at Austin
LGBT chamber.com. Do you want to be a guest or sponsor email us at info at Austin LGBT
chamber.com. Listen to our show every Friday, wherever you get your podcast. Be sure to
follow us. Thanks. We'll talk to you next week.
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