Episode 236: Transgender at Work: How do you Navigate the Workplace? Jamie Raines Weighs In

 
 
 

Sometimes it really is as simple as asking? 

 

This is at the core of what Jamie Raines shares in today’s episode about how to support trans folks at work.  Jamie is a YouTuber, Content Creator, and Author of The T in LGBT.

 

In his conversation with Erin, Jamie shares about his experiences when he began transitioning about 13 years ago and what you can do as a leader to create psychological safety for trans folks at work and outside of work. 

 

If you’re looking for information and resources regarding the trans community and how to better support them – this is the episode for you.  

 

Special sprinkles on top of this episode: Jamie’s future plans to write fiction and the most important thing you can do as an ally for the trans community 

 

Show Links: 

Connect with Jamie Raines: 

Connect with Erin Diehl: 

FIND THIS EPISODE ON:

Apple | Spotify | Stitcher | Android

 

Erin Diehl is the founder and Chief “Yes, And” officer of improve it! and host of the improve it! Podcast. She’s a performer, facilitator and professional risk-taker who lives by the mantra, “get comfortable with the uncomfortable.” Through a series of unrelated dares, Erin has created improve it!, a unique professional development company that pushes others to laugh, learn and grow. Her work with clients such as United Airlines, PepsiCo, Groupon, Deloitte, Motorola, Walgreens, and The Obama Foundation earned her the 2014 Chicago RedEye Big Idea Award and has nominated her for the 2015-2019 Chicago Innovations Award. 

This graduate from Clemson University is a former experiential marketing and recruiting professional as well as a veteran improviser from the top improvisational training programs in Chicago, including The Second City, i.O. Theater, and The Annoyance Theatre. 

When she is not playing pretend or facilitating, she enjoys running and beach dates with her husband and son, and their eight-pound toy poodle, BIGG Diehl. 

You can follow the failed it! podcast on Instagram @learntoimproveit and facebook, and you can follow Erin personally on Instagram @keepinitrealdiehl here. You can also check out improve it! and how we can help your organization at www.learntoimproveit.com. We can’t wait to connect with you online! 

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If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing this podcast! This helps Erin support more people – just like you – move toward the leader you want to be. Click here, click listen on Apple Podcasts, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with 5 stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let Erin know what you loved most about the episode! Also, if you haven’t done so already, subscribe to the podcast. That way you won’t miss any juicy episodes! Thanks in advance, improve it! Peeps :)

 

Episode 236 Transcription

Erin Diehl (00:04.347)

Okay, everybody just hold on, grab a notebook, grab a pen, get ready because today's conversation is with the one, the only Jamie Rains. Jamie, welcome to the Improvement Podcast.

Jamie (00:17.566)

Bye.

Thanks for having me. I feel like that's such a buildup. I hope I don't disappoint.

Erin Diehl (00:25.627)

I honestly have been waiting for this conversation and honestly, I was just telling you this before we hit record. I could just talk to you all day because I love you. You have like a calming presence. It feels lovely to chat with you. So thank you for calming me and thanks for being here. And so speaking of calm, our theme for the month of May when this is airing is mindfulness and it's mental health month this month.

Jamie (00:36.606)

Thank you.

Erin Diehl (00:54.107)

And I always love to set an intention at the top of the show that either you want to give to yourself or to our audience. It could be, and I love to make it one word if you could. So what's a one word intention that you want to set for our conversation?

Jamie (01:14.142)

Is it like, embracement? Is that even a word? Like, does that make sense? Like embracing things?

Erin Diehl (01:17.595)

Yes. What's... embracing. Yeah, I kind of want to tattoo that on my wrist. Embracement. Yes. Okay. I'm here for that. And what would you, when you think of mindfulness, what does mindfulness mean to you?

Jamie (01:38.046)

I think a lot of what it means to me is like grounding myself and like being present and not kind of getting lost in the details, which I can do quite a lot and I can lose track of like the bigger picture. So it's about just like stepping back, embracing things and just grounding myself. Yeah.

Erin Diehl (01:42.715)

Yeah. Yeah.

