LGBTQ finance leaders tell Insider how they bring their authentic selves to work and help bridge gaps in inclusion

V7 International

Suresh Raj is the Chief Business Development Officer at Vision7 International, a marketing communications company headquartered in Canada. His previous roles include the Worldwide Chief Business Development Officer position at the Ogilvy Group.

Based in New York, Raj serves on boards and mentorship panels of various organisations, including Ruebik, a diversity-first recruiting firm, and LGBTQ empowerment and inclusion initiatives like Uhlala and INvolve.

Raj said that the challenges to inclusion can start from the moment a hire takes place, when roles are offered to white and straight applicants as they are deemed to “fit the mould” better. Structural suppression of minorities has led him to sometimes feel “inferior or lesser”as a person of colour and member of the LGBTQ community, he told Insider.

“As a result, I default to having to work three times as hard to achieve equal footing. So, battling this psyche daily is a constant challenge too,” he added.

To battle this, he said LGBTQ employees of color should to keep focused on being the best in their lines of work, as that allows the “work and delivery to speak for itself and therefore merit the just reward.”