Interview with Stephanie Battaglino Author of REFLECTIONS FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE GLASS CEILING #interview

As the founder and owner of Follow Your Heart, LLC (www.StephanieBattaglino.com) Stephanie is an internationally recognized speaker, workshop presenter, trainer, author and workplace diversity & inclusion consultant. She currently sits on the Board of PFLAG National and is the Chair of their Business Advisory Council.

Here’s what critics are saying about Stephanie Battaglino:

“From all of us – for your brilliant words and thoughts . . . And heart.”
-Diane Sawyer, ABC News

“You were just outstanding . . . with your presentation and guidance during our learning and discussion. Thank you for providing such important and current information. We appreciate you and what you do.”
May Snowden, Senior Fellow & Program Director, Human Capital Practice, The Conference Board

“Thank you Stephanie for joining us today during FMC Corporation Pride Month celebration. Your personal story was educational, informative and inspiring.”
-Subarna Malakar, Director and Global Diversity & Inclusion Officer, FMC Corporation

“I have had the pleasure of working with Stephanie on an enrichment event at our company and got to know her further at the following Out & Equal Workplace Summit. I’ve found her honesty and heartfelt way she tells her story to be very meaningful to me. She played a large role in introducing me t – and our entire company – to transgender issues and what I believe is the next frontier in creating diverse and accepting workplaces. I now proudly count myself among the allies for the transgender community.”
-Heather Gill, Diversity & Inclusion Lead, Land O’Lakes

“I would like to extend a most sincere thank you for your inspiration, and for joining our company’s’ diversity efforts in support of the LGBTQ community. I have received several messages from executives who were present and had great feedback to share!
-Juan Camilo Romero, Manager, Diversity & Inclusion Strategies, Macy’s, Inc.

“It is with great pride that Deena and I announce the formal launch of the Trans Toolkit project that you so generously collaborated on with us this past Spring. We truly would not have been able to do this project without each and every one of your thoughtful contributions. We thank you for your time, your passion and your contribution to this project.”
-Beck Bailey, Director of Employee Engagement, Workplace Equality Program, Human Rights Campaign (HRC)

“The feedback from the Commissioner and the entire Executive staff has been overwhelmingly positive! Everyone here is excited about the possibilities of doing more to develop the Agency’s Transgender Rights and Inclusion competence. There is no doubt that the Executives would love to have Stephanie back to train the entire 5,400 person workforce if it were possible and practical. I would not be surprised if they started a petition for Stephanie to present full-time, but I digress.”
-James L. Hallman, Chief Diversity & EEO Officer, New York City Department of transportation

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

Website: https://stephaniebattaglino.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/StephanieFYH

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/followyourheartllc

Thanks for stopping by, Stephanie. Your book, Reflections From Both Sides of the Glass Ceiling, sounds fascinating. What was the turning point when you said to yourself, “I have a story inside and I want to tell the world about it.”?

Stephanie: It actually began the day after the Pulse Nightclub Massacre in June of 2016. I didn't know anyone personally who had lost their life, but the entire scene tore at my heart and my soul. The LGBTQ community suffered an immensely tragic and needless loss of life. That's when I started writing. Just trying to gather my thoughts and channel the outrage I felt inside. I wrote a piece that I titled "We Are Orlando" that I posted to my company's intranet. A lot of people saw it and commented on it. Telling my story created a conversation. That reinforced in my mind the notion that I had known all along: that there is immense power in our stories. In my story. I believe that raising my voice raises up the voices of those around me in my community that feel they have no voice.

Tell us about your experiences growing up. Did you feel different even then?

Stephanie: Yes. From a very early age. I detail it all in the book. I innately knew I was different, so I hid it from the rest of my world by throwing myself into sports and doing what I thought others wanted me to do so I could "fit in." Fitting in meant not be seen as "other," and most importantly, not getting caught. That went on for four-plus decades and three failed marriages.

Was your family supportive of you when you ‘came out’?

Stephanie: Yes and no. My parents had already passed, so I had to come to grips on my own terms with how they might have reacted. and that took awhile. As for my siblings (I'm the youngest of four), my sister came around very quickly (she told me I was the little sister she always wished she had), but much less so with my two brothers - we were estranged for a couple of years. I learned that it just takes time. Unfortunately, for some trans people family never comes around no matter how much time passes.

Why did you choose to go into the corporate America workplace?

Stephanie: After meandering through previous jobs in the banking industry that were just not the right fit for me, I finally came upon one that really clicked, only to have it ripped out from under me after a little over a year by a severe downsizing. Through luck and timing, my subsequent job search landed a job at AT&T - and it felt right. Like I had hit the "big time." AT&T was hiring marketing professionals because of the "long distance wars" that were going on with MCI and Sprint and that served as entre into Corporate America, as in Fortune 50 Corporate America.

What’s life like for you now?

Stephanie: Life is good - really good. I count my many blessings every single day. I am beyond grateful to be living the second chapter of my life - as an author and voice for the transgender community - with my wife Mari - and our two cats - by my side.

Do you have any words of wisdom for those out there who might be afraid to tell the world their secret?

Stephanie: Don't ever be afraid to tell your story. As a friend of mine once told me, "you are your history." There is immense power in our stories, and by adding your voice to the collective it not only makes that collective voice louder and stronger, but it also creates the space for others to do the same.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Title: REFLECTIONS FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE GLASS CEILING: FINDING MY TRUE SELF IN CORPORATE AMERICA
Author: Stephanie Battaglino
Publisher: L’Oste Vineyard Press
Pages: 286
Genre: Memoir

BOOK BLURB

For Stephanie Battaglino, her lifelong journey of self-discovery closely paralleled her daily grind of trudging up the corporate ladder. Amidst the successes and failures of working as a male in the corporate world, Stephanie finally realized that the only path to career fulfillment was to embrace her true self once and for all. That it resulted in her becoming the first officer in the history of New York Life to come out on the job as transgender is not surprising. What was surprising was her abrupt introduction to that generations-old nemesis of working women everywhere, the Glass Ceiling. What she quickly realized was that her embrace of her authentic self came with a price: the loss of male privilege.

Reflections from Both Sides of the Glass Ceiling: Finding My Authentic Self in Corporate America is part memoir, part cautionary tale of what it is like to experience a career on both sides of the gender divide. Stephanie’s unique and very personal experience provides a powerful trailblazing story of inspiration, self-discovery, and triumph – for ALL women.