JTC Newsletter Spotlight: Nick Alm, Co-founder and Executive Director of Mossier, a nonprofit boosting LGBTQ+ rights around the globe
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Monthly, in our Increase Diversity newsletter, we spotlight small businesses doing intentional work to help organizations increase diversity. Today, it brings me such joy to present to you all, Nick Alm, the Founder of Mossier and a Workplace Equity Consultant who is focused on the Queer community.
Mossier works with organizations to develop employment equity for everyone LGBTQ+ and to design workspaces that work for everyone. They meet companies wherever they are in their journey, providing a community for people to listen, test ideas, learn and grow.
Mossier works with dozens of companies in the Twin Cities and elsewhere. They range from Accenture and Andersen, the manufacturer of energy-efficient windows and doors, to Ecolab, General Mills, Hormel, the Minnesota Twins, and Target.
Leaders like Nick are raising awareness around the topic of intersectionality and the highly individual needs that exist within the Queer community so organizations can appropriately address the needs of untapped voices in the workplace and take conscious actions toward inclusivity from the first touch in the hiring process to the workplace culture.
*** Let’s get right into our interview!
Question: Tell us a little bit about who you are and why you are in this line of work.
I am a Queer, non-binary, young entrepreneur. I am someone who believes in breaking down the binaries of right and wrong and us and them. I graduated from the University of Minnesota Carlson School in 2018 and decided to develop a business while completing my degree. My goal was to help businesses create inclusive environments that respect gender, sexuality, and identity, and focus on hiring and retaining members of the LGBTQ community. My work is about disrupting the political world that we find ourselves in right now and educating organizations with proven methods that allow the LGBTQ community to succeed at all levels.
“Through my work, I am looking for progress for LGBTQ+ people, not perfection.”
Question: How was your company founded? Or how did you get started in DEI work and increasing diversity?
As an undergraduate at the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Business, I co-founded Compass, the school’s first-ever student group for LGBTQ individuals and allies. The people I met through that work inspired me and opened doors, and when I graduated, I started work full-time on Mossier thanks to the Kevin J. Mossier Foundation. Kevin Mossier started RSVP Vacations, the first openly LGBTQ travel agency. After Kevin Mossier died in 1996, the Kevin J. Mossier Foundation made millions in grants and was one of the first funders of the marriage equality movement in Minnesota.
Question: Who are you serving through your work?
We have been serving organizations for 6 years now. In the early days, we focused primarily on larger corporations. Now that we have a curriculum and monthly programming it has become more accessible to small, medium, and enterprise organizations. While most of our work is with organizations local to Minnesota, we can.
Question: How are you increasing representation? How does your organization help companies increase diversity?
It’s common that organizations approach us with an immediate need, like “we have an employee who is transitioning and we need help”. We meet them with compassion, something we name call-in culture, helping to work through supporting their employee while helping them see the broader needs for the Queer community. We meet them where they are with their current DEI efforts and on their journey toward employment equity for all. It is very common for leaders within these organizations to not know about the Queer community, the right language to use, and where to even start.
“You have to meet people from a place of compassion, not judgment.”
As we start our work together, everyone knows there is room for growth, and we focus on making room to ask uncomfortable questions. It’s all about the relationships we form with our members, we take the time to listen and learn and create trust. We find that it helps them develop a keener sense of their DEI work.
“Increasingly, employers want to hire Queer people at a level that's proportionate to their representation in the general population and that is a great sign.”
Question: What products/services are you selling to employers to help them do this work? How can people get in contact with you?
We offer a variety of programs, including our 4W assessment, customized curriculum, a job board, workshops, and monthly meet-ups on workplace equity and related topics. The goal of all our programs is to collaborate with organizations with a clear plan to grow their Queer competence. It’s vital that they have practical and tactical ways to implement their strategy which means that LGBTQ people have access to the same jobs, opportunities, raises, and promotions as their non-LGBTQ counterparts. All while transforming the workplace culture.
Our curriculum, 4W assessment, and all our programs revolve around 5 key areas:
Transgender and Non-binary
Employee Resource Groups
Self-identification – asking about LGBTQ status
Culture
Recruiting
We provide workbooks in each of these areas that can be self-guided or facilitated. Organizations purchase an annual membership deal where they get the 4W Assessment, curriculum, hiring events, online lessons and courses, all kinds of virtual and in-person (hopefully soon!) meet-ups, and much more.
From a recruiting standpoint, our focus is on creating authentic relationships between LGBTQ+ people and employers. We want to rebuild the lack of trust that so many LGBTQ people have in the hiring process. LGBTQ+ people don’t feel like they can get clear answers around the opportunities and culture of an organization in a two-minute career fair conversation. We are working toward changing that so LGBTQ+ members can feel supported and that their concerns are heard.
For job seekers – we are now rolling out a “Matchmaker Service” which includes a career coach for job seekers and will be free to the LGBTQ+ community. The community needs someone who shows how much they care and encourages them to go out there and find career success. Many members are discouraged by the recruiting process, and we want to change that mindset from all angles, top to bottom.
“We are dismantling the power dynamic that prevents Queer job seekers from getting what they need out of the hiring process.”
What else should we know?
I’ve had recruiters and leaders ask me about the term Queer and what it actually means. I believe that every Queer person has a similar but unique interpretation of what it means to be Queer. To me, being Queer means existing outside of binaries, it means building new systems as opposed to working with existing ones, it means bending and breaking the rules of expression. There has always been a tension with LGBTQ+ people because some of us view progress via assimilation (marriage equality, access to military service, the ability to adopt children and raise a family) and others have sought to lead lives outside of what is prescribed by the white-cisgender-heterosexual majority. The Gen Z generation, especially Gen-Zers of color, have adopted Queer at a very high rate and it has a more radical tone today. It is a word charged with as many emotions and historical perspectives as there are shades of LGBTQ+ identity.
“Queer people are working towards building something new, vs working with what we have.”
Question: How can others contact you?
Visit our website! https://www.mossier.com/. We have an excellent program for organizations that want to increase representation of and equity for Queer people. We are also building a community for members who want to advance their careers and learn more about the opportunities and the rights they have. I’d also love to connect on LinkedIn.
***
Well, I hope you enjoyed today’s article as much as I did. For many organizations celebrating the Queer community, it is a once-a-year event during pride month. Thankfully, things have changed. We now have leaders moving the needle by helping organizations create a genuinely inclusive culture year-round that celebrates Queer people by validating their identities and values within the organization. I admire Nick’s commitment and passion for increasing diversity in the workplace.
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