Successful LGBT Living and Leadership

We need more LGBT leaders to share their stories of successful LGBT living and leadership to have more successful LGBT leaders.

For this show, we invited back one of our first guests from our very first Queer Money™ show. Throughout his life, Jay Allen has been a mentor and leader in being out and proud. Once one of the highest-ranking out LGBT people in a Fortune 500 company, Jay has wisdom on successful LGBT living and leadership for us all.

A Successful Queer Life

Unbeknownst to him, Jay became our unofficial mentor during our tenure at Charles Schwab. During Jay’s time at Schwab, as the Executive Vice President of Human Resources, he became one of the highest-ranking out LGBT people in the C-Suite of a Fortune 500 Company.

Jay was born into a conservative home in New York. He graduated from Cornell University in the late 70s and got a job with IBM. After a trip to San Francisco at age 25, Jay decided he couldn’t live his life in the closet anymore but thought that decision meant he couldn’t have a successful career.

When he returned to work, he came out to his boss and expected to lose his job. Jay’s straight boss said to him in the 1970s that he could have both a successful life and business life as a gay man. Jay made the decision then and there never to let his sexual orientation make him feel second-class.

Jay shares his career path to becoming an Executive Vice President, how being gay helped him add value in various roles, and how he stays grounded and gives back to our queer community. Jay shares how queer people can overcome the limiting beliefs and how his motto is never to let himself be a victim.

We could talk with Jay for hours. That’s why we think you’ll love this Queer Money about successful LGBT living and leadership.