Erin Diehl (01:56.099)

Embracement. I love it. Okay. Can I ask you just a follow up question on that? What are some ways that you ground yourself? I love that word too. Grounding. How do you ground yourself?

Jamie (02:06.366)

So I have quite a lot of anxiety. So I often like ground myself in like public spaces by kind of like holding my partner's hand if we're together, which is most of the time. Just like thinking about what I can see, what I can smell, like feeling my feet on the ground and just being present in the space I'm in and not just stuck in my head.

Erin Diehl (02:29.443)

Yes! Oh my gosh, I love it. I have to take my bracelet off for this because it clankles, but I have a bracelet that says, be here now. And yeah, I do very similar things because I have anxiety as well. I think all people do, but it might, and I feel like, you know, various levels of extremeness. But when I was having a lot of panic attacks, grounding was like the most important thing for me.

Jamie (02:35.23)

I'm going to go to bed.

Erin Diehl (02:59.291)

And I even do this podcast barefoot because I just want to be that grounded. So I love that. And I want to ask you too, is there anything other than grounding that you do to celebrate mindfulness or to get anything that helps you get yourself in the right headspace that you could share?

Jamie (03:22.558)

Like I think music, I think that can really set the tone. So if I, even like when I edit things, I'm constantly listening to music to just kind of have that background noise. And like, if I want to get excited about something, you know, it's like kind of the equivalent of like a, you know, the power poses. It's like, I prefer to listen to music to be like, okay, let's, let's have the hype playlist or let's do something more calming.

Erin Diehl (03:24.985)

Mmm.

Erin Diehl (03:31.363)

Thank you.

Erin Diehl (03:43.779)

Yes.

Erin Diehl (03:50.433)

Yes. Have you ever listened to the EDMR, like bilateral music on Spotify? Okay. I just, I had a concussion a while ago, just not about me, but just fun chip. Yep. And, but it's a, it's a wave. It's like brain waves and it's just, it sounds like spa music, but that always just puts me in a zone. And I want to ask too, you say editing, are you editing your videos? You do edit all your own content?

Jamie (03:57.31)

have not. No.

Jamie (04:03.55)

Sorry.

Jamie (04:19.198)

I used to, but we have had an editor for like the last year just to help with that bit, but I still dip my toe in with like shorts and taking on occasional edits just to keep it fresh.

Erin Diehl (04:20.475)

Yeah.

Erin Diehl (04:31.033)

your content is so good. It's so good. So I'm going to make sure, you know, we give space for everybody to come follow you if they have not at the end. We will get to that. But I want to talk to you about your book because you have launched a book in the UK in June of 2023 and it is launching in the US on May 7th. And tell us about

Jamie (04:33.022)

Thank you.

Jamie (04:49.758)

Yes.

Jamie (04:55.454)

Yes.

Erin Diehl (05:00.219)

The people can preorder it now, right? We can preorder the books. Amazing. Okay. And it's called the T in LGBT. I wanna, I've always just, obviously I've read about this, but I wanna hear from you. What was the inspiration behind this? Why now? Why this book?

Jamie (05:02.078)

Yes, yes, it's available to pre -order right now.

Jamie (05:09.662)

Yes.

Jamie (05:22.974)

So I felt like I'd...

I'm quite far into my own transition. I like, I would consider my transition like quote unquote done for me personally. And I just felt like I loved the idea of putting my video content and like the advice stuff in one place in a book and the kind of book that I wanted 12, 13 years ago when I was starting out. And so the book is like, it's half memoir of my own journey throughout the different chapters and stages of transition and then part self -reporting.

Help Guide with loads of other trans voices in there as well because my voice isn't the kind of like be all and end all of trans advice and trans voices. There's so many different journeys and no one journey is the same. So I wanted a book that reflected the diversity within the community and offered people like just hopefully like help and support to show you're not alone and this is how things can go.

Erin Diehl (06:22.011)

Oh, that is so beautiful. And that is such an important thing to say because you've created so much content online. You have so much content and a book. Yeah, but I mean, it's awesome. But you never know. Like those apps could go away tomorrow. I think about that too. Like I have a private album for my son.

Jamie (06:32.476)

It's kind of scary.

