Pride celebrates the LGBTQI+ community, history and education. It is a month of acceptance, love, and friendship, reflecting on how far LGBTQI+ rights have come while highlighting the work still needed to achieve equality.
Pride celebrates the LGBTQ+ community, history, and education. It is a month of acceptance, love, and friendship, reflecting on how far LGBTQI+ rights have come while highlighting the work still needed to achieve equality.
But it’s more than a celebration. It’s a reminder of resilience. For rights fought for, not granted. That’s why Pride takes place in June, the month in 1969 that the Stonewall riots took place, changing the course of gay rights worldwide. Pride helps us to raise awareness of the issues and challenges faced by the LGBTQI+ community, promoting activism and allyship.
Before Pride celebrations became commonplace and legal protections rolled out, firings due to being outed in a company were the norm. While we are far from this, work is still needed to achieve equality and fight negative stereotypes. Sadly, a recent Randstad report proves this, with one in three LGBTQI+ workers believing their sexuality or gender identity has negatively affected their careers.
At Mangopay, we believe everyone should be able to show up as their full selves at work and view our differences as a source of strength. We spoke with powerful voices for the community, who we are proud to call our colleagues and friends, to learn more about their career journey and what Pride means to them.
Pierre Lion, Chief Growth Officer
I joined the business during its inception in 2012, bringing payments industry experience from PayPal. I was excited by the opportunity to shape the vision, mission and strategy at Mangopay. I have enjoyed building our profile initially in France and now across Europe, leading the growth and international expansion strategy and managing the Solution Engineers, CSM, and Support teams.
Our differences are a source of strength for us, and we can accomplish so much more together if we include everyone, which is why I am proud to have helped to have embedded diversity as a core value of our company. We’ve achieved this by implementing our D&I charter (signed and followed by all employees) and building on our efforts through training and regular initiatives around Pride, Women’s Day and Accessibility Day.
I was delighted to be part of the Innovate Finance Pride in Fintech Powerlist 2023 in recognition of my contributions towards the LGBTQIA+ community in the industry. I wear Pride as a badge of honour. It’s who I am, my relationships and how I show up in the workplace. Pride is about embracing your unique identity, showing up as your full self and advocating for change that will ultimately lead to a fairer, more equal world.
Laëtitia Danton, Senior Product Manager
I joined Mangopay two years ago from the Open Banking product space and have worked to shape our payout ecosystem to deliver prime experiences for customers while supporting our banking capabilities during hyper-growth. Pride at work means fostering an environment where everyone can be authentically themselves without fear of discrimination or judgment.
Mangopay’s core culture of acceptance towards all was always evident, and seeing LGBTQ+ individuals in various roles in Tech, including leadership positions, is important. Representation matters and positively impacts the individuals and the organization, contributing to a broader range of viewpoints that enhance creativity and problem-solving.
Mangopay has grown and truly celebrates diverse identities and experiences for Pride Month and throughout the year, and this is paramount as we continue to nurture an open culture, learning and improving the workplace for everyone by sharing our stories.
Rafal Fraczek, Customer Success Manager
I'm passionate about helping others and found myself in the customer support profession. I joined Mangopay last year, inspired by the company’s mission to create a safe online payments environment for customers and end-users. I enjoy client meetings, fostering positive working relationships, and being the bridge between the client and the product.
Being part of building a global quality framework for customer support agents at Netflix was a proud career highlight. I was also part of the insights team responsible for analysing customer sentiment towards the product, which led to innovative improvements. A personal achievement was coming out to my parents, which happened late for me at 28, which was when I was ready. Since that moment, my relationship with my dad improved massively, and I had the confidence to move back to my hometown.
I grew up in a Polish family where the word gay was never even said, and it took time for me to find myself. My travel to different countries helped me discover that I am a proud, openly gay man, and Pride to me means to stay true to who you are, no matter the circumstances. Keep your head up. It can take time. It can be hard, but the rewards are sweet, and I am proud of moving through all the challenges I faced along the way.
At Mangopay, our global team fosters an inclusive and collaborative environment where unique perspectives spark innovation. Join us and make a difference! We're hiring!
