Finding your voice and identity: ‘It’s not good for anyone to be left in the dark’

Words: Louise Sinnerton; Image: Supplied

Frank Ojeda, a Senior Associate at Synechron, speaks to Louise Sinnerton from myGwork on finding your own voice and growing allyship from within the LGBTQ+ community.

For the past four years, Frank Ojeda has worked as a Senior Associate at Synechron, working primarily in the immigration team. He’s always loved his job and working at a company that had a natural diversity thanks to operating all over the world.

When May Yang, the Global Head of Operations, addressed the company telling employees they were rolling out a Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programme, Frank was eager to jump in.

“An opportunity arose to lead the LGBTQ+ working group for the Charlotte, North Carolina, US Business Unit and I was thrilled to take the lead. We’ve accomplished quite a lot during this time and it’s been great to see more employees getting involved.”

From partnering with Campus Pride, the organisation which researches whether campus environments really are sustainable for and supportive of the LGBTQ+ community, to the ally challenge with Pride Circle in India, and Synechron’s Proud To Be campaign, there are a huge number of activities the group has been involved in.

“The Proud To Be campaign helped promote valuable insight into the lives of LGBTQ+ individuals. For this initiative, we dispatched a global communication, staying aware of the local sensitivities, asking ‘what are you proud to be?’ Responses varied from, ‘proud to be an older sister’ to ‘proud to be a subject matter expert in my field’.

“It was a very inclusive initiative, for every employee, not solely those who identify as LGBTQ+.”

Frank identifies as a gay cisgender man and is passionate about improving visibility and allyship inside and out of the workplace.

“As humans, sometimes with vastly different upbringings, we are not immune to biases and I will continue challenging my own as I am given this large platform to promote inclusion on a global scale.”

Those biases and fixed outlooks are something Frank experienced first-hand growing up. “My parents divorced when I was very young; I was about five years old. This was a positive thing, as there was a lot of turbulence in the household. As a result, my younger sister and I spent more independent time with both parents.”

At about fifteen years old Frank decided to come out to his mom. “I interrupted her in the middle of a very casual, random conversation in the car. ‘Mom, I’m gay.’ To which she responded, ‘Honey, I’ve known. And I’m glad you could tell me.’ She was completely supportive from the beginning.”

“During those years of maturing is when I started to learn more about my dad’s worldview with respect to social issues,” Frank added.

His dad struggled to accept it when Frank came out, which lead to several years of estrangement. However, after many years, they came together again, this time as adults and equals, and mutually worked to form a very close bond that they have been cultivating ever since.

“I am so incredibly fortunate to now have a great relationship with my father, who loves my partner of 10 years,” said Frank.

Undeniably, this had an impact on Frank who grew up amid this negative influence. “I had boyfriends and girlfriends, which led to a lot of confusion around my identity. It was a scary topic growing up. But I realised the more your identity takes shape, the less you can deny your truth.

“However, I didn’t want to bring attention to this until I understood it better, as I was conditioned (by society and my upbringing) to consider LGBTQ+ as ‘taboo’. Eventually, I decided it was not productive to hide my authentic self any longer and was fortunate to come out which was mostly well-received,” he said.

He continued, “One thing I realised is that you spend your whole life coming out to new people you meet; it’s not a one-time event. There are many times when people ask about my ‘wife’ or if ‘I’ll have kids with my wife’ and although I don’t find it offensive, it’s important to not assume anyone’s circumstances.”

Having that experience and personal growth gave Frank a deep understanding of starting conversations. He takes that into his work leading the LGBTQ+ group at Synechron. As well as community outreach and partner programmes, they have completed unconscious bias training and created enthusiasm within the organisation to learn about the company’s new frameworks and policies.

“The biggest impact I feel we have made at Synechron was to get the conversation started about Diversity and Inclusion. Four years ago, when I joined, there weren’t many people that looked like me or that I felt I could culturally relate to. Looking at our employee base today, it’s incredible to see how diverse we are as an organisation.

“It’s amazing what can be achieved by focusing on initiatives that drive long-lasting impact while publicly supporting the LGBTQ+ community on a global stage,” Frank enthused.

Once Frank decided he “did not want to hide in the shadows”, as he puts it, he became fully involved in education and raising awareness around these topics.

“It’s not good for anyone to be left in the dark. That plays a big part as to why I am really involved in the community. I am committed to bridging the gap of communication and understanding. As for me, that is the way to create huge changes, and for me, that is the definition of growth.”

Synechron is a corporate partner of the myGwork business community.