Long post so I apologize right off the bat!
Well as the title suggests I am planning on coming out at officially at work in the next few months. I have started the ball rolling.
My family all knows and accepts me. For my private life were it does not involve work people they know me now as Erica most of the time. I have managed to get my hair removal under control and can go week to week now for the most part. Hormones are well under way also.
The hardest part was doing the initial contact with work. I work in a 15000 person company with headquarters in Houston. I am based in Calgary, Alberta in a 70 person office. I do travel to U.S and International as well so I know allot of the management and specific operational personal. I reached out to the Chief People Officer who is at the C-Lvl on on the BOD that there was something I wanted to introduce to the org and i needed her help to plan a communication plan and strategy. She replied back and we sent up a meeting in person at corporate in early Jan. I was super nervous however I followed through and came out to her. We spent a full hour talking about a lot of things. I came with a letter, transition plan , and other documents for her to read. She was fully supportive of me and the documentation and said I will have a very successful transition within the company. She wanted to reach out to the Chief Legal Council to discuss legal protection and other related topics. So the CPO is going to be my support sponsor. She has since assigned her most trusted HR director to be my support partner. They needed some time and some corporate flux at work has caused some delays but I am back on track now to work the plan and role it out.
Since that time a new position was created within and they wanted me in it. I will now report to the Chief Legal Council directly to work on IP management and technology acquisitions. This is an extremely fortunate step and coincidence as I was targeted for the role anyhow earlier. That is going to happen next week. So both HR and the legal team , my future boss know and are fully supportive which I am over the moon on emotion wise.
My HR support person is going to contact me this week to work out and role out the communication plan and transition strategy with me.
So far so good however any tips , words of advise, areas to focus on that other have got caught in or have had success with I would really appreciate it tremendously.
One more note than I will be quite is I left all concerned with my expectations as written below.
I said that I am not here at work to be an grand stander in the sense of standing on a soap box and being difficult and demanding about my rights and timeline stuff nor will I be forceful in the face of others pushing my agenda forward come h.. Or high water. I am not embarrassed or angry with others about who I am and I am proud of my integrity and honestly both with work and my internal self. I am at the point I need to go FT whether my body is perfect or whether I am totally ready. I do need to take this step and move forward in my life. I want to be open, and approachable with the teams and individuals and hide nothing even before I have my true coming out day. I am planning on coming out to the org in Guy mode first then probably after a month or two pull the trigger and never look back. With my looks, longer hair and other things it is getting harder to be a guy and it would be easier to just be out then I could keep moving forward on changes with out concern plus putting this dual mode stuff to bed which sucks big-time .There will be no stealth mode for this girl. I like my job and co-workers to much. The Exe management has been great which is awesome and i know i am very fortunate I think in this regard. I am still scared and nervous for sure but I know I can get through that. I am planning FFS hopefully in the next 2-4 months or so as well.
So fire way please I could use your help, advise and encourage of those who have gone before.