Erin Diehl (06:45.819)

And it's just, that's like his scrapbook. I'm like, well, will this even exist in 20 years? You know? And you've, what a smart decision to put everything that you've worked so hard for in one place, which is the blessing and the curse of a book. Like you can't edit it after it's out, but you can. But it is, it's so cool that you've given this gift to the world. What are you the most proud of?

Jamie (06:51.518)

Yeah.

Jamie (07:05.68)

I know, it's done.

Erin Diehl (07:14.819)

in writing it. What's the, what are you most proud of?

Jamie (07:18.974)

I think getting the perspectives of other trans people, like I'm really proud that we were able to, so my wife helped a lot with the book, with the structure, and she wrote sections for allies as an ally herself. So I'm really proud that we were able to get all those perspectives in and hopefully create a book that everyone feels welcome to read. That was super important to me.

Erin Diehl (07:24.089)

Yeah.

Erin Diehl (07:41.595)

Ugh. Love that. It's in my pre - it's - I'm pre -ordered, okay? She - she is pre -ordered. Um, so let me ask you this too, and I'm always just curious. What was the writing process like? How did you do it? What was your process?

Jamie (07:46.71)

Thank you.

Jamie (07:58.878)

So I've always wanted to write a book. I used to write stories and things when I was a kid and it was like a big like life goal for me. So when the opportunity came up, I was really excited about it and I found it a lot harder than I thought I would. I expected it to be tough and like long and certain elements of it to be difficult to write about like gender dysphoria and just getting all the facts right. But overall was a process that was a lot trickier than I initially thought. And just I felt a lot of

responsibility to get the information correct and share it in a way that was digestible and understandable to anybody that might read the book, but then still helpful for people that knew some of it already. So I felt like this real balancing act of like, how deep do I go? And like how much information about this specific thing? And it was just really finding that sweet spot that I still don't know if I found it. I hope I did. It was my intention to, but just finding this balance between my

story, other people's story and the factual advice information and it was a process. I definitely needed the support of my wife with it to get it done.

Erin Diehl (09:11.771)

It is no easy feat and the fact that you have created it, it's launching in the US, you've had it in the UK since June, what's some of the reception you've heard from people that have read it?

Jamie (09:28.542)

I think some of the cutest messages I've received is people saying that they bought it for their parents who were like...

Erin Diehl (09:35.003)

Oh, yes.

Jamie (09:36.542)

like parents who are like not not accepting but just really unsure and a bit worried for their children. And so I think a book is something that is a much more accessible resource for like parent generations of people who've got like 20 something year old kids. And I was getting messages from people going it really helped my parents understand what I was going through. And they've just been so much more like openly supportive and like using the correct language and like asking them

questions about what they're gonna do and that that was the most important feedback because it felt like it was making like a real world difference which feels very big -headed to say but yeah it meant a lot.

Erin Diehl (10:18.651)

It is not big headed to say it is important. You are a thought leader. You are helping generations understand things that I think handing a physical book. I actually really visualized that when you said that like handing a parent this book that they can have at their nightside table that they can highlight and come back to. That's cool. That is so cool. You should feel so proud.

Jamie (10:20.83)

Thank you.

Jamie (10:41.182)

Yeah. Yeah. No, it was, it was a really, thank you. It was, it was cute messages to receive. And I've always heard it the other way of parents gifting it to their trans kids as a way to show, like, I support you. I thought you might find this useful. And I was like, yeah, I was like, I'm crying right now. That's, that's going to make me tear up. But yeah, it was a, it's been a really heartwarming reception to it.

Erin Diehl (11:06.555)

Okay, well, my fake lashes are falling off. Okay, this is, no, this is awesome. And this is why you're here because I also wanna talk, as you know, this show is a ton of people leaders, people who love people, people who are leaders of teams, homes, organizations, communities, and they love people. And I wanna ask you, how do you think,

Jamie (11:10.878)

Sorry.

Erin Diehl (11:34.715)

that this book will help them understand transgender identity, especially in the workplace. Because I own a small business, right? But I work with corporate America and I know a lot of people listening either work in a small business or in corporate America. How can this book be a book club? How can we bring this to the workplace?

