What the Corporate World Taught Me About Allyship (And What It Couldn't)

From the Pride ERG to Out & Equal — how a community became a program

There's a difference between believing something matters and actually doing the work to make it real inside an institution.

For years, I'd been an ally in my personal life — shaped by my sisters, by my time at Peabody, by the relationships I'd built and the things I'd learned. But the real test came when I stepped into a corporate environment and asked: Can we build something here that actually changes how people show up for each other?

The answer — after years of work, collaboration, resistance, iteration, and ultimately, recognition — was yes.

It Started in the Pride ERG

Before there was a program, there was a community.

Beginning in 2010, I became involved in the company's LGBTQ+ Pride Employee Resource Group. And I want to be clear about what that time meant: it wasn't background research or resume-building. It was a relationship. It was showing up, listening, learning, and becoming a trusted member of a community that wasn't my own to claim — but was mine to support.

The friends I made in that ERG changed me. These were colleagues who trusted me enough to let me in — to share what it was really like to navigate our workplace as LGBTQIA+ people. What felt safe. What didn't. What they needed from allies that they almost never got. 

That's the kind of knowledge you can't get from a training or a policy document. You get it from people. You get it by showing up consistently over time and earning it.

Out & Equal, and Why It Mattered

During this time, I also had the opportunity to attend and present at multiple Out & Equal Workplace Summits - one of the most significant LGBTQ+ workplace equity conferences in the country.

I can't overstate how formative those experiences were. The Out & Equal Summits brought together LGBTQIA+ professionals, advocates, and allies from across industries  - people doing serious, sustained work toward equity in the workplace. Being in those rooms, learning from those people, and deepening friendships with colleagues I'd met through work -  that sharpened everything.

It also reinforced something I was starting to understand from my time in the Pride ERG: that there was a gap. People wanted to be allies. Many were trying. But without a real framework, without training, without a community of practice - most of them were doing it alone, inconsistently, and with limited impact.

The Moment the Program Was Born

That's where Daniel came in.

Daniel was a dear friend, colleague, and member of the community -  and someone who saw the same gap I did. After years of being embedded in the LGBTQ+ community at our company, through the Pride ERG and through the relationships we'd both built, we looked at each other and said: we need to build something.

Not a one-time training. Not a lunch-and-learn. A real program. Something that could move people from good intentions to actual skills - and sustain that practice over time.

That conversation and our friendship were the beginning of what would become an award-winning LGBTQ+ Ally Program at a Fortune 50 company. And it didn't start with a budget or a mandate from leadership. It started with two people who cared deeply, who had spent years building trust within the community, and who believed the company could do better.

What We Built — and What We Learned

The program we co-developed was built on a foundational belief: allyship isn't a training you sit through - it's a commitment you make and then practice. Repeatedly. Imperfectly. Over time. Allyship is also about being visible.

We weren't trying to manufacture allies. We were trying to create conditions where people who already cared could learn what to actually do with that care.

Here's what working inside a large institution taught me:

1. Good intentions are not enough.

I met many people who genuinely wanted to support their LGBTQIA+ colleagues, but had no idea how. They were afraid of saying the wrong thing, so they said nothing. The program had to bridge that gap: from wanting to help to knowing how.

2. Culture is built in the small moments.

Inclusion doesn't happen in annual Pride events. It happens when someone corrects a colleague who's used the wrong pronoun. It happens when a manager advocates for a team member in a room they're not in. We designed the program to equip people for those moments - not the big gestures, but the everyday ones.

3. Leadership has to model it.

Programs live or die by whether leaders take them seriously. We worked hard to get visible, credible leaders engaged - not as figureheads, but as genuine participants. When people saw their managers show up as learners, it gave everyone else permission to do the same.

4. Recognition matters — but results matter more.

The program earned recognition - and I'm proud of that. But what I'm proudest of is the feedback we received from LGBTQIA+ employees who told us they felt more seen, more supported, and more confident that their colleagues had their backs. That's the metric that matters.

What the Corporate World Couldn't Teach Me

Institutions are powerful. They can scale things, formalize things, create accountability structures, and signal to thousands of people at once that something is a priority.

What they can't do is manufacture genuine commitment in people who don't feel it.

The heart of this work and what made it real was the two years in the Pride ERG before a program ever existed. It was the friends made at Out & Equal. It was Daniel saying "we need to do something" and meaning it. It was the relationships that gave the program its soul.

The corporate structure gave us scale. But the community gave us everything else.

✦  What This Means for You

• You don't have to work at a Fortune 50 company to apply these principles.

• You don't need a formal program to start.

• But you do need community. You need relationships inside the LGBTQIA+ community - not just proximity to the idea of supporting it.

That's what makes allyship real. And that's what the next post is about: the framework that turns that commitment into consistent action.

→ If you're an HR or DEI leader looking to build something like this in your organization, the Ally Ambassador Program was built for exactly that. Let’s talk! https://calendly.com/coachaimee-1/30min