Becoming an LGBTQ+ champion

Meet Angie Delk (she/her): an analytics leader, equality champion, and the very first woman president of Outforce, an employee-led resource group for LGBTQ+ employees and allies at Salesforce.

“I’m just so incredibly honored to be elected,” Angie says. “I don’t take this position lightly, especially in the current climate when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights, not just in the United States, but globally.”

Salesforce’s core value of Equality was the main reason Angie applied to work for the company, joining the Sales Onboarding team back in 2017.

“I remember walking into Salesforce on my first day and seeing all the Equality Groups lined up in a room together to share more about their mission. I’d already been volunteering with LGBTQ+ non-profits, such as The Trevor Project, so I knew I had found my community with Outforce.”

Today, Angie leads a global community of over 10,000 members, which she describes as both “challenging and very, very rewarding.”

We sat down with Angie to hear more about the impact she’s already had within Outforce, as well as her best advice for how others can find inclusion in the workplace.

Becoming a leader of Outforce

Angie’s first exposure to Outforce leadership was through an Outforce subgroup: Outforce Women+ (OW+), a community for queer women and non-binary folks. She joined the OW+ leadership team in 2019 – a community she leaned heavily upon as the world entered a pandemic the following year.

During such a challenging time, the OW+ leadership team set up monthly social hours on Zoom to help the community feel connected and supported.

“I valued the time I spent with them and the people I met through Outforce,” she shares. “I wanted to give that support back to the community.”

Since getting elected to lead Outforce globally, Angie has contributed to their mission to ensure employees feel safe bringing their authentic selves to Salesforce. Last May, the Outforce Global Leadership Team gathered together in San Francisco to discuss Outforce’s vision, values, methods, and measures for the year ahead, called a V2MOM at Salesforce.

“It’s a way for us to support our employees, bring them resources, and help them grow in their professional careers,” Angie explains.

They recognize that navigating the diverse landscape of LGBTQ+ equality across various countries demands a nuanced and adaptable approach. Each region holds its own social, legal, and cultural complexities, so the Outforce Leadership Team is focused on providing regional support based on an area’s current LGBTQ+ environment.

“We recognize that this is a challenging year, and we’re going to do all we can to make sure our employees feel safe and supported,” she says.

Angie also highlights how all Equality Groups at Salesforce recently went through a transformation from ERG (Employee Resource Group) to BRG (Business Resource Group). “The evolution from ‘Employee’ Resource Group to ‘Business’ Resource Group involves bringing it back to the business and the impact we’re having.” In fact, it’s proven that employees that are part of a Business Resource Group are 5.3x more likely to feel empowered to perform their best work, as seen in Salesforce’s Impact of Equality Report.”

Pride — all year long

Angie jokes that her first weeks leading Outforce involved “diving directly into the thick of things.”

“I was elected mid-May and we had two weeks until it was Pride time,” she says, adding that while it’s been busy, it’s also been incredibly exciting. “It’s more important now more than ever to have these moments of celebration.”

Salesforce’s Pride theme for this year was: “You belong, you have all along.” In Angie’s home city of San Francisco, she helped organize both Salesforce’s presence at the Pride parade and an event centered around language and inclusivity together with Windforce, Salesforce’s BRG for employees who are indigenous and allies of indigenous people.

She also points out that while June may be Pride month, Pride is celebrated every day at Salesforce.

“We continue the education and community support,” Angie says. “Another event we organize on a quarterly basis is on inclusive language — including why it’s important to use the correct pronouns and how to work with an employee that might not identify the same way that you do.”

4 ways to find inclusion within your organization

When asked how others can find inclusion within their own organization, Angie says: “You don’t have to be in an official position. You don’t have to be technically elected to anything. It’s really just finding your people and connecting with them,”

To help on your journey, she shares these four tips:

1. Pinpoint opportunities to foster connection. “It can be as little as seeing someone on a call who might look like you or sound like you, and you want to get a coffee with them. Community can be just two people, or even community with yourself.”
2. Volunteer within employee groups. “Maybe your BRG or ERG is hosting an event and they need help just picking up the catering. That’s one way to serve your community. Or perhaps you’re super interested in a specific topic, such as language. You can come to your BRG with that idea and help them plan an event around it.”
3. Connect with elders. “Our San Francisco Outforce team recently brought in Open House, a special organization that connects elderly LGBTQ+ people in the community… Finding that connection intergenerationally was really powerful for me. And I encourage all groups to connect with their elders because they have so much to share, and we have so much to learn.”
4. Take time for yourself. “The news cycle is endless and can be very upsetting at times. So I highly recommend everyone take a moment for themselves, have a little self-care, take a rest, and come together with your community to find the support you need.”

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