Jamie (12:03.134)

I mean.

A big goal with it was to humanize the trans experience. So just like anybody picking it up would then have the ability to see trans people as the individual people that we are rather than this group that some people develop a fear over or a misunderstanding of, but just, you know, trans people are real people living their lives. And this is, this is our experience and our journeys. And I think as soon as people are open to hearing that information and seeing,

trans people as just, you know, another way of being human, that that's what trans is. It kind of bleeds into every part of life and it's opening up that conversation and opening up people's minds to just be like, treat this person with respect and here's some information about what they may have experienced. So I hope that, I hope it can do that kind of thing for people.

Erin Diehl (12:52.635)

Yeah.

Erin Diehl (13:00.091)

I do too. And I'm going to recommend it to a lot of leaders when we get it here on May 7th. But I think that it's such a topic right now, the DEI space, especially in corporate America, wants to be inclusive. And I know there are still so many roadblocks and challenges that we have to overcome. If you had any tangible, actionable item that you could say to a leader right now.

Jamie (13:03.71)

Thank you.

Erin Diehl (13:29.531)

to make sure that the trans community felt safe and psychological safety at work. What would be one tangible thing they could do right now?

Jamie (13:36.19)

Yeah.

Jamie (13:41.886)

Honestly, I'd say listen to the community. Like if you're unsure of what to do, speak to trans people, like bring trans people in as consultants and learn how to approach trans people in the workplace, trans people generally, and just listen to the community itself because that way you'll learn everything you need to know.

Erin Diehl (14:04.471)

Yes, yes. And follow Jamie online because your content is just so good. And I know that the book touches on the importance of allyship at work and in life, but how can coworkers and managers become better allies? Is there anything tangible from the book that you can share with us that would talk about allyship in that regard?

Jamie (14:07.294)

Hahaha.

Jamie (14:31.966)

Yeah, I'd say like, don't be afraid to have conversations and just be open. If you know you have a trans colleague, it would be a very welcome thing by a majority of trans people to say, what pronouns should I use? And just showing that kind of simple sign of that you're there and you are willing to respect that person's identity and do these little things to make them feel more comfortable. That will mean the world to that trans person.

workplace. The most common thing I hear about trans people struggling in their jobs is not being respected by other people in the company, by you know not being able to change their name at work, still being made to wear a uniform that is for a different gender, not being pronounced correctly by their colleagues and managers and it's those kind of stories that are really difficult to hear and it's something that's just...

so simple, you know, if somebody comes out as transgender and you're not sure what to do, you can either go home and look it up in your own time or speak to somebody else that you think might know, or you can see if that trans person who's come out is open to have a conversation, and a lot of trans people will be, because the concept of...

allies wanting to listen and have those conversations feels quite novel still as a trans person. So I think it would be very welcome. It's something I would welcome. And I think it can break down those barriers and be like, this is just a person who I work with and this is how I can respect them as they're respecting me.

Erin Diehl (16:10.011)

Yeah. Isn't it silly to think that you have so much bravery in you. You have so much heart and love in you. And it's so novel to me that people don't see you and put you on this pedestal as this courageous human being. And people do. I mean, you got a community, right? But like, as someone who is sitting in this space as a leader of a team, like,

Jamie (16:31.432)

Ha!

Erin Diehl (16:40.005)

I feel responsibility to make sure everybody feels like they're coming to work, they're seen, they're heard, they're valued. And I think what are some ways, and this is a question I want to ask, so if a leader is listening and they have a person who might be transitioning or might not feel comfortable, what are some signals that you can see as a leader when somebody is feeling un -psychologically safe? Un -psychologically safe, that's the right word I'm looking for. What are some things that you can notice?

as a leader.

Jamie (17:11.486)

I think maybe...

Yeah, that's a, that's a, it's a really good question. It's a difficult one because I think it will vary depending on the individual and how open they're willing to be and ready. They're willing to be able to talk about things. If, if you suspect something is going on and somebody's not said anything, it can be very difficult to know if you should approach them about it, because maybe they're not ready to talk about it. But I guess it's just letting kind of the whole team know, including the person that you maybe have concerns over that you are available to talk.

