Our Stories
The Value of Bringing Your Full Self to Work: An LGBT Diversity Journey
Julia Marshel
Senior Account Manager
Altria International Sales
I became involved with Mosaic before it was Mosaic. We had our first LGBTQ meeting and the rules were it had to be offsite and you couldn't talk about it back at the office. About a year later, this group formed Mosaic with people who were out – including myself.
When I first started my D&I journey, I wasn't really invested in it and didn't think it had value for the company. But as I began working in that space, I realized how disengaged I was as an employee because I couldn't bring myself to work. The more I was able to be who I am – the more I was able to speak what was on my mind and hear what others had to say – the more passionate I became about working at Altria. It also became really clear that the value for the company was huge. D&I at the surface sounds like it's talking about being gay, about being female, about being African American. But really it’s practice at being consumer-centric and hearing good ideas wherever they come from, which leads right to innovation.
