THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

In 1995, publications such as Business Week and The New York Times revealed a list of the gay-friendliest business schools in the nation. The schools were graded on such criteria as the presence of GLBT student organizations, the offering of domestic-partner benefits, and the inclusion of GLBT's in admissions brochures. Top picks that year included Stanford, Harvard, and Yale—but schools that truly embraced the GLBT community were few and far between.

Fortunately, a revised study (noted in the April 14, 2003 issue of Business Week) showed that the gay-friendliness increased markedly at several institutions. Eleven schools, including Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, earned A's—as opposed to the three in 1995. Unfortunately, despite numerous improvements, hurdles like discrimination and the closet are still prominent at some of the country's top business schools.

These groundbreaking polls were conducted by Jason Lorber, head of Aplomb Consulting, a firm that helps its clients to understand how to court the GLBT community in order to build mutually beneficial relationships. I recently talked with Lorber, 36, about his company and learned some very intriguing things.

Windy City Times: Could you tell me about the history of Aplomb Consulting?

Jason Lorber: Sure. Actually, let me go back before Aplomb.

I've been an activist in the GLBT community for a long time. I went to Stanford Business School to get my MBA and, while I was there, I wanted to continue my activism but see if I could add a business side to it [social activism]. When people think of activism, they think of changing society through cultural and political means, but not often through business means. So I thought I'd be very interested in [social activism], but I'd already worked in political groups, Queer Nation, and other organizations.

While I was at Stanford, my goal was to get Business Week and The New York Times to talk about gay issues in conjunction with business. So I conducted research and formed a study on the gay-friendliness of the nation's top business schools. The study was printed by [those publications] as well as dozens of other publications. We also got international hits from China, Australia, and France. It was pretty amazing.

WCT: Did that blow your mind? Were [the results] along the lines of what you expected or what you hoped?

JL: It was along the lines of what I hoped. I really didn't think about the international dimension but, at the time, the Web was pretty new-ish. It wasn't really part of my consciousness at that point.

From that, I did a lot of research of the intersection of the gay and business communities. After graduating, I decided to not take a job with one of the big consulting firms and started Aplomb Consulting because I wanted to bridge the business and the gay worlds. I thought that this would not only help the GLBT community but it would add business skills to the GLBT movement. A lot of the consulting we do is with GLBT organizations but we've also worked with companies that market to the GLBT community.

WCT: I have a list of some of your clients: AmFAR, Genentech, Planet Out, and BioNexis. It seems like you have a wide variety of clients.

JL: Yes. Indeed, we do. Actually, Planet Out was our first client. I wrote their first marketing plan back in 1996 or 1997.

WCT: Your firm refuses to work with companies that deal with tobacco, alcohol, or other products that harm the GLBT community. Has that caused any sort of conflict or hardship in the past?

JL: Well, we won't work with alcohol or tobacco companies and they present the biggest opportunities in terms of [corporations] that want to market to the gay community. Yeah, there have been instances where we had to turn down work because of that. But ... the whole point is to strengthen our community so it seems antithetical to take on clients that I thought would harm the community.

WCT: I do think your stance is pretty admirable ...

JL: Thank you.

WCT: ... but I want to play devil's advocate. Suppose a fast-food company approaches you and there have been all these studies that show how harmful fast food can be. Would you work with that company?

JL: Absolutely! There's a difference between tobacco and burgers. If you could convince me that fast food can be as harmful as tobacco, if used as directed, then I would not take them on as a client.

WCT: How does your strategy difference when it comes to subcultures within the GLBT community, like the Asian-American or Black GLBT demographic?

JL: Just to be clear, there are two main thrusts of the business. One is the marketing piece but the other is working with AIDS organizations. They are both areas that we concentrate on. [An important] part of the business is niche marketing, that is, understanding who your audience is. You find out how to respectfully approach them and speak their language. Different people respond to different images, ideas, and prevention messages. It's our deep understanding of different communities that matters. We look into everything, including things like what magazines people read or where they congregate.

WCT: OK, because you seem to have clients that are subcultures of the GLBT community. Is the approach with those [exclusive] groups different than with, say, AmFAR or the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force?

JL: Well, for instance, AmFAR is in the business of working with different segments of the HIV and AIDS communities, including African-American men on the 'down low.' So understanding those nuances and the language is just as important to AmFAR as it is to other clients. I don't want you to set up the juxtaposition that there's AmFAR, which is mainstream, and then there are these other companies. AmFAR and all AIDS organizations need to be concerned with [everyone's] needs.

There are different levels of marketing. [For example,] there's mass marketing, where companies can look at the GLBT community and the communities within it. [Basically,] I wouldn't say that our process [regarding GLBT subgroups] is different because our approach is the same. We still need to identify peoples' needs; the difference is in the content.

WCT: In the content of ... ?

JL: Of knowing the issues of the African-American community.

WCT: Does Aplomb have any sort of connection to Chicago? I know you have a Illinois-based client in HomeAccess Health Corporation.

JL: We have worked with HomeAccess. I know I've been there a number of times (laughs) ... but we don't currently have any clients in Chicago.

WCT: You have two offices...

JL: ... in San Francisco and Burlington, Vermont. ... We're happy with the offices we have, one on the East Coast and one on the West Coast, but we're not opposed to [expanding]. We started in San Francisco because that was where I lived and I moved to Vermont, in part to support our East Coast clients. I didn't move because of the burgeoning market here. (Laughs) It's a very small state. [Vermont] is a wonderful place to live and there are so many gay people here! I was very pleasantly surprised.

WCT: I imagine that, in light of the fact that [gay] unions are recognized there, a lot of people are moving there.

JL: That could be the case. The other thing is that the city of Burlington is very progressive. It's very similar to Berkeley, Madison, or Boulder. I mean we have a Socialist mayor.

WCT: How has technology helped your company?

JL: It's definitely helped in getting the word out, particularly with the Web. Sharing knowledge and information [is important]. For example, the business school report we created generated a lot of reaction thanks to the Internet.

WCT: Was there anything that surprised you about the business school survey?

JL: I wouldn't say I'm surprised, but I'm incredibly heartened by how rapidly gay-friendliness is spreading through the top business schools—and that so much of the change comes from gay people themselves. I think a lot of our future depends on ourselves. It's not so much changing other peoples' minds as it is demanding respect ourselves. I think once we do that, others' minds [tend to] change. If we focus on doing what we want to do, other people will come around. As I found out with these schools, people can make huge changes just by asking, making a statement, and coming out. We have a lot more power than we give ourselves credit for.

To learn more about Aplomb Consulting, please access its site (www.aplomb.com). To reach Jason, e-mail him at jason@aplomb.com .

Davis is at westelm406@yahoo.com .