Erin Diehl (17:34.331)

Yeah.

Jamie (17:45.072)

and have those conversations and be the kind of open, accepting boss, manager, whatever position you're in, that you are there for everybody in the team. And then if you know specifically there is something going on, I think that...

maybe hopefully that person might then come and feel more ready to speak about it. And it can be tricky though, because if someone's not ready to talk about it, even if you're like, I know what's going on and I want to help you, it's so hard. I think it's something that definitely needs to be led by the person who maybe is struggling. But.

Erin Diehl (18:13.433)

Yeah.

Jamie (18:22.59)

I always think generalizing it a bit and being like, hey, if anybody, you know, you know, we have these, maybe these workshops or these drop -in sessions, or I'm always available in this way to contact me, email or whatever. It just means that they know that you're there for when or if they ever need you.

Erin Diehl (18:25.049)

Yeah.

Erin Diehl (18:40.089)

love it. And I'm sure you have case studies in the book about this. You've talked, does the book, when you mentioned you had other trans people from the trans community tell their story? I'm sure people can find themselves in each story and understand how they could help other people. And I love that you have this compilation. What are you the most excited about with the book in the US? Like what, what are you hoping for? What's the goal? Tell me all the things.

Jamie (19:11.038)

I have like a majority audience in the US, which was quite unusual. So like, I'm really excited that it's finally going to be over there as well. And then kind of reach a bigger portion of my audience than it did in the UK and just kind of hearing that feedback from it and hoping that it can help in the same way. And I just, I hope that a lot of the information is still very relevant because there's obviously some stuff that is quite specific to the UK, such as certain like NHS, like medical routes and

legal things that you can do in the UK that differ in the States but I still hope that as a whole like there's still a lot of relatability in the book of the stories and the human experiences I think that's gonna be kind of just yeah I lost my train of thought with that one but I yeah yeah

Erin Diehl (19:57.795)

No, you're gonna, it's gonna be awesome. It's gonna be awesome. Are you doing a book tour? Can people find you? Are you doing any shows? Tell us about that.

Jamie (20:05.406)

Yeah, so actually my wife and I will be doing a book tour. We're doing it together. So it's kind of like trans perspective and the cis perspective. And we're going to be in the States for quite a lot of June this year. And so there'll be more details to follow very soon. Probably details out by the time this airs. But like right now it's kind of just, we're still working out the details about exactly where we're going to be. But yeah, we will be there and talking about the book. So I'm very excited about that.

Erin Diehl (20:34.683)

Ugh, this is so exciting. This was your first book, right? First book? Okay, do you have a book too? Like what's your... Do you have anything in your mind? Isn't this like the most annoying question? And I know, I just launched a book, but is there... Do you hope to aspire to write more? Do you have more things you want to say?

Jamie (20:37.822)

Yes, yeah.

Jamie (20:46.078)

Yeah

Jamie (20:52.51)

Oh, I'd absolutely love to write more. I'd love to go in the direction of fiction, like young adult fiction with passive representation of trans people. Because it's something that we don't see. It's like there's either a complete lack of trans and LGBT plus characters in general, or their presence in a storyline is all about their identity. So I want something. I want to create stories where people feel seen and see themselves. But there's so much more to these characters.

Erin Diehl (21:03.259)

Yes!

Jamie (21:22.464)

than their identity. So that's the aim. And then I'd love to write a full -on memoir at some point in the future, but I'd quite like that to be when I'm older, like after I've had kids, and write about that experience because I've not heard anything much about trans men becoming fathers. There's not a huge amount out there. So I'd really love to do something from that perspective as well.

Erin Diehl (21:34.649)

Yeah.

Erin Diehl (21:43.163)

Yeah.

Erin Diehl (21:46.747)

That is so exciting. And I would read all of those things. And I know everybody listening would read all of those things. I'm just impressed by all of the vulnerability you have online and just how you show up. Did you think that this would be your path? Like, did you think you would be sitting here with like millions of followers and...

Jamie (21:51.486)

Thank you.

Jamie (22:09.374)

Ha ha ha.

