Tag Archives: Deanna Jones

My final blog, and the five things I’ll be doing next

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I have had a fulfilling run as a DEIB consultant and trainer

This blog has many links – please do explore them!

On November 5, 2010, I opened my business, Total Engagement Consulting by Kimer, and published my first blog, “Being passionate about what I do.” I shared that I was thrilled and excited to be forming a consulting firm around diversity and career development, two of the areas I enjoyed the most during my 31 years at IBM.  My second blog was actually a copy of the press release announcing the opening of my business.

I published another blog a month later titled, “Retirement – Having the time to make an impact.” Basically I was leaving a 50-60 hour per week corporate job and then starting my own firm with the target of working 30 hours per week. That provided me the flexibility to serve on nonprofit boards and to spearhead the Kimer-Kamba Community Centre in Mtito Andei, Kenya.

In my final newsletter which I sent out earlier this month, I shared that I am basically retiring, turning over most of my business, except a very small handful of favorite clients, to Deanna Jones of “Deanna Jones Now!”

So now here are the things where I will be spending most of my time:

1) Pursuing board and advisory positions. With my vast corporate and entrepreneurial experience, the next logical step in my vocational journey is to land one or two paying corporate board or advisor positions with medium or large sized companies. I seek to leverage my extensive organizational experience and creative mind to advise companies across all areas to maximize strategic and operational effectiveness. I have a greatly enhanced LinkedIn profile (check it out) to position me for future board and advisor positions, and of course welcome any references or suggestions from all of you.

I am looking forward to supporting my work in Africa and with Other Sheep.

2) Spending more time serving the nonprofit boards I am on. One initiative I need to devote significant time on is recruiting a volunteer Global Coordinator for Other Sheep. I am the President of this nonprofit with the mission of providing resources to faith activists in second and third world countries who are working with religious leaders be more accepting of sexual minorities. Other Sheep has basically been in a holding patterns for several years after the departure of our previous executive director (we have now redefined that role as “Global Coordinator.”) Please contact me if interested and want more information.

In addition, I continue to serve on the board of “Gay Sons and Mothers” as we are finishing a short documentary on this work, and on the Planning Committee of the North Carolina Council of Churches.

3) Figure Skating! At the age of 59, I decided to pursue becoming a competitive adult figure skater, and after seven years of training and hard work have passed all the tests to now compete at the US Adult National Championships. I enjoy both the athleticism and performance aspects of figure skating, and have already won two gold and two silver medals at first first three US Adult Nationals. I want to continue to grow new skills and compete for many years to come. I have written several blogs about my skating journey and have lots of information, including my competition schedule, on my figure skating web pages.

4) Spending time with friends and family. It is nice to be able just to spend time with friends and family and take a nice 3-hour lunch with friends when I want to. Also, spending time with my 92-year-old mother who is in good health and continues to live on her own in the family home less than 2 miles from where I live.

5) And other future ventures? Of course there are still many places around the world on my bucket list that I would love to travel to, and I am strongly considering trying to get engaged in acting in community theater.

I look forward to seeing what adventures unfold in my life after work!

The impact of hateful anti-transgender legislation – a personal perspective

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Deanna Jones, blog author

This blog has been provided by my associate consultant and trainer, transwoman Deanna Jones, as we approach the Transgender Day of Remembrance November 20th.

I was asked to speak at the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce’s DEI Conference back in July of this year. This is a wonderful conference and I advise everyone to try and attend this next year as they continue to expand it. It is a valuable resource to connect and hear DEI leaders in the area.

I was on the panel for how anti-trans laws being passed at an alarming rate affect me, both personally and professionally. The very first question I was asked was this, “as a transgender person and as a parent of a transgender child, how do these proposed laws and the discussion around them impact you personally? My response is below:

I want all of you to image that you have ached to scale a mountain, you are driven to climb this mountain, you aren’t sure why, but not climbing this mountain is not a choice for you, you knew you had to climb this mountain since you were 4 years old. Finally, one day after about 50 years, you try and climb it…It’s not an easy climb, you have some very close people to you who run away not wanting to be anywhere near the mountain, wife, kids, neighbors and other people, but the closer you get, the more beautiful the view becomes.

Suddenly you’re at the top and the view is beautiful and breathtaking. You take it all in and smile. Then, you start to hear some voices, these voices become louder telling you that they are the keepers of the mountain and you are most definitely not supposed to be there. You are told to leave because climbing this mountain is restricted to only “some people”. Then these officials start placing ropes around it with signs that state “penalties” for your type of people being on the mountain. Suddenly, as if these officials have become emboldened by others who are on the mountain cursing you, they start picking up sticks and start chasing you down the mountain.

That’s what it feels like, I know I pushed that metaphor very hard but, I couldn’t think of anything more fitting as to the way I feel. I wonder, why are there so many people who are trying to keep us from getting to the top of the mountain. I want to believe for a better future life for all of us where we can be who we want to be, and climb whatever mountain we want to. Isn’t that a fundamental right as Americans, as a part of humanity?

My partner has a 15 year old son who is transgender…..He calls me Mom I love him so much but he’s scared. It breaks my heart. He is climbing this mountain but now he too feels like people want to push him off. As a Parent of a transgender child, it’s been so wonderful to see the positive changes since he started gender affirming care, both mentally and physically.

His transition has been life saving for him in so many ways. How do I tell him, the State of North Carolina wants to force him to detransition and make him return to the miserable life he was living before he was able to start transitioning? Am I going to have to BE A REFUGEE FROM THIS STATE and take him to a another state that’s friendlier to trans people than this one? I wonder. His well being is at stake. Nearly half of all trans and nonbinary children and teens have suicide ideation, of those 20% attempt it.

If you knew there was something to reduce this danger and help save your child’s life, wouldn’t any parent want to do it? — What do we all want for our children? We want them to be healthy and happy, be loved and supported. The goal is to create a society where everyone has a fair and equal chance to pursue their dreams and aspirations, just as if they were climbing a mountain with the same starting point and resources available to them. This approach fosters a more just and inclusive world where individuals can reach their full potential.