ABOVE: Participants in Metro Inclusive Health’s second annual LGBTQ+ Career Fair. Graphic via Metro Inclusive Health.
Metro Inclusive Health has announced the keynote speaker and roster of participating companies for the organization’s second annual Metro LGBTQ+ Career Fair.
Metro held its inaugural gathering in 2018, after recognizing a need for an LGBTQ-inclusive career fair in Tampa Bay. Hundreds attended to seek advice, career opportunities and expertise from leading employers from throughout the area.
Organizers note that due to that high demand, the fair will include a keynote from Cal Jackson, Tech Data’s director of diversity. The company is intrinsically tied to Tampa Bay’s LGBTQ community and in 2019 received a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index for the 14th consecutive year.
“As a member of the LGBTQ+ community with friends and family alike, I found it important to offer a safer space where members of the community can come without hesitation and fear to seek career opportunities,” Metro Division Director of Community Initiatives Nate Taylor says. “Working in this community for over 10 years, I often heard stories around not being accepted, judged and/or treated differently because of gender identity and sexual orientation.”
This year’s fair welcomes some of the Tampa Bay’s most recognizable companies. The full list follows:
Bayfront Health St. Petersburg
Boley Centers
City of St. Pete
Eckerd Connects
Empath Health
Franklin Templeton Investments
GEICO
Grow Financial
JP Morgan Chase and Co.
Keller Williams Realty St. Pete
McKinsey and Co.
Metro Inclusive Health
Nielsen
Northwestern Mutual
Operation PAR
Pinellas County Government
Publix
Raymond James
Regions Bank
Savvy Mortgage Lending
SPCA Tampa Bay
Tech Data
Utopia Home Care
Walgreens
WellCare
The gathering will be held Sept. 18 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., with the keynote scheduled for noon. For more information, email NateT@MetroTampaBay.org, visit the event’s Facebook page or MetroTampaBay.org.
