Dell Team Members Reflect on Pride Beyond Borders

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As a member of the LGBTQ community and a proud 19-year tenure at Dell, I am excited to take a few moments to reflect on what this year’s Dell Pride month theme, “Pride Beyond Borders,” means.

Personally, I have had the honor of being on the leadership team of Dell Pride Employee Resource Group (ERGs) for the last six years and being a Global Lead for the ERG for last four years. Over that time, I have seen the growth of the Pride ERG chapters globally across Europe, Latin America, and most recently into our Asia Pacific region with the addition of Sydney, Australia. The energy and dedication from locations like Nashville, Tennessee; Panama City, Panama; Montpelier, France and Sydney, Australia takes the Dell Pride experience to a higher level and greater visibility for the work Dell is doing to support the LGBTQ community around the world.

To me, “Pride Beyond Borders” means sharing the inclusive spirit I have experienced at Dell across the world and seeing how our global team members share their pride both internally at Dell and externally in their communities. Dell is a place where differences are understood and celebrated and contribute to it being a great place to work.

With this in mind, as the global Pride leader, I thought it was important to ask Dell Pride members across the globe what “Pride Beyond Borders” means to them. Here is what a few of them had to say:

Kusko – Round Rock, Texas, USA:

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Having Pride Beyond Borders means having the ability to be an Adventuring Humanitarian, dressed as a whimsical tiger going around the world spreading love and acceptance and “tiger nabbing” landmarks by snapping an epic selfie. Happy Tiger Tales is about joyfully “tiger nabbing famous places around the world, with a single goal of connecting humanity through happiness.  People see a tiger, and want to interact, say hi, give you a hug, or high five, but they don’t see a race, religion, sex, they just see a happy tiger. Beyond tiger nabbing and adventure racing, the tiger has created virtual reality experiences for a local children’s hospital, volunteered in a village in Nepal and speaks about “Impact Beyond Purpose.” To date, for Happy Tiger Tales, traveled over 200,000 miles, tiger nabbed hundreds of places and given a gazillion hugs to thousands of strangers. Dell encourages me to be the best version of myself, every day! Everyone, anywhere can join the journey, and it’s easy to do on both Instagram and Facebook, just follow “HAPPY TIGER TALES.” Our intention is simply to connect humanity through happiness and inspire curiosity and kindness everywhere.

Hugues Chabannes, Montpellier, France:

At Dell, I can be who I am and talk about my personal life without fear. Our organization pays a lot of attention to LGBTQ people so that they feel recognized for who they are and so that they are not discriminated against.

The Pride ERG is very well structured locally but also at a global level and its representatives play a key role as ambassadors of the LGBTQ community internally and externally. Personally, I think it’s a real chance to have such a community available at Dell as a gay person.

Isabel Kenner

Technical Training Advisor | Pride APJC Regional Program Manager:

Ever since I told my manager and my supervisor via email that I was transgender, that I would like to be called Isabel ongoing and that I’d like to have she/her pronouns used when referring to me, I’ve had no concern that being myself at work was an issue. Both of my managers acknowledged my email and have not ONCE used my old name or old pronouns since. I know for certain how hard this is to do and I appreciate it IMMENSELY.

Since my transition I have traveled to China, Japan and Bangalore and had not only no issues in any Dell office, but I have made so many friends through Pride in those countries and closer to home. We even had a team from the USA in our offices on a project during IDAHOBIT and they were so impressed with the rainbow level in the Sydney office that we went out on their last free night to have a look at Oxford Street (Sydney’s QUILTBAG+ heartland & the main Mardi Gras parade route). So to my managers and to the people I have become friends with or just better friends with because of Pride. I want to say a HUGE thank you for being you and thank you for letting me be me.

As you all take a minute to recognize and celebrate Pride month, we’d love to hear from all of you—what does Pride Beyond Borders mean to you? #BeYourself #PrideatDell

About the Author: Shone Zachariah

Shone Zachariah is the Global Co-Lead for Dell Pride ERG. He has been a Dell employee for 18 years and works in Dell’s Performance Analytics Group and held positions across the company. Shone is married to his husband Stephen and lives with their dog, Zeus, in Austin, Texas.
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