Ash Wellness Receives Built In’s Inaugural LGBTQIA+ Advocacy Award

Ash Wellness is thrilled to receive the Built In LGBTQIA+ Advocacy Award!  We were celebrated as a company that puts inclusive values into practice by creating a LGBTQIA+ friendly workplace. The Built In judges considered factors like LGBTQIA+ representation in the workplace and initiatives tailored to LGBTQIA+ employees to measure company commitment “to finding, welcoming and uplifting LGBTQIA+ talent.”

As a majority Queer founding team that continues to prioritize a supportive work environment for our LGBTQIA+ team members, we at Ash Wellness are keenly aware of the unfair treatment LGBTQIA+ people often face in the workplace, especially people of color. According to a study published by UCLA’s Williams Institute, one in ten LGBT workers experienced discrimination at work in the last year. 45.5% reported experiencing unfair treatment at work at some point in their lives, including being fired, not hired, or harassed because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. 

Not only does Ash Wellness work with partners who serve our community, like Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), but our team also participates as an NYC Pride Corporate Volunteer Partner and contributes to community activism efforts like AIDS Walk New York. We built a gender-affirming language glossary and implemented employee diversity tracking to concretize our DEI efforts. “One important factor in creating LGBTQIA+ friendly workspaces is to fund Queer entrepreneurs,” says Ash Wellness CEO David Stein. “We know what our community needs both on a macro level as well as in the workspace.” Currently, less than 1% of U.S. VC funding goes in favor of LGBTQIA+ founders. 

We are proud to share our crown with the other 24 winners, including DropBox, Grindr, Maven Clinic, Carrot Fertility, Notion, Maven Clinic, and John Deere.

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