Being headquartered in San Francisco, we get especially excited for Pride in June—the city raises even more rainbow flags, and Team Rainbow, our employee resource group (ERG), plans lots of Pride events and conversations.
We’re also happy to celebrate Pride with our employees and customers worldwide—and so are our celebration creatures! That’s why this month, you’ll notice our celebrations are extra proud to show their support of the LGBTQIA+ community, and you can read a special announcement from our unicorn below. We hope these updates encourage our employees and customers to be themselves and feel supported at work, as well as making our product itself more inclusive.
Reintroducing our unicorn
Last month, we made it possible to add your pronouns to your Asana profile, which was a small change leading to wins for our customers worldwide. It also brought forth an important announcement that felt especially relevant for Pride month from the unicorn right here at Asana: they are non-binary and use they/them/theirs pronouns.
In its simplest form, “non-binary” describes someone whose gender is neither male nor female—though what that means to any given individual and how they express it can widely differ, which is why it’s important to showcase their unique stories.
They were inspired by Astro at Salesforce being out as non-binary, and really related to things Cyan Banister discussed in their fireside chat at Asana about being genderqueer. Having icons in the tech community in combination with Asana’s open, supportive environment helped our unicorn feel safe to be seen.
“Being called ‘he’ didn’t feel right, and ‘she’ didn’t work either. I had many moments of self-doubt and fear, but ultimately knew that gender, like the rainbow, is a spectrum, and the best way for me to embrace my fabulousness was to gallop full-force into my non-binary identity,” says our unicorn.
“My job is all about helping our customers celebrate success and overcome obstacles, so I hope to inspire others who may or may not be out at work,” they say.
Why focus on mythical creatures?
For Pride this year, Team Rainbow (our queer ERG) wanted to make it clear they were supporting the queer community worldwide, and to try to do so without taking over Pride or queer spaces. Our celebrations were an easy and natural place to start—they promote team diversity and doing things a little differently in the workplace.
So this month, you’ll see our celebrations with a large rainbow trail when they shoot across the screen. It was an easy and fun update to make, in addition to other Pride activities planned for the month.
To see your favorite fabled friends sail across the screen in Pride style, all you have to do is check off some tasks!
This isn’t the first time Team Rainbow has gotten to make changes at Asana. For example, they’ve organized outings to queer films, ensured access to gender-neutral bathrooms on every floor, and worked with our recruiting team to reduce opportunities for gender bias during the hiring process. (They also give me lots of great opportunities as a queer copywriter, like writing this post, for example!)
Team Rainbow’s mission overall is to provide a space for queer people and allies to support and learn from each other in a safe and loving environment. To achieve this goal, they champion LGBTQIA+-specific discussions, organize company-wide events, and get involved in company planning and recruiting efforts to ensure Asana attracts, includes, and retains diverse employees and customers.
A happy Pride to all
Though queerness and the tech community can sometimes be at odds (especially in the changing landscape of San Francisco), Team Rainbow and Asana are committed to making improvements small and large; fun and serious; and building community within our own walls and the world at large.
We hope you enjoy this small, fun change for the month and that it serves as a small reminder that Asana supports its LGBTQIA+ employees, customers (and unicorns) wherever they are.
