The Business of Being Radically Different: Nasdaq Celebrates Pride with Annual LGBTQ+ Leadership Conference

“Being radically different is parallel to being LGBTQ+," said Sean Howell, co-founder of Buffalo Market, a food distribution company, “And you must be radically different to be a successful entrepreneur.”

At Nasdaq’s annual LGBTQ+ Leadership Conference, being radically different was the theme that traversed talks, showing how LGBTQ+ people create more business, better teams and higher profits.

Howell’s panel joined many other insightful conversations and interviews, covering revolutionary transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming artists advancing in the non-fungible token (NFT) space, the future of LGBTQ+ work policies and practices, and a fireside chat with the out and proud Wiz CEO and founder, Assaf Rappaport.

Difference Makes Good Business

Filled with distinguished and rising LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs, Howell’s panel discussed the parallels between the LGBTQ+ experience and entrepreneurship, and the massive profit available to early investors in LGBTQ+-owned businesses.

Andres Wydler, Executive Director of StartOut, a non-profit on a mission to accelerate the economic growth of the LGBTQ+ community, began the panel, presenting the hurdles LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs still face today. According to StartOut’s Pride Economic Impact Index, only one-tenth of LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs are out in their business lives, fearing it will hurt their business. As a result, there is not a single out LGBTQ+ entrepreneur in over two-thirds of U.S. cities.

But cities who do not welcome LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs miss out on huge profits and job creation. According to StartOut, such entrepreneurs have the potential to create 428,000 jobs in the U.S., making inclusivity a necessity for state and local economies.

Panelist Perrin Quarshie, founder & CEO of RealBlocks, emphasized the parallel trajectory of being a successful entrepreneur and LGBTQ+. “Entrepreneurship is about problem solving all the time, something LGBTQ+ people know very well.”

Howell echoed Quarshie, saying, “LGBTQ+ people are innovators because they have to survive.”

An eye for innovation and problem solving makes for great disruptors, people who bring bold and new ideas to create value for investors.

Revolutionizing the Art World with SuperTrans

On a special edition panel celebrating NFT week in New York City, four transgender, non-binary and gender nonconforming artists discussed finding financial independence, artistic success and community uplift within the NFT space.

Transgender people face huge hurdles living their authentic lives; according to a 2019 study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, one-third of transgender people live in poverty, and a transgender person is twice as likely to die as a cisgendered person, according to a 50 year study by The Lancet.

Financial independence can directly improve the quality of life for transgender people through housing security, healthcare, gender-affirming care and other resources. While many of the artists cited restrictive boundaries to gaining financial independence in the art world, NFTs offered a different story.

By putting their work on sites like SuperRare, a platform that sells some of the world’s most cutting-edge digital art, these trans and queer artists found financial independence: opening studios, paying for gender-affirming care and giving back to their own communities. Klara Vollstaedt, a trans Canadian artist, used the sales of her NFTs to pay for gender-affirming care and donated $60,000 dollars to trans organizations.

Meanwhile, Zak Krevitt, a non-binary artist, curator and producer, used NFTs as a fundraising opportunity. By selling a minted photograph, they raised $25,000 for the Black Trans Femmes in the Arts Collective (BFTA), “[NFTs] are a great way to raise money on the ground… and get it to people who need it,” said Krevitt.

The Best Place to Work for the Next LGBTQ+ Generation

The next panel focused on how companies are uplifting LGBTQ+ employees, and how to create a safe workplace for the next generation.

Deena Fidas, Managing Director and Chief Programs and Partnerships Officer at Out & Equal, started the panel with some history. 30 years ago, there were no protections against discrimination in the workplace. In response, “A subset of advocates said, ‘If we can’t make a legal case for our equality, let’s make a business case for our equality,’” said Fidas.

The push to show corporations the benefits of diversity was born and continues today with home-grown workplace protections, showing how companies are following the cultural shift in a nation with majority acceptance of LGBTQ+ individuals.

But the new GenZ employee is keen to these discussions, according to the panel. “GenZs have a lot of expectations of the corporate world that involves practices and policies. The way they experience belonging is important,” said Laura Agharkar, Global Head of Diversity, Equity and Culture at Nasdaq.

Company hypocrisy is a cardinal sin for GenZs, according to the panel. The company that cannot prove a consistent message that aligns with their values will lose top-tier talent going forward.

But recruitment and retention of top-tier talent can run against commercial interests, according to Greg Sottolano, V.P. and Global Head of Marketing at Visa University. Today, companies sometimes face a balancing act between profits and employee safety.

Many CEOs gave real life examples of this balancing act, showing how many companies are choosing to stand by their LGBTQ+ employees. Assaf Rappaport, CEO and founder of the $6 billion valued cybersecurity company, Wiz, ended the conference with a story of his own, where standing up for his beliefs ended in a victory for both LGBTQ+ employees and company profits.

After changing their logo for pride month, a customer’s representative contacted an LGBTQ+ employee with hateful messages, threatening to change servicers if the logo didn’t return to its original form. After consulting with his team, Rappaport decided to email the company’s leaders, ending the contract and returning their money.

After his email, the company immediately reached out and apologized, keeping the deal and admonishing the employee who sent the hateful messages. Rappaport was proud of the result, “It was an opportunity for both companies to show their true values.”

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