Hong Kong
Throughout my career I’ve been involved in leading change, building systems and designing new processes. I've always been attracted to creating new things. Working in the beauty industry is a wonderful place to be — it's a unique marriage of science, fashion and art, and it’s constantly evolving. But even in our business, change isn’t always easy.
I began working in the beauty industry in New York City 30 years ago, and although it was considered a progressive and inclusive environment, it was not as open and accepting as it is today. As a young gay man I would not talk about my personal life at work. I just didn't feel comfortable.
Thankfully, over the years, we’ve seen considerable shifts in society. But it's also personal. As you become more comfortable with yourself, you become more comfortable opening up to your colleagues, friends and family. I think this societal change that we're seeing is also a reflection of how we, in the LGBTQA community, view ourselves.
Glenn Evans, Senior Vice President, Leading Beauty Forward
To me that's what Pride Month is all about. It's about being proud of who you are. It's about being yourself. It's about celebrating and recognizing that we should all be welcomed and we should all be comfortable being who we are - at work and in our personal lives.
Equally important to me is that everybody has a choice about bringing their personal life with them to work. Being gay isn't a choice, but it is my decision to share it. I'm fortunate to be working today in an environment where I have that choice and my choices can be respected. I'm glad that I live in a time and I work at a company with people for whom that really isn't the most important thing about me.
I’ve now been at The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) for 13 years and I'm really proud of the strong heritage and values, including a deep respect for the unique individuals that collectively define who we are as a company. This is evident in the company’s recently announced enhanced family and parental leave policy in the U.S. It recognizes that families are diverse, children come to a family through different ways, and that parents are of all genders. It's a reflection of who we are at ELC, and it's another visible demonstration that we get it, not just with words — but with actions. Policies like this make ELC a great place to work for all employees, including our LGBTQA community.
For multiple years in a row, ELC has officially been recognized as a “Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality” by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), after the company achieved a perfect score of 100 on HRC’s Equality Index. I think current employees and potential employees, regardless of their sexuality, look at this and feel more comfortable working here knowing it’s an inclusive workplace.
I'm happy to see things continue to evolve for our community, and to also personally be part of the change. In addition to my full-time role at the company, I was recently named executive co-sponsor of wELCome, our employee resource group for LGBTQA employees. In this capacity, I help support and guide the group’s work as an advocate. The wELCome group has already tackled important issues, such as helping the company achieve the HRC rating I mentioned. One new area I’m hoping our group gets more involved with over time is addressing the needs of elder LGBTQA community members, many of whom don’t have immediate family members around to support them when they need help in later life. In keeping with ELC’s values, I think we have a meaningful opportunity to assist this underserved community with dignity and respect.
Glenn Evans is Senior Vice President, Leading Beauty Forward, at The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC), a position he has held since 2016. In this capacity, he leads a multi-year initiative designed to fuel ELC’s sustainable long-term growth, achieve critical cost savings, invest in high growth areas of the business and reinforce ELC’s leadership in global prestige beauty. Glenn is a well-respected global leader with nearly 30 years of strategic and operational experience, including 13 years in the Asia Pacific region working within the beauty industry for companies like ELC, Avon and Coty. He joined ELC in 2005 as Vice President, Global Supply Chain – Asia Pacific, and more recently served as Senior Vice President, Global Supply Chain, successfully leading the Global Supply Chain Center of Excellence. Glenn is passionate about employee career growth and extends this dedication in many ways including through his executive co-chair role of the Company’s LGBTQA employee resource group, wELCome. Glenn attended North Carolina State University, majoring in Computer Science. He currently lives and works in New York City.
