Welcome to the PayFit podcast.
We believe that building a safe and inclusive environment where everyone is celebrated and listened to regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, disability or other characteristics, is fundamental for teams to thrive.
This podcast series includes discussions with both internal and external guests where we listen to their inspiring stories as they shed light on initiatives that contribute to positive change.
Enjoy !
Welcome to our new episode dedicated to diversity and inclusion in the workplace and more specifically LGBTQIA+ inclusion, a topic sometimes said to be political, to be personal, or rather one that should be welcomed and celebrated in the workplace. I'm Chelsea, the Diversity Inclusion and Culture manager at PayFit and I've invited Thais to talk about her experience at PayFit and her thoughts on the topic as a design director, bisexual woman, a mother, a Brazilian living in different European countries.
Hi Thais ! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey at PayFit?
Of course. First, thanks so much for having me here. Super happy to share a little bit of my story. I came from a very humble family in a small city next to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where I started my design career studying industrial design, digital marketing and business. And I was lucky enough to meet my wife when I was very young. We are together for 15 years. I think of myself of bisexual, but coming out for me was a natural process, of course, full of ups and downs because it's a process for me, for my family and friends, but it was quite natural.
Me and my wife just got our first baby who is nine months old. We are both not living in Brazil anymore, but living in Munich, Germany and being in Europe helped me not only grow in my career, but also to learn a lot about different cultures, inclusion and diversity. Today I'm also part of the UX Ladies Munich and the chapter lead there that is inclusive community that aims to promote female talent and increase female visibility.
I'm based in Barcelona and I'm the design director at PayFit where I'm working for one year with the payments tribes. My journey to join PayFit was a quite special moment: my wife was pregnant and we receive all the support even though we are in this modern queer family. I received the same rights like for maternity leave and also the supports during my moving from Germany to Barcelona where the company supports not only me but my entire family. So it was clear for me since the beginning, since the interview process that PayFit is super inclusive company and saw and treat me and my family like any other.
Thank you Thais. That's really good to hear and in your voice I hear that you're happy and maybe even a little bit relieved about your experience. I wish that it would be the norm and not maybe an exceptional circumstance, but maybe one day. And I'm really happy to hear that PayFit your experience was positive and you were treated as any family should be treated in that kind of going through that moment in their life. Thank you so much for sharing and for your introduction.
Maybe one question to start off. So some people say that sexual orientation shouldn't have a place at work. Could you give us some examples of how the topic comes up at work?
Yeah, sure. I think you already right when you said that I can consider myself an exception. Companies have been paying closer attention to work life balance in the last year, so I think that is the trend. But I believe companies are still missing something when it comes to addressing work and family topics. Most of the companies and colleague at work, we assume that you are in a heterosexual family structure. One example that happened with me and happen all the time. . We are married and we use rings in our fingers. And I had a colleague of mine asking, are you married? What is the name of your husband? That happens a lot and puts me in a position to explain, “no, I don't have a husband and I have a wife”. In my case, I was confident to say that. And I feel comfortable since I was transparent with the company since the beginning about my sexuality. And I always try to do that because later I avoid unnecessary gossiping. That still happens a lot in our work environment when someone believes that the other person could be or not gay, put yourself on that. So I think it's difficult because when you ask a question like that, if the person is not confidential, if we didn't discuss it yet with our boss or I don't know if HR, maybe the person will feel like I need you to come out in a come out situation. And of course, there are many other challenges that you can face. I didn't suffer myself, but I heard from friends like it happens a lot in work environments, microaggressions, malicious jokes or gossips and looks and so on and so forth.