Founder Interview With Rex Wilde, Rex Wilde Consulting
Photo Credit: Rex Wilde Consulting
Rex Wilde (they/them) is the Founder of Rex Wilde Consulting, a firm dedicated to integrating transgender and gender expansive (TGX+) inclusion into broader diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) frameworks within organizations. As a nonbinary LGBTQ+ educator and business consultant with over a decade of experience, Rex specializes in training workshops, policy consulting, and strategic advising. Their work empowers workplaces to foster environments where TGX+ inclusion promotes a sense of belonging for all employees. Rex has provided training for over 200 companies, including Spectrum/Charter, UPS, ADP, and the Sundance Institute.
During our interview, Rex shared their professional journey, from early advocacy in their undergraduate years to founding a consulting firm that addresses the unique challenges faced by the TGX+ community. They discussed the importance of trans-inclusive education, policy development, and ongoing assessment to ensure effective inclusion. Rex also reflected on their personal and professional obstacles, emphasizing the significance of connection and support within the community. Their dedication to creating empowering environments for TGX+ individuals is evident in their impactful work, including coining the initialism TGX+ and contributing to the National and Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Chambers of Commerce. Let’s jump right in!
Can you walk us through your professional journey and how you got to where you are today?
My passion for advocacy was sparked during my undergrad when I studied Sociology and started getting involved with the LGBTQ+ community on my campus. I started providing training to staff and faculty on how to be supportive of LGBTQ+ students through our Safe Space program. Once I graduated, I started working for an organization, doing policy advocacy work, specifically working on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). For this work I went door-to-door having conversations with thousands of folks in 10 different states over the course of a year discussing the importance of employment protections for the LGBTQ+ community. This was back in 2011 and we didn’t see federal employment protections until 2020.
From there, I ended up working with a nonprofit in Los Angeles that was focused on Economic empowerment of the TGX+ community. I helped them build out a prominent workforce development program for transgender and gender expansive individuals. It was during this work that I started to see how great the need there was for education about TGX+ identities in the corporate space. While running our workforce development arm, I also spearheaded the training initiatives that we had with companies and organizations across the country.
In 2019, I co-produced the Transcend Career Fair which is to date the largest transgender career fair in the world. We saw over 500 transgender expansive individuals attend the career fair while partnering with 74 different employers in Los Angeles. This event led me to see how great the need was for corporate education of transgender expansion individuals, and how needed it was to have sustainable strategies for inclusion within those organizations.
“This led me to starting my own consulting business, Rex Wilde Consulting, where I now work with organizations all across the United States on bolstering their policy, educational, and DEI initiatives from a trans-inclusive lens.”
There definitely have been some highs and lows in starting a business. While I’ve always had a unique talent around policy and educational consulting, learning to run my own business has been a significant learning curve. I’ve been really grateful to have a lot of mentors who have guided me along the way which helped lead to the success I’m seeing now in my work. My business launched during the first month of Covid, which was a huge challenge to overcome. All of the business planning I had done prior to my launch I had to quickly throw out the window and do what I could to adapt to the moment with limited resources.
Thankfully, since then, I’ve been able to find a really solid strategy for my business and I’m now working with some of my dream companies.
It’s interesting in the DEI space that often organizations can approach you with a one and done mindset. In the beginning of my consulting business for the first several years, I was often getting hired for one and done training but now I’m in a position where I have multiple organizations that I do deep long-term work with, and I’m able to make a significant impact for the trans and gender expansive employees within those organizations.
Photo Credit: Spectrum News 1
What inspired you to offer the services you provide?
The Trans community is one of the most significantly underrepresented and overlooked communities and faces significant barriers in employment and economic empowerment opportunities. During my time advocating for ENDA, I met with many people who said they were supportive of gay, lesbian and bisexual rights, but that they would not support the trans community. This was something that impacted why ENDA was not passed, and why it took until 2020 to have employment protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
When I started working for Trans Can Work in Los Angeles, I heard continuous stories of discrimination and harm that was caused to TGX+ individuals in their workplaces, and as they were applying for jobs. Many job seekers that I spoke with and mentored talked about how organizations would say that they were trans friendly but as soon as they went to an interview, interviewers would ask them inappropriate questions or say things like “it just doesn’t seem like you’ll fit into our company culture”. I’ve heard about many people getting fired from their jobs after they transitioned, among many others who experienced continuous discrimination and harassment, even when they did have a secure job.
