We talk about gay rights, but are we actually doing anything to make them feel a complete part of our society? Come on stop being biased and judgmental! At the end of the day we really can’t help with whom we fall in love with. Love truly has no boundaries!
Member of the LGBT community often are victims to the conservative views of the society. Be it professional or personal, they face the backlash of their sexual orientation in every walk of life. Imagine being constantly judged, ridiculed or snatched away from an amazing professional opportunity just because you are gay or a lesbian. Ouch! That is harsh. Well things need to change; we need to change.
To bring about this very revolution and give the LGBT community the support and platform it needs, there is a new app in tinsel town called myGwork. It is an exceptional app that allows the LGBT professional network to connect.
Meet the Change-Makers!
Twin brothers Adrien Gaubert and Pierre Gaubert along with longtime friends Nerea Eguia and Unai Manzano co-founded and conceptualized myGwork.
Pierre, who is also the CEO, has worked both in the Telecommunication and the IT industry. He was a sales manager for an IT business management service software company and has experience in facing clients from big corporations. He holds a masters degree in management from the London School of Economics.
Adrien, also the Marketing Director, has experience in the public sector. He worked for the French Embassy in China and has extensive knowledge of sponsorship, fundraising and event management. He holds a masters degree in Globalization from King’s College London.
Unai Manzano is the MyGwork community manager. He has experience in working for newspapers and online magazines. He not only wrote articles for them but also took care of promoting their websites through various social media platforms. He is currently pursuing masters in Digital Culture and Society at King’s College London.
Nera Eguia is the Account Manager. She focuses mainly on corporate and small businesses subscriptions and on negotiating discounts from their partners. She gained PR and communication skills while in charge of the daily production and promotion of an online magazine based in the UK.
“Together we are a team of four professionals. We are passionate about online business and social policy. Combining our experience and skills, we are all convinced that we can create both, a positive business and a social impact. Our start-up is targeted at helping the LGBT community to increase their rights. Nerea is heterosexual, yet she is a strong advocate of the LGBT friendly cause. Our website and app developers, Devexperts, have fully supported the project from the beginning and continuously strive to improve the end-user experience at myGwork.com”, adds the team.
Know myGwork Up Close and Personal!
This website is a platform that aims at promoting inclusion within companies and offering LGBT professional more networking opportunities. The team connects individuals, LGBT friendly companies, associations and local businesses not only through myGwork website and app but also during selected high quality networking events.
It is the mission of the team to improve life for gay and lesbian professionals both in the workplace and in their daily life. They plan on doing this by creating stronger bonds between individuals, companies, associations and local businesses.
In addition, this app also promotes LGBT professional events organize by various charities and associations. There is a dedicated space on the website created for charities, professional unions and student societies to promote their work and achievements.
What Problem Is The App Solving?
MyGwork is giving the LGBT community the possibility to enhance their rights to be treated as equally as any other members of society. The aim is to reduce the level of stress and anxiety associated with sexual orientation disclosure at the workplace. Thus, this app is about improving life for LGBT professionals by providing them a platform for networking and helping companies address inclusion issues and diversity targets.
That’s not all; myGwork also helps companies showcase what they do for their LGBT employees and other companies can learn and improve by following each other initiatives. In addition, when a company post a job offer on myGwork it clearly states its willingness to be inclusive and welcoming for LGBT and LGBT-friendly employees.
The Inspirational Trigger!
“We, founders of myGwork, felt during our previous employment that gays and lesbians were not fully integrated in their workplaces. Disclosing our sexual identity to our colleagues or bosses took quite some courage and reactions were not always positive. Some employees chose not to speak about it. We wished we were part of a company where one can talk freely about personal life without being judged”, says the team.
Also, Pierre and Adrien faced challenges at work regarding their sexual identity. When working for a major software vendor Pierre was asked to disclose his sexual identity. One of his former bosses made him feel very uncomfortable with comments and jokes. He chose to leave the company where he did not feel at ease. Adrien, while working for a public agency, felt he had to keep his sexual orientation secret due to his supervisor’s comments. He found it hard to talk to colleagues about his personal life as he was “denied” the right to be himself.
On Challenges Faced & Competitors
The biggest hurdle faced was to convince companies that they were a serious platform as big corporations tend to have trust issues when it comes to new start-ups. There is also a continous struggle in demonstrating that being a member of myGwork will not only preserve their corporate reputation as a company but will also enhances their image in terms of inclusion and LGBT-friendliness.
In terms of competition, presently, there is no single website that directly connects LGBT professionals with LGBT-friendly companies. However, the team has identified generic recruiting and professional networking platforms as likely competitors. Moreover, Stonewall, a charity promoting inclusion for LGBT people also seems to pose as a potential competitor even though they do not have users and cannot be considered as a social and participative platform.
On Expansion Plans & Target Audience
“We plan first to develop our business in the UK where there are strong LGBT-inclusive workplace regulations (The Equality Act 2010) and significant potential user base. Then we plan to extend our entire platform to other European countries, US and Canada. After this phase we plan to go global. In addition to our online platform we also want to create a physical space (a members’ club) where our professional and graduate members can connect, network and share their professional experiences”, says the team.
As mentioned above, myGwork is mainly targeted at the LGBT community and LGBT-friendly professionals, companies and small businesses. For now the team is essentially targeting their recruitment platform to the UK. However, members of other countries can still enjoy online networking opportunities and keep up with the professional news that affect the LGBT community with the “Stay tuned” blog area.
On Plans of Monetizing
Monetization of the website is essentially done through corporate membership where companies have access to a profile page where they can post their LGBT-friendly initiatives and job offers. Further, myGwork app premium subscription for individual members, job advertising space for companies to recruit talent on the website and advertising space to local stores and services that are listed in the directory also form part of the monetizing plan.
To sum it all up, myGwork is a powerful networking platform for the LGBT community. With this app they no longer have to miss out on amazing opportunities just because the conventional society is biased towards their sexual orientation.
For more information on this awesome app, do make it a point to visit: http://www.myGwork.com
