Tanner T.

Senior Technical Talent Acquisition Partner

My affinity for the restaurant industry comes from the many school years working as a fry cook, bartender, and shift manager to put myself through college and grad school, which then led me to my career in recruiting. But even with all my accomplishments, growing up in South Louisiana made it challenging to live authentically and proudly, especially when entering the workforce as a member of the LGBTQ+ community.

Luckily, my passions, talents, and experiences have all collided since joining Toast almost two years ago. Toast has not only enabled me to bring my full-self to work, but they have also given me a platform to educate all Toasters and advocate for my community through serving on the leadership board for Multigrain (our employee resource group dedicated to supporting, celebrating, and advocating for LGBTQ+ Toasters). As Multigrain’s Education Chair, I have the unique opportunity to champion DEI programming, build educational sessions, and lead our Multigrain book club.

Our Multigrain leadership board is constantly looking for ways to expand our opportunity for impact on our business strategies as well as the Toaster experience through education and advocacy. The creativity, empathy, and perseverance that we as a community possess are essential skills needed to help organizations thrive and with external partners like Out & Equal, we’re able to bring in knowledge and resources that can help us strengthen our skills to help move our company forward.

Out & Equal is an organization working on furthering LGBTQ+ workplace equality while helping LGBTQ+ people thrive and they support organizations in creating a culture of belonging for all. I was honored to be selected as Toast's representative at the O&E Executive Forum this year. This opportunity meant so much to me. I met queer leaders and executives along with DE&I practitioners from companies across the globe, all aiming to further equity and professional development of LGBTQ+ professionals. The ideas exchanged, vulnerability shared, and education gained will help me to lead and engage Toasters in a whole new light. 

I’ve also been able to incorporate new learnings from the conference into my day-to-day work as a recruiter. Equitable and inclusive hiring practices are paramount in attracting and retaining talent from historically marginalized groups. Toast has been able to make great strides through initiatives like pay transparency efforts and 100% remote hiring options for applicable roles, and I’m excited for the opportunities ahead of us to continue fostering an inclusive workplace. One of my biggest takeaways from the forum was the analogy that the work to further DE&I in the workplace is like an asymptote. As you make progress, you get closer and closer to the line but never fully touch it. There will always be more work to be done to further DE&I but with companies like Toast and organizations like Out & Equal, I feel we get closer and closer every day.