📚 A Bookish Chat with Stephanie Battaglino Author of REFLECTIONS FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE GLASS CEILING @stephaniefyh #Interview

As the founder and owner of Follow Your Heart, LLC (www.StephanieBattaglino.com) Stephanie is an internationally recognized speaker, workshop presenter, trainer, author and workplace diversity & inclusion consultant. She currently sits on the Board of PFLAG National and is the Chair of their Business Advisory Council.

Here’s what critics are saying about Stephanie Battaglino:

“From all of us – for your brilliant words and thoughts . . . And heart.”
-Diane Sawyer, ABC News

“You were just outstanding . . . with your presentation and guidance during our learning and discussion. Thank you for providing such important and current information. We appreciate you and what you do.”
May Snowden, Senior Fellow & Program Director, Human Capital Practice, The Conference Board

“Thank you Stephanie for joining us today during FMC Corporation Pride Month celebration. Your personal story was educational, informative and inspiring.”
-Subarna Malakar, Director and Global Diversity & Inclusion Officer, FMC Corporation

“I have had the pleasure of working with Stephanie on an enrichment event at our company and got to know her further at the following Out & Equal Workplace Summit. I’ve found her honesty and heartfelt way she tells her story to be very meaningful to me. She played a large role in introducing me t – and our entire company – to transgender issues and what I believe is the next frontier in creating diverse and accepting workplaces. I now proudly count myself among the allies for the transgender community.”
-Heather Gill, Diversity & Inclusion Lead, Land O’Lakes

“I would like to extend a most sincere thank you for your inspiration, and for joining our company’s’ diversity efforts in support of the LGBTQ community. I have received several messages from executives who were present and had great feedback to share!
-Juan Camilo Romero, Manager, Diversity & Inclusion Strategies, Macy’s, Inc.

“It is with great pride that Deena and I announce the formal launch of the Trans Toolkit project that you so generously collaborated on with us this past Spring. We truly would not have been able to do this project without each and every one of your thoughtful contributions. We thank you for your time, your passion and your contribution to this project.”
-Beck Bailey, Director of Employee Engagement, Workplace Equality Program, Human Rights Campaign (HRC)

“The feedback from the Commissioner and the entire Executive staff has been overwhelmingly positive! Everyone here is excited about the possibilities of doing more to develop the Agency’s Transgender Rights and Inclusion competence. There is no doubt that the Executives would love to have Stephanie back to train the entire 5,400 person workforce if it were possible and practical. I would not be surprised if they started a petition for Stephanie to present full-time, but I digress.”
-James L. Hallman, Chief Diversity & EEO Officer, New York City Department of transportation

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

Website: https://stephaniebattaglino.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/StephanieFYH

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/followyourheartllc

Welcome to The Writer's Life! How did you come up with the idea to write your book?

At the risk of sounding simplistic, it is my life’s story up to now. The trick for me was how to best frame my journey in a compelling way that brings to light the social issues of the day that I encountered along the way – not only for transgender people, but also for cisgender women as well.

How would you describe your book’s ideal reader?

It would be easy, or perhaps even convenient, to say that it would be a transgender or non-binary person – and while that is true, it’s just one segment of the population that I think can benefit from reading my book. As I unfurl my story and the lessons learned along the way, I believe it also speaks to HR and Diversity & Inclusion professionals, cisgender women struggling for recognition of their talents in the corporate world, and for anyone who sees themselves as an ally to my community and the LGBTQ community more broadly.

What part of the book was the most fun to write?

The chapter where I tell the story of my coming out day at work – the day I arrived at my workplace as the person I always had known myself to be. It was fun re-living it as I wrote it.

How did you come up with the title?

It’s actually quite literal. I wanted to come up with a title that described my journey and what I learned along the way, but one that also took into account where the majority of it happened – my workplace. It naturally flowed from that.

What’s one fact about your book that would surprise people?

That I actually went to college on a football scholarship and played offensive guard for two seasons at the University of Delaware might surprise a few people.

What advice would you give to a writer working on their first book?

Have a plan and stick to it. But more important than that, I think, is to never doubt for a second, especially n those moments that the words just don’t seem to flow, that what you have to share with the world isn’t important and can change someone’s life.

How do you use social media as an author?

What I write about and what I stand for, from a social justice perspective, are inexorably linked. So it is important to me that I lend my voice and my perspective to the issues that are affecting my community – the transgender community.

What other books are you working on and when will they be published?

I have a couple of ideas that I am currently considering – but nothing concrete as of yet. One idea revolves around how my relationship with my son evolved from the earliest days of my transition to the present. There’s a lot of parenting lessons I’ve learned along the way that I’d like to share from perspective as a transwoman. The other deals with the role my spirituality, and more specifically, my relationship with God has guided me on my journey to my authentic self – and continues to guide me to this day.

Finally, what message are you trying to get across with your book?

It’s not one singular message, but several. Sure, there is the one that is centered around my overcoming obstacles to embrace my true self and lead an authentic and happy life. But then there’s the message about creating workspaces that truly embrace and celebrate transgender and non-binary people of all stripes. And, least we forget, there’s the message that I am honored to lend my story to: the persistent struggle for equal treatment that cisgender women have been dealing with for decades in corporate America.

If you could spend a day with another popular author, whom would you choose?

It would probably be Stephen King. But not because I want to become an author of fiction novels. I’d be much more interested in his process, how he formulates his thoughts and flows them into his story, and how he approaches each project. I have long admired his prolific output.

Thank you again for this interview! Do you have any final words?

If you are reading this and you are thinking that “I could never write a book like that about my life – who’d want to read it?” I’d say who wouldn’t want to read it? Never let your own inner voice or the voices of those around you, diminish the power of your story. It is the most powerful weapon we possess to change hearts and minds.

For Stephanie Battaglino, her lifelong journey of self-discovery closely paralleled her daily grind of trudging up the corporate ladder. Amidst the successes and failures of working as a male in the corporate world, Stephanie finally realized that the only path to career fulfillment was to embrace her true self once and for all. That it resulted in her becoming the first officer in the history of New York Life to come out on the job as transgender is not surprising. What was surprising was her abrupt introduction to that generations-old nemesis of working women everywhere, the Glass Ceiling. What she quickly realized was that her embrace of her authentic self came with a price: the loss of male privilege.

Reflections from Both Sides of the Glass Ceiling: Finding My Authentic Self in Corporate America is part memoir, part cautionary tale of what it is like to experience a career on both sides of the gender divide. Stephanie’s unique and very personal experience provides a powerful trailblazing story of inspiration, self-discovery, and triumph – for ALL women.