The Opus Business’s Amplifying Voices series held a business panel Thursday, Dec. 9 in McNeely Hall to highlight LGBTQ+ business professionals and their careers.

This event featured Twin Cities business leaders and LGBTQ+ members Nicki Hangsleben, Aileen Sanchez, Ryan Poehler and Barry Lau. The Opus Undergraduate Diversity & Inclusion Working Group, Queer Straight Alliance and the Opus College of Business Undergraduate Program teamed up to put on the event.

“At Opus, we are committed to doing business for the common good. And for us, that means making the future of business unapologetically more diverse, equitable, inclusive and always innovate,” said Nakeisha Lewis, Opus College of Business associate dean of undergraduate and accelerated master’s programs.

Hangsleben is the founder and executive director of the QUEERSPACE Collective. After being a leader for 17 years in the non-profit community, Hangsleben has a deep commitment to volunteering and community development.

“Really finding what you’re good at and then finding an organization whose missions you believe in, whether they’re for profit or nonprofit, and then bringing your skills and your authentic self is, I think, kind of the best way to do a career,” Hangsleben said.

Aileen Sanchez is the senior director of philanthropy at Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota and Children’s Home. Sanchez is a visionary and entrepreneurial donor centric strategist. She is a native Spanish speaker and has a passion for diversification in the workplace and beyond.

Being in a leadership role, Sanchez recognizes disparities and works to identify ways to reduce those disparities.

Sanchez has great hope for the Gen Z LGBTQ+ community and their impact they can have on their workers.

“We have so much more to build on. We’ve got protections within the state of Minnesota… that say ‘if I’m a queer, if I’m a lesbian, and I have a relationship I can’t lose my job.’ That’s amazing,” Sanchez said. “We have a significant amount of safety nets and awareness and backlash also.”

Ryan Poehler currently holds the position of project manager on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team for U.S. Bank. Poehler cites his passion for creating a more equitable business community for his current role.

“I wanted to start off my career in diversity, equity, inclusion because I want more leaders to have the opportunity to showcase their perspective and their talents as being diverse individuals, so that we can change the landscape of leadership at the top,” Poehler said.

Rather than having a set idea for a “dream job,” Poehler urged students to make a dream checklist and meet things from that list over time. From an LGBTQ+ perspective, he said having somebody who values your identity should be high up on that checklist.

Barry Lau is the vice president and process engineering senior manager with Wells Fargo and has over 27 years of experience working in strategy, technology and business.

Lau talked of his work experience and said that he was very open and authentic to himself as well as with people who asked him questions.

“When talking to colleagues, I’ll always bring some ‘oh, well, my husband and I did this’ or ‘we have two kids’ and we’ll make some type of connection there,” Lau said. “We’re just like anyone else in the office.”

The event closed off with a word from Tony Yang, Opus Undergraduate Diversity & Inclusion Group program manager.

“Remember to really challenge the system and really challenge stereotypes and stand as allies for the queer community,” Yang said.

Camarae Good can be reached at good4796@stthomas.edu.