Erin Diehl (22:13.851)

having this best -selling book and coming to the U .S. Like, what led you to hit record on the first video? I'm curious about that.

Jamie (22:22.334)

I mean, I had...

If you told me this is where I would be like 12 years ago, I'd have been like, no, never. I, this is not where I thought I'm very happy things have ended up here, but it's not where I saw my life going. Um, I hit record. I remember filming the first video. I was really into photography. So I had like a nice camera and I was like, I think I want to document my transition journey. And this was just after I'd come out. And before I'd started hormones, like I hadn't, I don't think I'd even legally changed my name.

at this point and YouTube and online resources had been such a great comfort and help for me but back you know 12 years ago there were two trans men sharing their stories on YouTube that I could find both of them were in America so I was like I want to give a UK perspective as I hit record and I was like hello it's my intro video I was very awkward I can't watch too much of it now it's very embarrassing and it just it just grew from there it started as a way

to document my transition, my changes, and I would make a video with like one month on T, two months on T, just had top surgery, that kind of vibe, and then it just grew into more like advice videos and then breaking down transphobia and now what it is today which is the aim is education through entertainment where people enjoy watching the videos, hopefully, and find them fun to watch but there's also an educational element there. You're learning but you're not quite sure you are. It's like okay this is fun but you know there's also useful information in there.

Erin Diehl (23:51.607)

Yes.

You know what we call that over here? Edutainment. Yeah, edutainment. So that's what I say about it. Improve it, our business, because we educate and we entertain through improv. And it's, yeah, take it, yours. You can use it, okay? Just like give me a little, you know, no, I'm just kidding. Just use it, take it.

Jamie (23:56.798)

What? Oh, I love it. Now I have a single word to describe. That's brilliant. I really appreciate that information. Edutainment.

Jamie (24:12.702)

Yeah, love it. Thank you, I super appreciate that.

Erin Diehl (24:21.083)

I'm just, you are such a wonderful human paving the way for so many people. And I wanna just take it, I went away from the workplace, but I wanna help people in the workplace. I'm just fascinated by you as a human. What can leaders do to ensure that not only are they creating an inclusive space, but they're hiring people, they're hiring the trans community, they're retaining the trans community? Is there anything that you can think of?

that will help a leader listening today bring the trans community into their workplace.

Jamie (24:57.854)

think it's being an openly open place to work. I've seen...

You know, there's places in the UK that people know if they're trans, there's, there's policies in place to protect them beyond just the kind of basic level of the law of protection. The, there's testimonials from other LGBT plus people who've worked there. There's, it sounds silly because I'm not saying kind of slap a pride flag on things and it'll be okay, but like having symbols within your company that indicates to people that you are open because going into the workplace as a trans person,

and can be incredibly scary. Like I had a job during my university degree and they were, they were lovely, but they didn't know what to do. And I was quite scared. I had to give them like this documentation, which at the time didn't match up and outed me as trans and I had to explain it. And they, they came back through and they had no idea. So I think it's like being aware that sometimes that can happen and knowing how to handle that and having a streamlined process for trans people coming into the organization and working for you.

Erin Diehl (25:45.659)

and

Erin Diehl (26:04.635)

Yes.

Jamie (26:04.912)

right from application and making it welcoming and kind of knowing the best you can what kind of language to use because they came back through and I explained it and then they both were like oh you could have fooled us and I was like that's I feel like they were trying to be nice but it just wasn't quite the right language to use and so it's just making sure that

Erin Diehl (26:22.009)

Yeah. Yeah.

Jamie (26:27.518)

you don't need to know everything in the world. It's just having that basic level of language and understanding and openness to make trans people aware right from when they apply for a position through to working in that company that they are welcome and accepted in their place of work because it makes such a difference and that's for the wider LGBT plus community as well.

Erin Diehl (26:49.115)

I love that. I absolutely applaud that. And I think processes are so important and creating them now, like not tomorrow, creating them now. Yes.

Jamie (26:59.102)

Yeah, yeah, have it in place before you have a openly trans person, because you could already have a trans person working for you and just be completely unaware. But having those in place without before it feels like it's a necessity would be an amazing step. Yeah.

Erin Diehl (27:10.115)

Yes.

