Speaking at LGBT+@Work 2026 in Madrid: 20 Years Out Loud, and a Full-Circle Moment

Full Circle at IE Tower

Just over a decade ago, as an International MBA student at IE Business School, I served as co-president of the Out & Allies Club, the student organization behind LGBT+@Work, and helped organize the conference during my tenure from 2014 to 2015. In June, I flew from Miami to Madrid to speak at the 20th edition.

LGBT+@Work launched in 2006 and has grown into the longest-running LGBTQ+ work conference in Europe and the third-largest business school LGBTQ+ conference in the world. It is organized by the student-led IE Out & Allies Club at IE University in partnership with REDI, Spain's leading LGBTQ+ business and talent network. This year's theme, "20 Years Out Loud," celebrated two decades of professionals choosing visibility over invisibility at work, and the conference opened Madrid's MADO Pride season.

Standing on that stage, at the institution where I found my professional voice, was one of the most meaningful moments of my career. Not because of the spotlight. Because of the symmetry.

The Lineup: Who Spoke at LGBT+@Work 2026

Part of what makes this conference matter is the caliber of people it draws. The 20th edition featured:

• Jennifer Atkin, on breaking stereotypes by embracing your authentic voice
• Garret Kilmer (Capital H Consulting, Adjunct Professor at IE), on what 40-plus years of organizational science says about building inclusive teams, and why the business case matters more than ever when DEI budgets are under pressure
• Miguel A. Castro (SAP), Luis Díaz Gutiérrez (WPP), and Carla Ruiz Serrano (AstraZeneca), reflecting on two decades of workplace progress and what still lies ahead
• Brian Walsh, on the connection between LGBTQ+ inclusion, sustainability, and responsible leadership
• Marie-Helene Tyack (Allianz Commercial), on making visibility and inclusion lasting commitments across generations
• Miss Mela Habijan, the first-ever Miss Trans Global, and me, on building careers across borders
• Moderated by Jorge Lukowski and Dalton Kern

Twenty years in, this event is not a feel-good gathering. It is a room full of executives comparing notes on what actually works.

My Panel: Passports, Queer Careers Without Borders

Dalton Kern moderated my conversation with Mela Habijan, and the premise was one DEI panels usually skip: what does it actually feel like, day to day, to be queer at work across different countries and cultures? Not the headline moments. The margins.

My career has crossed Brazil, Spain, Portugal, and the United States. Every border meant recalibrating: reading a new professional culture, deciding how much of myself to bring into the room, and learning that most exclusion at work is not overt. It happens in quiet decisions made around you, not to you.

That lesson shaped how I built Elevate AI Consulting. Being an LGBTBE-certified, LGBT-owned firm is not a marketing line. It is a filter that works in both directions. Clients know who we are before the first call, and nobody has to navigate disclosure in every new business relationship. More on what that certification means on our certifications page.

What I Took Away From Madrid

Three things stuck with me on the flight home.

The business case is back, whether we like it or not. Garret Kilmer said it plainly: in a climate where companies are quietly retreating from inclusion commitments, values alone no longer carry the argument. You need the data too. The research on inclusive team performance has existed for four decades. Use it.

Authenticity compounds. Every speaker, from a trans beauty queen to an Allianz executive, told a version of the same story: the career cost of hiding is paid daily, and the return on visibility arrives late but arrives big. Twenty years of this conference is the proof.

Underrepresented business owners face the same gap in AI. Most AI adoption conversations are built for enterprise budgets and enterprise teams. Everyone else gets left out, and diverse-owned businesses get left out twice. That gap is why Elevate AI exists. My first clients came from AI workshops I ran for a local LGBTQ chamber of commerce in Miami, not from a sales funnel. That is still the model: corporate AI training and fractional AI leadership for businesses that will never have an enterprise budget, delivered with one philosophy: Human Intelligence First. AI is the tool. You bring the intelligence.

Speaking Internationally: What Comes Next

LGBT+@Work marked my first international speaking engagement of 2026, joining a calendar that includes eMerge Americas and Cases and Faces. If your conference, company, or university needs a speaker on AI adoption, AI training, or building a business at the intersection of technology and identity, in English, Spanish, or Portuguese, visit our events and speaking page or book a call directly.

Thank you to Dayan Paiewonsky, Dalton Kern, Iñigo Acosta, Cecilia Murguía, and the IE Out & Allies team for the invitation, to REDI and the IE Foundation for two decades of partnership, and to Mela Habijan for sharing the stage. It was an honor to be back.