Key Points:
- Aquila Brennan and Hiroko “Hiro” Ortiz are the new co-chairs of TGX360, OUT Georgia Business Alliance’s initiative for trans and non-binary employees and entrepreneurs.
- As co-chairs, Brennan and Ortiz plan to bridge the gap between the LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ communities and empower trans and non-binary people in the workplace.
TGX360, OUT Georgia Business Alliance’s initiative for trans and gender expansive (TGX) individuals, has announced two new co-chairs will be heading the program.
TGX360’s goal is to make employment and entrepreneurship more accessible to trans and non-binary Georgians. On Sept. 4, the LGBTQ+ chamber of commerce announced that Aquila Brennan and Hiroko “Hiro” Ortiz would co-chair the program.
Brennan is a 13-year veteran of the U.S. Army and now works in public relations as a principal consultant in the Aquila Group. Ortiz, a native of Japan who moved to the U.S. for college and made their way to Atlanta after graduation, is a former business owner with a background in corporate and nonprofit work.
The co-chairs told Georgia Voice that they want to use these new positions to give back to their communities.
“Having been in the military for a long time, the desire to serve my community is a really big driving force for me,” Brennan said. “All that really pushed me into saying yes, because that’s a gap in my life that doesn’t get filled by the military anymore.”
“I wanted to do something for my community, meaning people who are non-binary or gender expansive but don’t identify as transgender,” Ortiz added.
Launched in 2021, TGX360 delivers wrap-around career services, start-up coaching, micro-grant pathways, and employer inclusion training aimed at closing the equity gap and accelerating the growth of TGX-owned businesses across Georgia.
According to statistics from the 2022 U.S. Transgender Survey, 18 percent of respondents were unemployed, 34 percent were experiencing poverty, and 11 percent had lost their jobs because of their gender identity or expression. The program, as well as OUT Georgia in general, operates with the mission of integrating LGBTQ+ people into the business world and advocating for rights through economic empowerment and education.
“TGX360 is all about empowering trans and gender expansive people, whether they’re entrepreneurs or professionals, giving them a place to network with people like them and not like them,” Brennan said. “From a personal perspective, one of the things that I want to accomplish is to serve as a bridge to help non-trans and non-gender expansive people tell and amplify our stories to the wider public. For me, storytelling is essential to the human experience. If we are to be seen as human, we have to tell our stories.”
Ortiz echoed this sentiment, saying they hoped to connect OUT Georgia with non-LBGTQ+ organizations and businesses to bridge the gaps between employees and business owners.
While TGX360 and OUT Georgia focus specifically on business, Ortiz and Brennan recognized the relationship between business and politics, saying they planned on advocating for people to vote for LGBTQ-friendly candidates and educating people on the intersections between policy and economics.
“Unfortunately, just by virtue of the fact that we are transgender, gender expansive, or otherwise LGBTQ+, our existence, anything we do, is unfortunately political,” Brennan said. “However, for me, I do believe that economics, entrepreneurship and professionalism are going to be ways in which we can fundamentally improve the lives of everyone, not just LGBTQ+ people.”
To learn more about TGX360 and OUT Georgia Business Alliance, visit outgeorgia.org/tgx360-new.
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