This month, we hosted our second annual NUVA Pride Month, aligning with our Europe Middle East Africa (EMEA) team headquartered in the Netherlands to celebrate with a series of events. These events were focused on nurturing a culture of respect, acceptance and belonging through vibrant celebrations and meaningful connection with the LGBTQIA+ community.
NUVA Pride was kicked off with an introduction from CFO and executive sponsor Matt Harbaugh (he/him). He detailed our current Diversity and Inclusion (D+I) strategy, elaborated on the importance of celebrating Pride as an organization, and shared what this community means to him. Later, Human Resources Sr. Manager Daniella Kemper (she/her), introduced and moderated the employee panel where participants addressed LGBTQIA+ topics and shared their experiences as part of this community.
“Being authentic can help you be supported. If you’re not being completely transparent with your struggles, it will be hard for people to support you. It’s important to be transparent and welcome that allyship.”—Alexis Ellis(she/her), panelist, Sr. Coordinator, Marketing Operations
Our second event was led by inspirational transgender speaker and author Ryan Sallans (he/him). Ryan gave an overview of the history of the LGBTQIA+ community and shared his own experience with transitioning. He also advised how NuVasive can continue to be more inclusive as it relates to the LGBTQIA+ community.
“In environments that are friendly and inclusive toward LGBTQIA+ identities, we see better workers, engagement and retention. When we do not judge others for who they love or how they look, people do better.”—Ryan Sallans (he/him)
Matt Harbaugh led our third event, illuminate, where employees had the opportunity to engage in dialogue around the article published by the Boston Consulting Group titled “A New LGBTQ Workforce Has Arrived—Inclusive Cultures Must Follow”. Themes and questions related to the following LGBTQIA+ topics were also discussed: workplace experience and education, bringing the full self to work and how that relates to our ‘Leveraging differences’ competency and ‘We care’ value.
To close out the month, the final event included an overview of the history of the LGBTQIA+ movement hosted by personality Nutella Versace (she/her) and the
“The world would be so boring if everyone was the same!”—Nutella Versace (she/her)
We had over 250 employees around the world engage in these events and share in thoughtful dialogue. We look forward to carrying the momentum of celebration for this vibrant community and continuing to hold space for all diverse voices and experiences.