These are just some of the ongoing issues that we see with regard to trans employment and a lot of organizations don’t know how to address them. I truly believe that most organizations want to be inclusive of TGX+ individuals but they just don’t know how. Many individuals are afraid of asking questions in order to make sure that they know how to interact with trans folks in an affirming way. There are also many organizations who think that they are trans inclusive but don’t have the knowledge to understand the different mechanisms needed to ensure that their organization is not only an inclusive place but a place that is actively empowering trans individuals to be the best version of themselves.
Workshops and education are an integral part of making sure that workplaces are inclusive of the TGX community. However, organizations also have to look at their policies, the way they’re engaging the trans community, both internally with their employees and externally with the communities that they exist within and serve, and they need to do ongoing assessment in order to ensure that the different approaches they are implementing for TGX+ inclusion are actually working. My services help organizations have a better holistic understanding of what they can be doing to make sure that they are creating an empowering environment for their transgender expansive employees.
Photo Credit: Rex Wilde Consulting
What is one of the biggest challenges you have faced in your journey as a service provider, and what did you do to overcome this?
Working as a TGX+ business consultant amidst the rise in anti-trans legislation is often challenging. While I get the joy of working with organizations who care and want to make a difference for the trans and gender-expansive community, I still experience the incredible pain that comes with being a trans person during a time when there is so much hate toward our community.
It can be painful to do this work and know how much more there is to be done to truly cultivate an equitable world for our community. It's incredibly difficult to not only know the stats and figures around harassment and discrimination experienced in our community, but to also watch it play out in the lives of my friends, immediate community, and larger community both in the United States and around the world.
One of the reasons I got into this work is because one of my best friends, who was a trans femme of color, died by suicide after decades of experiencing exclusion, harassment, and harm because of their identity. I think about them every single day. They are one of my main motivators for why I do what I do amidst such a difficult climate. Because I want to contribute to creating the world that they deserved to live in. One that saw them for the incredible and beautiful human that they were.
I keep every note and email that I get from folks I've worked with or who have seen me speak or have gone through a workshop of mine telling me that I made an impact for them. Whether I helped them understand trans people more, become a more welcoming parent, or learn how to intervene when their coworkers (intentionally or unintentionally) mistreat someone who is trans, remembering that my work has a real impact allows me to stay connected to the big picture. The big picture that shows me what our world can be and what it deserves to be for the TGX+ community.
If you could give one piece of advice to future LGBTQ+ service providers within your field, what would it be?
Approach your work from a standpoint of connection and building relationships with others. Find supporters of your work in your network and make ways to connect with them regularly. You can't do this work alone. And it's so much more fun when you get to do this work with others. <3
Photo Credit: Rex Wilde Consulting
How does being openly queer inspire or impact your business?
It's interesting being in a career that is also my identity. Sharing my personal experience with others as a nonbinary person can be vulnerable and scary, and I'm lucky that I am often in spaces where people feel grateful to hear about and learn from my experiences.
What brands or services by LGBTQ+ founders are your go-to's and why?
TomboyX has the best underwear. Super gender-affirming options and a great fit for my body.
Coolhaus ice cream is incredible.
Project Q & Folklore Salon always keeps me looking sharp.
Full Harvest Taxes provides the incredible feeling of not having to think about your gender at all when having your taxes prepared. Financial stuff is overwhelming enough as it is. Not having fear of how my identity is being received on top of that is such a relief.
Who is your favorite LGBTQ+ celebrity and why?
Adrienne Maree Brown and Jessica Landyadoo. They truly set the example for me of how to discuss and embody an ethos of liberation, emotional healing, and collective power.
Can you share one fun fact about yourself?
I started doing drag as an Orange County mom and I love it (she even sings her own songs).
