Growing up on a ranch in rural New Mexico, KJ Summers knew he was different – a feeling that came with no shortage of internal questioning and turmoil.
Still, as he matured into his identity as a member of the LGBTQIA community, Summers determined to live openly and positively. In embracing who he is and living life to the fullest, he felt an intertwined responsibility: to help others into the amplitude that can come with self-love and acceptance in a supportive community.
“It’s important to me,” says Summers, “to step up.”
That personal impetus is one of the reasons Summers became a founding member of GLAMKO, an employee group within Counselor Top 40 distributor BAMKO (asi/131431) whose mission is to provide resources, support and empowerment to members of the LGBTQIA community within the company.
Summers, a diversity and inclusion/business development director at BAMKO, is co-chair of GLAMKO along with Sandra Humphries, a vendor relations specialist with the branded-merchandise firm. They represent two key employee sets that participate in the club: LGBTQIA community members and allies.
Upwards of 60 employees are currently part of GLAMKO, and while the group’s genesis stretches back a bit, it’s been gaining steam of late – something BAMKO was keen to highlight during Pride Month.
Currently, BAMKO hosts monthly events/meetings for GLAMKO, such as June’s Drag Queen Bingo. The meetings are a time for colleagues to network, increase visibility, share their stories, help understand each other more and improve professionally. The group has launched a Facebook page, RainbowPROMO, and Summers says all are invited to join.
While GLAMKO is an internal-to-BAMKO group at the moment, leaders want to cast a wider net, eventually expanding the reach across the promotional products market through efforts like in-person/virtual meetings, seminars and special events held in conjunction with leading trade shows.
“We aspire to be an industry community,” says Summers.
‘It’s Amazing What You Can Do for Each Other as a Group’
Darryl Andree, director of business development at BAMKO and event coordinator for GLAMKO, says a keen focus for the club is helping community members advance professionally.
“We want this to be a professional group where people can have a feeling of acceptance and, through partnerships and mentoring and networking, collectively elevate their careers,” Andree says. “We want to help our community be the best we can be and raise up allies, too.”
Andree didn’t come out until his 20s, and says that things “hit the fan hard” for him in his personal life when he did. There’ve been challenges professionally, too, though not at BAMKO. All the more reason, he says, why GLAMKO’s mission could have an important role to play throughout promo, as many others have similar experiences. “It’s amazing what you can do for each other as a group,” he says.
The focus on allies isn’t to be lost either. Humphries, the GLAMKO co-chair, has a daughter who is part of the LGBTQIA community. She admits that there were some bumps in the road to overcome when her daughter first shared her identity. Now, however, the pair have a wonderful relationship. “I want to help others,” she says, “get to the same place.”
GLAMKO didn’t form in reaction to some kind of biased culture at BAMKO; to the contrary, the group formalizes and focuses the culture of encouragement and acceptance already at the firm, participants say.
Stephanie Bass, BAMKO’s senior director of human resources, says BAMKO, from an executive/corporate level, has thrown its support behind GLAMKO. “People,” she says, “are at their best when they feel supported and encouraged – when they know they can be themselves.”