Erin Diehl (27:15.843)

Agreed.

Okay, can I just share a thought I have for you and especially in the US that I think would just crush here with your book? I think a book club for corporate America with your book for real. Like you could host them. I'm doing this with my book and I work in corporate. So I think that so many companies, especially like ERG groups, employee resource groups,

Jamie (27:22.014)

show.

Jamie (27:26.814)

So.

Jamie (27:38.046)

Amazing.

Erin Diehl (27:47.963)

would love this topic and especially even if you just had a guided facilitation from it that people could just have one of their internal team members use as a guide or if Jamie Rains wants to facilitate it can you imagine? Just food for thought. I'm just putting it out there for you. I think it would crush. Crush.

Jamie (28:01.63)

Yeah.

Jamie (28:07.772)

Yeah.

No, I have, um, I have actually done a couple like book club style events with corporations in the UK, like just literally going and speaking to employees about the book. And although it's not like, you know, it's not a book about like how to be respectful of trans people in the workplace. It's just that passive education as well. It's just learning generally about trans people and trans experiences will help across all different parts of the world, including in the workplace. So I have done that in the UK, so I'm very open to it.

Erin Diehl (28:27.737)

Yeah!

Erin Diehl (28:39.545)

Okay, everybody listen up. Jamie Reigns, we're gonna put all, we'll put your contact info, we'll put your agent's contact info in the notes and you can reach out and make that happen. I think that would be awesome. Are you doing any speaking? Are you doing any keynotes or any talks like that about the book?

Jamie (28:43.294)

You

Jamie (28:57.118)

Not currently, no. The book tour is gonna be like a kind of Q &A just for people who come to like bookstores and stuff. So there's nothing beyond that currently planned. Okay.

Erin Diehl (29:07.259)

Okay, Jamie, when you're ready for that, let's talk. Okay, I got you. I got you for real. Because this is such a brilliant book, such a brilliant topic. You are so vulnerable, raw, with also edutainment value, okay, in everything you do. What if you could just blanket statement? What is the one thing? This is a hard question, but I'm gonna ask it.

Jamie (29:33.726)

Oh no.

Erin Diehl (29:34.363)

What is the one thing that you hope people take away from the T in LGBT?

Jamie (29:41.406)

one thing okay

Erin Diehl (29:43.257)

There's so many things, but it could be a feeling. What's the one feeling you want them to feel?

Jamie (29:48.318)

Um, like openness. Like you don't need to understand, but just an openness to hear and take in the information and use that going forward. Even if you don't understand everything, even if you don't fully get it, even if you're not fully comfortable with it, just to be open to listening more and...

Erin Diehl (29:52.473)

Hmm.

Jamie (30:15.838)

just treating trans people like anybody else and with respect. That's so, yes. In short, open -mindedness and openness, that would be lovely, yeah. Yes, yeah.

Erin Diehl (30:27.579)

I love it. And Embracement. We're gonna Embracement. We're gonna Embracement it. I love this so much. Can I have a fun last set of interview? It's called the Interview Rapid Fire Round. Okay. This is gonna be fun. This is just fun and silly. Okay. So one word answers and I'm gonna interview you in under one minute. Okay. Can we do this? Can we do this? Okay.

Jamie (30:39.216)

Oh my gosh, okay.

Okay.

Jamie (30:49.15)

Okay, I'm gonna do my best. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I'm ready.

Erin Diehl (30:53.369)

Jamie, you've got it. These are fun questions just to get to know you a little bit more. Okay, here we go. I'm looking at the clock. I'm setting in three, two, one. Okay, best leadership book. And it could be more than one word. It could be more than one.

Jamie (31:05.758)

Best leadership.

Best leadership book? A book? I don't know one off the top of my head. Oh! Oh no, there was an Agatha Christie one that I really loved. Sorry.

Erin Diehl (31:10.147)

Yes.

Okay, best book you've ever read.

Erin Diehl (31:21.241)

Agatha Kersley, okay, best TV show.

Jamie (31:24.432)

Shits Creek. Oh, I don't know where that came from. I love it, but yeah.

