Pride at Zalando: My colors of the rainbow
At Zalando, we want to continuously share the beauty, joy, creativity, freedom and style of the LGBTQI+ community. Our Pride motto for 2022 is “My Colors Of The Rainbow”, where we share our platform with those who champion and inspire diversity, inclusion, and community to celebrate every color of the rainbow and every expression of being LGBTQI+.
We sat down with four colleagues from our LGBTQI+ employee resource group (ERG) to talk about their favorite colors of the Progressive Pride Rainbow Flag, what community means for them, and where they find inspiration to express themselves and contribute to community building.
Meet four of our LGBTQI+ ERG members in the videos and read the short recap below.
In Zalando ERGs are voluntary groups organized and formed by employees on the basis of shared identity or experience. They enhance the workplace experience and are linked to our do.BETTER Diversity and Inclusion Strategy’s commitments to create an inclusive workplace for our talents.
If you scroll down, you can also watch their individual interviews after the recap.
Meet our LGBTQI+ ERG members
Anna works as a Software Engineer in the D&I Digital Experience team and identifies as a butch lesbian.
Casper works as a Junior Software Engineer within the Partner Orders team at Zalando, uses the pronouns they/them or he/him, and identifies as transmasculine — the space between being non-binary and a trans man.
Kim is a Fashion Product Developer for our private labels and is currently part of our Women in Tech Reskilling program to become a software engineer. Kim identifies as gay and uses she/they pronouns.
Samet is a Senior Communications Manager in the D&I Team and identifies as queer.
What’s your color of the rainbow?
Casper: I have multiple favorite LGBT+ flags and colors, but I think my main one is purple
because it represents the spirit of the LGBT+ community, which to me is very strong and resilient. And also white, because it represents the space between male and female on the gender identity spectrum, which is what I identify as.
Kim: My favorite color of the rainbow is green.It symbolizes nature and life, and it just makes me really happy.
Anna: Honestly, for a long time I felt really uncomfortable with the fact that my favorite color was pink. I felt somehow like it was being forced on me and I just liked pink because that was what I was always dressed in my entire childhood. But actually embracing my more butch style and masculine way of presenting, I became way more comfortable with my femininity. And in that, owning the fact that I love the color pink.
Samet: My favorite color of the rainbow is white because I like how, in color theory, white contains all the colors of the color spectrum, so it contains all the colors of the rainbow. And in the pride flag it stands for gender fluidity, which is a concept I can really identify with.
What does self-expression mean to you?
Casper: Self-expression is being able to look and feel the way you want and have others recognize and support that. Being able to look in the mirror and recognize yourself and act the way that you want and feel comfortable acting. And for others in your community to support and accept that.
What do you think about community and how would you like to give back to your community?
Samet: Community is a place or collective of people who share common traits or beliefs, which shape them or their identity, so they stick together and create belonging amongst each other.
I’ve gained so much from being part of the LGBTQI+ community. I found people who gave me hope by just existing and representing.
A few years ago, I met someone who was a queer person of color and Muslim in Germany, who was successful in life and open about who they are, which inspired me a lot. And it inspired me to also, hopefully, be the same representation for others.
Kim: I like to give back by being a voice for others who may not have the energy or capacity to speak up for themselves. One way I’ve done this is by joining Works Council, where I can represent a lot of employees, but especially disabled, neurodivergent, and LGBTQ employees, because that’s who I am.
What about the LGBTQI+ community inspires you to proudly express yourself?
Anna: I’m always really inspired by athletes that are out and activists. Like Megan Rapinoe from the U.S. women’s national soccer team.
One time, I was out getting pizza with my girlfriend in Chicago and I had purple hair at the time, like Megan Rapinoe has. And this little girl came running up to me, telling me how much she loved my purple hair and how much I looked just like Megan. And I don’t look anything like Megan Rapinoe. I wish I did, she’s beautiful. But her mom explained how much she loves soccer and looks up to Megan Rapinoe. And I think it’s so cool how young kids have these amazing role models to look up to.
Kim: Marsha P. Johnson really inspires me. She was one of the leaders of the Stonewall Riots and the LGBTQ liberation in the late 1960s and in the 1970s. She really inspires me to stand up and be the voice for others who may not be able to stand up for themselves.
Casper: I read a couple of books by Kate Bornstein, who is a nonbinary gender activist and writer, and one of the books is called Gender Outlaw and the other one is called My Gender Workbook. They were really helpful just to give me words to express how I was feeling.
And one of the first trans or non-binary thing I got for myself was a little sticker that said “Gender Outlaw,” and I still have it on my laptop as a reminder to be proud of who I am.
Samet: I’m inspired by the people who have paved the way. I’m also inspired by the people who are yet to come. And for me, those two are equal because we’re standing on the shoulders and the incredible work that they’ve done, which has given us the opportunity to shoot this video in the first place. And at the same time, I feel a sense of obligation for those yet to come to continue this work, even if it’s on a very small and personal scale.
What do you recommend people to do, to better support the LGBTQI+ community?
Kim: I think a really easy way to be a better ally is simply to follow LGBTQI+ creators on social media and share their posts with your friends and followers. Every person on social media has a platform, no matter how small. Even if you just have 80 followers, you can still make an impact with what you share.
Samet: I think what is really crucial to support other members of the LGBT community, especially those yet to come, is that we do not assimilate. So many people ask me, Why are you so open about your identity and why are you so vocal? And I always say, if we all assimilate, then young LGBT people will never feel comfortable in a society that normalizes and naturalizes heteronormativity. We need to keep the community open and show up in solidarity so we can make sure that those who are yet to come feel welcomed and accepted.
Casper: There’s a little series of books that I really like and found helpful to give to people who want to learn more about pronouns or the LGBT+ community called “A Quick and Easy Guide to”-series. So “A Quick and Easy Guide to Queer and Trans Identities” and “A Quick and Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns” are great little books you can get on the Kindle in the EU. They are little comics that help explain what these pronouns are, why they’re important, and what these identities are in a really nice, welcoming, and inclusive fashion. They’re really easy to read and quick to get into.
Anna: A resource that I would recommend is the “Am I a lesbian?” Google doc that’s been floating around on the Internet for about the last decade. Even if the answer to that question, for you personally, is a resounding no, it’s still really helpful to fully understand compulsory heterosexuality and heteronormativity and how it can impact, specifically lesbians and, people in the queer community at large.
At the end of the day, caring about each other is kind of the whole point.
Please continue scrolling to watch their individual interviews below.
For more information about our ERGs and Zalando’s D&I strategy please visit our D&I hub here.
Anna:
Casper:
Kim:
Samet:
If you’re curious about us and our open opportunities you can check out our careers site here.
