Stephanie Battaglino

BiographyStephanie is a Corporate Vice President at a large New York-based life insurance company, located in Sleepy Hollow, New York. She successfully transitioned on the job in October of 2005, and is the first transgendered person to do so in the nearly 170-year history of the company. In so doing, she worked collaboratively with the company's human resources executives to establish a process for successful workplace transitions for transgender employees and championed the modification of both the Company's EEO and non-discrimination policies to include gender identity. She spearheaded the formation of the first-ever LGBT employee network group in the history of the company in May of 2007. Stephanie's professional career spans over 30 years in marketing, communications and strategic planning.
Outside of her professional life, Stephanie is a tireless activist and advocate for transgender rights - both in and out of the workplace. Stephanie is on the Board of Directors of both the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in New York City, as well as the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF). In addition, she is a former Communications Director and Board member for the International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE), and is the past Chair of the organization's endowment fund, the Winslow Street Fund. She is a past commissioner for the Oasis Commission of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, New Jersey, whose mission it is to foster a greater awareness and understanding of the LGBT community throughout its 120 congregations.

She is also active in the Out & Equal Workplace Advocates organization as a certified LGBT Diversity national trainer as well as being an active member of their Transgender Advisory Committee. She is also a past member of the organization's New York Metro Area regional affiliate's Leadership Council.

She has been a member of New Jersey's trans-activist organization, the Gender Rights Advocacy Association of New Jersey (GRAANJ), which, along with Garden State Equality, led the fight for passage of an amendment to the law against discrimination in New Jersey that extended a broad spectrum of protections to the transgender community on the basis of gender identity and expression. She is also the past facilitator of the transgender support group, TrueSelves, conducted in cooperation with the Pride Center of New Jersey.

As the founder and owner of Follow Your Heart, LLC (www.followyourheartllc.com) she is a nationally recognized speaker, workshop presenter and trainer, who delivers motivational keynote speeches and educates through customized interactive workshop presentations focused on how to create transgender inclusive workplaces. These include information about workplace inclusive policy development for transgender workers - be they transition guidelines and/or trans-inclusive health benefits and basic education on the transgender community in general.

Her speeches and talks center on personal empowerment from the inside out - told through the lens of her own personal story of transition and continuing life's journey.

She speaks regularly to Fortune 500 companies, colleges, churches and community groups throughout the New York metropolitan area and nationally.

Selected Media Appearances
• Featured in an episode of the GLAAD Media Award-nominated documentary series, Sex Change Hospital, which aired in the United States on the Women's Entertainment (We) cable network, as well as in the United Kingdom, Brazil and Sweden in 2007 and 2008
• Huffington Post Live - Transgender Parenting, Coming Out Over the Holidays
• Diversity Best Practices - Webinar: Out and Up: The Transformative Power of LGBT-Friendly Workplace in Unleashing Productivity and Creativity
• GLAAD.org - contributing blog author
• New Republic (print & Internet) - "Welcome to America's Next Great Civil Rights Struggle"
• Associated Press (AP) article on transgender health benefits equality (appeared nationally in print in multiple newspapers and on the Internet)
• IntegrityUSA.org - contributing writer, "Walking With Integrity" blog

Stephanie's professional career spans over 30 years in marketing, marketing communications and related fields. Stephanie received her BA in Communication from the University of Delaware and holds an MBA in Marketing from Fairleigh Dickinson University. She is also a 2011 graduate of the prestigious UCLA Anderson School of Management's LGBT Leadership Institute. She resides in Cliffside Park, NJ with her partner Mari and her son Andrew.