Erin Diehl (31:25.819)

Yeah, a thousand percent, thousand percent, thousand percent best podcast you've ever listened to besides the improve it podcast.

Jamie (31:33.054)

There's one called, Should I delete that?

Erin Diehl (31:35.405)

Oh, okay. Favorite song to pump you up before? What's your favorite pump up song like when you're editing or when you're about to be on camera?

Jamie (31:43.87)

Oh, at the moment, Murder on the Dancefloor. Oh, um... Oh, there's a song by Frey, like Save a Life by the Frey. Yes, that one. Oh.

Erin Diehl (31:46.459)

Oh, so good. Okay, song that makes you cry.

Erin Diehl (31:55.771)

How to say... Okay, dream job of all time. All right, nailed it and we did it in one minute. Yes. That was amazing. Okay, see, I love that. And Schitt's Creek, when you were talking about, there was something you were talking about earlier and you made me think, oh, the fiction book you want to write. It made me think of Schitt's Creek. It's literally probably my all time favorite show of all time. Oh my God.

Jamie (32:00.19)

Author.

Jamie (32:04.062)

Oh, okay, phew.

Jamie (32:21.694)

I love it. I love it. David, best.

Erin Diehl (32:25.467)

And I kind of watched it when it was underground, like it wasn't all the hype. People were just like, have you heard about Shit's Creek? Before it became insanely popular. And I kept telling everybody about it. And then finally people were like, oh my God, I get it. And I'm obsessed. That entire cast, that entire show, brilliantly written. All of it's amazing. Okay. Last question. We say here at Improve It, you're it.

Jamie (32:32.99)

Yeah.

Jamie (32:36.702)

Yeah.

Jamie (32:41.31)

Yeah. Love it.

Erin Diehl (32:51.707)

is your purpose. It's the thing that you were put on this earth to do. What is Jamie Rains' It?

Jamie (33:00.798)

Oh, oh, this is, this is the, I think this is like the biggest question I've ever been asked. Like.

Erin Diehl (33:05.371)

Yeah. Yeah. What's your life's purpose? Just a, you know, just a casual Wednesday question.

Jamie (33:09.062)

What's it like? What does my life mean? Oh.

other.

Yeah. Oh God. I hope to maybe to like be an educator. Like in an unusual way, I guess, like not like a teacher, but just, yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. That's where my life would have gone if like online stuff hadn't happened. That's what I saw like academia.

Erin Diehl (33:26.521)

Yeah.

Erin Diehl (33:32.187)

And you have your PhD, right? Like I saw that. Yes, in psychology, which is so cool.

Erin Diehl (33:43.899)

So awesome. This is why you're an edutainer. Okay, you're an edutainer at its finest. Okay. And then where can everybody find you if they want to learn more? You have to follow Jamie. So that's a must. You have to get the book. So tell us where we can get all the things.

Jamie (33:48.478)

Thank you.

Jamie (34:00.286)

I think the book is available wherever you can buy books. I know it's like pre -order Barnes and Noble and Amazon and everywhere. If you want to find me online, Jamie Rains will find it or Jammie Dodger, but without an E. It's not spelled like the biscuit, which I don't know if you guys have over at the States, but yeah. So a Jammie Dodger is like a sandwich biscuit with jam in the middle and it's got like a little heart cut out. So it's got like a little red heart on it and it's a...

Erin Diehl (34:17.467)

Wait, what's the biscuit?

Erin Diehl (34:27.675)

Okay, now I need to know that. Okay, all right, we will put the channel name in there. It's not after the biscuit. Now I'm hungry and I need to Google this biscuit. But it has been such a pleasure to chat with you. Everybody check out Jamie. And I have to say, I feel like we did a lot of embracement here today. We came full circle and I'm just so thrilled to know you and.

Jamie (34:28.062)

But I'm not my channel name isn't after the biscuit. It's like, yeah.

Jamie (34:37.694)

Yeah.

Jamie (34:41.598)

You too, thank you.

Erin Diehl (34:53.899)

Everybody go out and pre -order the T and LGBT or get it. We're airing this episode May 1st. It will be out on May 7th wherever you buy books. Jamie, thank you.

Erin DiehlComment