Students and allies of the LGBTQ community in the School of Business can now connect with their peers over “honest” conversations about their experiences as a minority and build personal connections through a new student organization.

The Business Pride Network, registered on GW Engage last month, will create professional and personal development opportunities, like a mentoring program with LGBTQ professionals to ensure students feel comfortable and supported in business school. Executive board members said they want to create a space where students in the LGBTQ community can gather to address their concerns, comments and ideas being a minority in the business school.

Junior Nick McRae, the president of the business network, said the organization held its first student body meeting late last month to determine the needs and events members want the organization to address. He said the attendees mentioned having difficulty finding diversity in business internships aimed at members of the LGBTQ community and hoped the organization could help connect them with those types of professional development opportunities.

“Something that I feel strongly about is, I just went through a full summer Wall Street recruitment,” McRae said. “A lot of times, there are different types of careers, finance and Wall Street being one of them that are not seen as being compatible with anybody who’s not a straight, White male.”

McRae said the group plans to send emails regularly to students when they are alerted of opportunities, like business internships and scholarships. He said guaranteeing students access to opportunities connected to their identity makes LGBTQ students feel more comfortable starting off in a field where they are a minority.

In a study conducted by the Human Rights Campaign last year, 46 percent of LGBTQ workers in the United States reported being closeted in the workplace. More than 15 percent of employees reported feeling exhausted from spending time and energy concealing their sexual orientation and gender identity at work.

“One thing that is really important across the board is, again, just to make sure that No. 1, you have a space where you can talk about issues that might matter to you or might be bothering you,” McRae said. “So that’s one thing. But also emphasizing that you shouldn’t discount any career opportunities or any business opportunities or any interests at all, just because of who you are.”

Senior Thomas Knipe, the vice president of the organization, said the group was originally an advocacy group called Out and About, but it became inactive at the beginning of last academic year. Knipe said he and McRae contacted the Office of Student Life to rebrand the group after noticing a lack of a central hub for business students in the LGBTQ community.

He said he plans to use the group’s Instagram frequently to engage with students over Instagram story polls and discussion posts. Almost 70 students registered through the group’s interest form so far, he said.

“Sometimes you see that you’re the only LGBTQ student in classes,” Knipe said. “So this serves as a place for LGBTQ students interested in business to just get to know each other and find and make those connections.”

Knipe said he hopes the organization collaborates with business school administrators in the future and hosts events to increase the group’s visibility in the school and promotes more events directed at LGBTQ students. He said the business school will host an “Out in the Workplace” discussion panel for its diversity week later this month separate from the organization.

He said the event was partially influenced by the new group’s presence and direct access to the LGBTQ business community on campus.

Sophomore Trevor Haen, the group’s treasurer, said the organization is prioritizing recruitment this semester and is promoting itself through the Undergraduate Business Association newsletter. He added the group plans to host monthly general body meetings, which will each focus on building community between members with activities like virtual Zoom games and discussions on business school concerns.

“We’re really trying to get the word out,” Haen said. “And that’s through email, through our mailing list but also through just social media engagement.”

Haen said the organization is planning to invite LGBTQ business professionals in D.C. this semester to offer advice and personal testimonies from their experiences pursuing business.

He added that he joined the group to make connections with peers in his community and find events directly aimed at diversity, which he hopes will interest other students too.

“Everyone loves to laugh and have fun,” Haen said. “And if we create that environment, in our general body meetings and on our Instagram, we can reach more people, and we can have a larger impact.”