Happy Pride Month Featuring Jennifer

Happy Pride Month! Each year, Pride Month is celebrated in June in honor of the 1969 Stonewall Riots in Manhattan, New York. Here at Stride, diversity fuels us and serves as one of our core values as a company. By respecting, celebrating, and empowering our unique backgrounds and perspectives, we grow stronger as a team and bring creative solutions to our diverse members.

To celebrate Pride Month, we'd like to highlight one of our inspiring members, Jennifer, from South Carolina.

Hi, Jennifer! What kind of self-employed work do you do?

Jennifer: I am a delivery driver for Instacart and Doordash.

Were there any unique challenges you faced in starting your business because you were a member of the LGBTQIA+ community? If so, how did you handle them?

Jennifer: Daily I face the looks of passersby because I am who I am and display myself as such. I am comfortable and love the skin I'm in. I always kill with kindness. While spectators spend their time deciding my gender, I'm greeting them with a warm, southern "Hello" with a smile, and carrying on about my day.

How about the other side of the coin: Were there any advantages that being a member of the LGBTQIA+community provided in starting your own business?

Jennifer: On the bright side, I am a minister at a LGBTQIA church, Out of the Box Ministries, serving the Myrtle Beach and surrounding communities. On my deliveries, I am able to reach a lot of souls, ministering with kind words, an invitation to worship, a church card, or just with the Contemporary Christian music of KLove playing when I arrive with their deliveries.

What advice would you give to fellow LGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs? 

Jennifer: No matter your identity, you should always press towards your goal. No one can live your life for you. No opinion can change your life. You can change your life! Get out there and get your business on... Don't become the statistic they wish you to be. Become the greatest thing they have never seen! The sky is truly the limit, now START CLIMBING!

Thanks for you sharing your story and advice with us and the rest of the Stride community, Jennifer!