Meet Marcques Johnson: Being a better ally means not being afraid to ask how
For Pride Month 2019, we celebrate love in all its forms. This year, our LGBTQ+ employee resource group Pridebox chose the theme Love is ___. This theme emphasizes inclusivity by allowing people to consider what love means to them as well as others. During the month we’ll be asking members of Pridebox how they fill in the blank. Meet Marcques Johnson.
Q: What is your name, what office do you work out of, and how long have you been at Dropbox?
A: My name is Marcques Johnson. I’m based in the San Francisco office, and I started in June of 2019.
Q: What’s your current role in helping make the world work better?
A: I’m the DEI ERG program manager, which stands for diversity, equity & inclusion employee resource group. Essentially, I manage our ERGs to help align and drive our DEI initiatives and programs.
Q: What does this year’s theme, Love is ___, mean to you? How do you fill in the blank?
A: I can’t really define it or simplify what it means to me. But it makes me smile, cry, laugh, angry, optimistic, pessimistic, love harder, etc. (you get the point), depending on who or what I’m applying love towards. That said, it’s hard to simply say what love is, so I’ll say: Love is…mysterious.
Q: Do you have any advice on how to be a better ally?
A: Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable and/or ask the individual/community how you could be an ally to them. Not only does that help build trust, but it also builds a genuine relationship with the individual/community and shows that you’re interested in their wellbeing specifically. One (wo)man’s trash is another (wo)man’s treasure, so a small gesture could yield long-lasting results.
Q: Are there any LGBTQ+ leaders or role models that you look up to?
A: Alvin Ailey, Bayard Rustin, James Baldwin, RuPaul, Ellen DeGeneres
Q: What are you most excited for with this year’s Pride Month at Dropbox?
A: Being a new Droplet, I’m most excited to see how Dropbox “does Pride” and meet new coworkers who are proud to celebrate who they are (LGBTQ+ or ally).
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share?
A: Everyone’s an ally, even within their own identified community/communities. So we should always be striving to be better allies, especially within our own communities.
