WNYC Studios’ Nancy Podcast Announces “Out at Work”
WNYC Studios’ NANCY Podcast Announces “OUT AT WORK”
An Audience Engagement Project Inviting Listeners to Share Personal Stories About Being LGBT in the Workplace
Select Stories will be Included in a Podcast Episode Later this Fall
(New York, NY – September 5, 2017) – As LGBT Americans continue to fight for equal rights at the federal level, combating workplace discrimination is the next battleground. In 28 states—over half the country—LGBT individuals still lack protections from workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Among other things, that means someone could get married on a Sunday and then fired on Monday.
Against the stark reality of such policy-related and legal inconsistencies, NANCY, WNYC Studios’ critically-acclaimed podcast about the LGBT experience today, is looking to its listeners to help paint a picture of what it’s like on a personal level to be out—or not—at work.
“Out at Work” invites LGBT audience members to share their honest experiences around some of the most fundamental but consequential questions: Are you out at work? Are you not out at work? Even if you live in a state with protections against employment discrimination, do you feel safe being out at work? Are you out, loud and proud, or quietly out to just one or two close colleagues? Are you candidly sharing in watercooler conversations about dating woes or weekend plans? Are you nervous but pushing through the discomfort, unable or unwilling to deny your truth no matter what?
Stories will be selected to be featured on an episode of NANCY later this season.
“We spend so much of our lives at work, but how much of ourselves do we share there?” said Tobin Low, co-host. “Kathy and I created NANCY as a venue to tell LGBT stories—our own and others—that we weren’t hearing elsewhere, and we were amazed and heartened to find that our audience is just as eager to be heard. We’re excited to use our platform to give our listeners a chance to take us beyond the headlines and get down to the nitty-gritty everyday reality of how we navigate our identities and lives in the workplace.”
“The LGBT community is not a monolith,” said Kathy Tu, co-host. “And we want to hear stories from everyone – the happy stories, the frustrating stories, the funny stories. Maybe you have a coffee mug with a gay unicorn on it displayed on your desk so your co-workers know you’re queer (guilty). Maybe not. Either way, we want to know. NANCY is a place where the complexity of who we are and our experiences is given room to breathe, and I’m so happy to include our listeners’ stories as well.”
The “Out at Work” initiative includes a survey and personal prompt around the topic. The survey can be found here and is currently open.
NANCY is available at nancypodcast.org, Apple Podcasts, and all other places where podcasts may be downloaded.
ABOUT WNYC STUDIOS
WNYC Studios is the premier producer of on-demand and broadcast audio, home to some of the most critically acclaimed and popular podcasts of the last decade, including “Radiolab,” “2 Dope Queens,” “Nancy,” “The New Yorker Radio Hour,” “Freakonomics Radio,” “Death, Sex & Money,” “Here’s the Thing” with Alec Baldwin, “Note to Self,” “On the Media,” and “A Piece of Work” with Abbi Jacobson. WNYC Studios is leading the new golden age in audio with podcasts and national radio programs that inform, inspire, and delight millions of intellectually curious and highly engaged listeners across digital, mobile, and broadcast platforms. Their programs include personal narratives, deep journalism, interviews that reveal, and smart entertainment as varied and intimate as the human voice itself. For more information, visit wnycstudios.wnyc.org.