I truly believe that we're
called to being in community.
And I think that
I can be in a community with people
as a visible queer person,
and I want other people to see that
they can be a queer person
in that same space.
And that they know that they're cared about.
The town I grew up in is Custer, South Dakota.
South Dakota is
a really small community
and we built community in our church.
We have a lot of love,
but I didn't experience queer people growing up.
Matt Shepard, the gay college
student, savagely beaten
last week in Wyoming.
The first person I had awareness
to who was queer was Matthew Shepard,
and Matthew Shepard is
a young person
who was murdered in Wyoming.
and he was left outside to die alone.
There was fear for me.
I hadn't yet come out.
I wasn't sure that I was gay
or didn't want to be gay.
But when he was murdered,
I very much said, I can't be that,
because that's
what happens if you come out.
Queer visibility in tech,
I think, is really hard.
But I think visibility in tech
is something that Salesforce
has really advocated helping with.
I want to see a picture of like, yeah ...
My career path in tech has been interesting.
A person I met through
volunteering was like,
You should apply for this job
to set up a pre-sales team
for a tech company.
And then I got that job.
So magically the next day
I became a Salesforce admin.
I made tons of mistakes.
Like, brought down our ability to send invoices
to customers for four days
because I didn't know what I was doing
and I learned a lot
and I moved from being an admin
to principal admin
to now being a product manager.
I spent a lot of my
Saturdays going to Salesforce Saturdays,
and that's where, like,
we can commiserate over failure
and we can talk
about how to fix a problem.
So there's, I think,
beauty in the Salesforce community
because we can do those things
and support each other.
I think we build identity over time.
Once the chicken’s cooked,
I'll take it out the oven
and then we're going to cube it ...
And I think that
some of our identity changes.
My perspective on queerness
and Christianity
in South Dakota in a small town is different
than my perspective on it
now being in Austin, Texas.
... hot oven door.
Excuse me, I got to put ...
Scott has a real gift for hospitality
and tonight he cooks a meal,
and because Scott gravitates
people towards himself,
now we also have young adults who help him.
What we're trying to do is help build
community and help build relationships
and so, it's really important for kids to feel like
they can connect with these adults.
... It's chicken fajitas tonight ...
Being an out queer person at a church where,
since we've had five kids
come out in the queer
community in the last three years,
is important to me.
They can have conversations with me
that other people can't.
I remember
being a person that didn't feel like
I had community for a lot of times.
I don't want people to have that moment.
The reason I volunteer a lot
goes back to growing up in South Dakota.
And my family left a not great situation,
and there were people that were volunteers
for nonprofit organizations that
helped us relocate,
helped make sure that we got settled,
helped make sure that we have Christmas gifts some years.
So I've dedicated time
to working within the church,
and I've dedicated time
to working with Montrose Grace Place.
We'll have our Youth Night tonight
whether they need a bus card or dinner,
whatever they need.
We have our beautiful clothing closet
with all sorts of supplies and things that they need.
Alright, I’m going to read the rules real quick
and then we’ll get started.
Montrose Grace Place is an evening
drop-in center for youth and young adults
experiencing homelessness,
housing insecurity,
and we serve youth of all sexualities and genders.
Montrose Grace Place
happens on Thursdays for me.
I worked my morning doing Salesforce.
When my time at work is done,
I get in the car and I drive to Houston.
It is a three-hour drive
and so it is a long day.
Unhoused youth is a very invisible population.
What we do here is so unique.
Every Monday and Thursday we open at 6 p.m.
We serve hot meals
and youth really
just get to, like, engage with adults,
you know, forming some healthy relationships.
That is a great username.
When I started doing Montrose Grace Place does Trailhead,
I did it to get computers
in front of these kids
so they could apply for jobs
or check in on their housing status.
... so have you signed in yet?
As we learned, Jesus Wi-Fi is humble.
I couldn't facilitate 10 different people
asking 10 different questions at one time.
I had to find a new plan.
So I posted on Twitter
and in the Salesforce Success Community
and I got four random people to say yes.
I met Scott as a volunteer.
He was implementing
his “MGP Does Trailhead” activity,
which he does with a couple of volunteers,
comes in, teaches our youth Salesforce.
They get to win gift cards
and eat candy and have fun.
But at the same time,
they're learning this super valuable skill.
We’re going to be a creative bear today, okay?
It's a really community-oriented thing
where the Salesforce volunteers that have come in
have stayed a long time with us
and even do more.
I think that that's truly
what the Salesforce community is.
Watching Scott connect with somebody
who doesn't even know
where they're going to sleep tomorrow,
where they're going to get their next meal
and making them feel like I could
do a computer job.
... What you're doing is you're like,
Trailhead gives a great platform
for content.
You already have 650 points.
It's about enabling them
to move into something new
and this is just a way
that they can continue learning.
And that's what I care about.
When you don't see yourself
reflected in the things around you,
it makes you feel like you don't belong.
And so seeing a queer person in tech coming in and teaching,
that shows our youth
that are also members of that community that they can do it.
I'm never going to do big queer things
like suing for marriage equality,
but caring for kids in Montrose Grace Place
is that little queer experience
that I can create.
I think that
we have a limited time on this planet
and we can't solve every challenge in the world.
But I can solve the challenges that
I care about most.