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, Zack, from Virginia.

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

Zack: Uber, Lyft, Doordash, Postmates, and Roadie

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?

Zack: Yes, I’ve unfortunately encountered quite a few challenges getting started. Many people around the area would see me as a young white male, and when I gave excellent customer service to most, after they would chat with me and find out I had a husband; the customer would then get incredibly uncomfortable with me regardless of the rapport built up between us. I also have come into challenges with such things as picking up food orders and after getting ready to hand the food to the customer, they tell me they’d rather not have “a f** deliver their food, it’s a health risk if any of us have AIDs.” Normally in cases like this, I’d simply try to kill them with kindness and show them that not everyone of us is all that bad. I’d even attempt to build rapport with them at first, then once it’s been a decent level of trust and friendship achieved during my job, I’d slowly start dropping hints about my “partner.”

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?

Zack: No.

What advice would you give to fellow LGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs? 

Zack: Kill them with kindness, professionalism, and a FABULOUS smile! If they’re your friend beforehand and you’re respectful to their boundaries, you’ll have a higher chance of maintaining the new established ally as opposed to the alternate approach.

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