Growing up in Richmond, Virginia while attending a conservative high school for much of my education, I would constantly hear slurs and homophobic phrases hurdled towards me. It became part of my daily life but allowed me to gain confidence to standup and truly understand who is really by my side and a true ally. When I started attending the University of Richmond, I came in as an out student, which was known to my Orientation Advisors. They both exhibited blatant homophobia towards me being the only out student in the group. While overall, it didn’t greatly affect my time at the University, it sparked a fire in me to create change; I wanted to be the first openly gay male Orientation Chair to ensure that all new incoming students feel welcomed and loved from their first day at the university. At the beginning of my senior year in 2019, I fulfilled that dream by taking the stage as Orientation Chair to address all incoming students and their families. I hope I made impact in someone’s life by creating the safe space that many students need in a new environment. This has to be one of my most proud accomplishments thus far and reflects my passion to be a trusted leader that I hope to take from a university setting to the business world. As I became more comfortable with being openly gay, I started to notice that there was the consistent fear of coming out at a new school, a new workplace, etc. Every new environment came with the possibility of being ostracized for my sexuality and with many of those places, I wasn’t made to feel comfortable enough to bring up the fact that I am gay to many coworkers/friends. With my MBA, I hope to be in leadership positions that will allow me to foster change and ensure that everyone feels comfortable enough to be their authentic selves. Recently I have had the opportunity to engage as a mentor to an Executive within my firm with the goal of raising DIB awareness at the Executive level. During this mentoring experience, I provided insight into my experiences and what other LGBT individuals at the firm may be experiencing as well. This partnership allowed me to start an LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group as a safe space to increase respect for all. I hope to use my education to run programs like these, that provide awareness to key decision makers at firms that impact wide industries.

Throughout high school I was a part of the Gay-Straight alliance and involved with the Richmond Organization for Sexual Minority Youth (ROSMY). Being a member of these organizations provided a second home for me where I had a community to talk about issues I was facing in a communal setting. At the University of Richmond, I joined the Common Ground organization to help amplify the voices of multicultural, LGBTQ+, and First-Generation students. Growing up in Richmond, Virginia while attending a conservative high school for much of my education, I would constantly hear slurs and homophobic phrases hurdled towards me. It became part of my daily life but allowed me to gain confidence to standup and truly understand who is really by my side and a true ally. When I started attending the University of Richmond, I came in as an out student, which was known to my Orientation Advisors. They both exhibited blatant homophobia towards me being the only out student in the group. While overall, it didn’t greatly affect my time at the University, it sparked a fire in me to create change; I wanted to be the first openly gay male Orientation Chair to ensure that all new incoming students feel welcomed and loved from their first day at the university. At the beginning of my senior year in 2019, I fulfilled that dream by taking the stage as Orientation Chair to address all incoming students and their families. I hope I made impact in someone’s life by creating the safe space that many students need in a new environment. This has to be one of my most proud accomplishments thus far and reflects my passion to be a trusted leader that I hope to take from a university setting to the business world. As I became more comfortable with being openly gay, I started to notice that there was the consistent fear of coming out at a new school, a new workplace, etc. Every new environment came with the possibility of being ostracized for my sexuality and with many of those places, I wasn’t made to feel comfortable enough to bring up the fact that I am gay to many coworkers/friends. With my MBA, I hope to be in leadership positions that will allow me to foster change and ensure that everyone feels comfortable enough to be their authentic selves. Recently I have had the opportunity to engage as a mentor to an Executive within my firm with the goal of raising DIB awareness at the Executive level. During this mentoring experience, I provided insight into my experiences and what other LGBT individuals at the firm may be experiencing as well. This partnership allowed me to start an LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group as a safe space to increase respect for all. I hope to use my education to run programs like these, that provide awareness to key decision makers at firms that impact wide industries.

Growing up in Richmond, Virginia while attending a conservative high school for much of my education, I would constantly hear slurs and homophobic phrases hurdled towards me. It became part of my daily life but allowed me to gain confidence to stand up and truly understand who is really by my side and a true ally. When I started attending the University of Richmond, I came in as an out student, which was known to my Orientation Advisors. They both exhibited blatant homophobia towards me being the only out student in the group. While overall, it didn’t greatly affect my time at the University, it sparked a fire in me to create change; I wanted to be the first openly gay male Orientation Chair to ensure that all new incoming students feel welcomed and loved from their first day at the university. At the beginning of my senior year in 2019, I fulfilled that dream by taking the stage as Orientation Chair to address all incoming students and their families. I hope I made impact in someone’s life by creating the safe space that many students need in a new environment. This has to be one of my most proud accomplishments thus far and reflects my passion to be a trusted leader that I hope to take from a university setting to the business world. As I became more comfortable with being openly gay, I started to notice that there was the consistent fear of coming out at a new school, a new workplace, etc. Every new environment came with the possibility of being ostracized for my sexuality and with many of those places, I wasn’t made to feel comfortable enough to bring up the fact that I am gay to many coworkers/friends. With my MBA, I hope to be in leadership positions that will allow me to foster change and ensure that everyone feels comfortable enough to be their authentic selves. Recently I have had the opportunity to engage as a mentor to an Executive within my firm with the goal of raising DIB awareness at the Executive level. During this mentoring experience, I provided insight into my experiences and what other LGBT individuals at the firm may be experiencing as well. This partnership allowed me to start an LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group as a safe space to increase respect for all. I hope to use my education to run programs like these, that provide awareness to key decision makers at firms that impact wide industries.