#AllColorNoShade: Celebrating Pride At Talino Venture Labs
At Talino, we've made it part of our mission to provide a safe and welcoming space for our teammates. From our direct communication lines with upper management to our bias-free hiring process, we are constantly looking for ways to practice inclusion.
Pride month gave us the opportunity to recognize how far we've come and recommit to doing more for our colorful community. Here’s a quick look into how we celebrated this year:
All Colors On Show
This year, we kicked off Pride Month with a Virtual Coffee Break over Kumospace. Our teammates tuned in to share their stories, what Pride means to them, and talk about how we can show up and support our LGBTQIA+ peers.
To keep the conversation going, the People and Culture team shared trivia about queer history and culture through our company channels. They also made a Pride-themed Zoom background for everyone to use throughout the month. It was a great time for team photos!
New Voices, New Lessons
Eager to bring new perspectives into the mix, we invited Dex Camitan IV of the University of the Philippines and Bam Terol of TaskUs for a talk series called “#AllColorNoShade: Creating an Inclusive Culture in a Diverse Workplace.”
Over two days, we had engaging discussions on gender identity and expression, allyship, and how gender affects the way we relate to others at work. But perhaps the most important thing that came out of these discussions is that celebrating individuality should be a daily habit.
“As an organization, we need to create a space where queer, non-binary, gender-fluid, and transgender individuals feel comfortable and want to participate,” Terol said. “We must learn to be welcoming and include different perspectives in what we do.”
Coming Together
To close out the celebrations, Talino VSG, the company's design, communications, and growth consulting group, organized their own offline festivities as part of their town hall.
The group gathered at our Ortigas office for a #TalinoDesign talk called “Queer Lessons on Creativity,” featuring F. Maria Regalado, VSG Incubation Strike Team Writer. It was a safe and much-needed catch-up over snacks and thought-proviking conversations. Maria’s talk focused on how living out a complex identity makes disruptive thinking come naturally to queer people—resulting in bigger, bolder ideas. You can check out an abridged version here:
More Work to Be Done
While we are proud of the strides Talino has made toward diversity and inclusion, we recognize that there is more we can do to help our teammates feel represented.
That is why we’re prioritizing our efforts to normalize diverse expressions at work. This includes announcing each new hire’s pronouns upon onboarding, implementing gender-neutral documents, and developing modules for all on how to be welcoming and inclusive in our language and actions.
“When the world is not a safe place, our workplace can be,” said Drei Padilla, People and Culture Specialist. "We want everyone to feel comfortable being themselves at work, and we are always listening, collaborating to build a culture where that is possible."
Our theme, "all color, no shade" means that we embrace everyone and respect each other's differences. And our team is committed to living out this mission, all year round.
“The truth is, there is no room for exclusion in innovation,” Jesilma Guerrero, Talino’s VP for People & Culture, said. “We want our culture to be impactful, inspiring, and supportive—and that means welcoming all people, regardless of race, background, or gender identity.”
Talino Venture Labs is a proud equal opportunity employer, and we’re always on the lookout for new talent to join our team.
Build the future of inclusive fintech with us! Check out https://talinolabs.com/careers for all available roles.
