Worcester Business Journal

32 Worcester Business Journal | September 13, 2021 | wbjournal.com aged Canuel to do the same. "I am a member of this community, and there is this directory; and I thought 'Well, what's the harm.' What the harm could actually be was in the back of my mind, but I thought it is worth it," he said. Eventually, Canuel would like LGBTQ+ to be so accepted and normalized there is no negative backlash, or positive dramatic overreaction, which can be condescending. "When someone finds out that I am gay, my preference is that they just re- spond to that in the same way as if I told them I am from a town that they have never heard before, like 'Oh that's nice,'" Canuel said. Croke, of Love Your Labels and Ac- tion! By Design, is very open as a queer non-binary individual in their businesses. ey discovered the Diverse Business Directory aer being asked to participate in a focus group by the City of Worcester. "It is important for folks to have access to folks in the community who represent marginalized groups who are business owners," Croke said In order to undo the systems of harm keeping historically excluded groups down, Croke believes it is important to support anti-racist and inclusive businesses who are willing to re-evaluate toxic corporate cultures. ey believe increased visibility of LGBTQ+ business owners inspires the younger generation. Oentimes, business executives only openly identify themselves once they have achieved success, and Croke wants to show the step-by-step journey in order to encour- age youths to embrace their true selves without fear it will impact their careers. Overcoming initial hesitation Laura Marotta, co-founder and exec- utive director of arts nonprofit Creative Hub Worcester, along with her wife and co-founder, Stacy Lord, didn't identify as LGBTQ+ business owners at first. Marotta said as a couple who run a nonprofit together, they had to navi- gate issues heterosexual couples who are business owners never have to deal with, such as worrying about how close together they were in photos and if they were touching or not. "As community members in the LGBTQ+ community, we are always hyper-focused and hyper-sensitive about what we are doing and why, because there are a lot of people out there who are not comfortable with anything that is not hetero-normative in nature, especial- ly in the business world," she said. Although Creative Hub Worcester was established six years ago, it is only in the last two years the nonprofit has publicly identified as LGBTQ+run. is was a very conscientious decision Continued from page 31 Married couple Laura Marotta and Stacy Lord were at first hesitant about labeling their arts nonprofit Creative Hub Worcester as being LGBTQ+ owned. F O C U S D I V E R S I T Y & I N C L U S I O N PHOTO/BRAD KANE

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