Q-Suite aims to bring a refreshing change to the business community by creating a safe and inclusive space for the 2SLGBTQ+ community. Regardless of whether you are queer or an ally, Q-Suite wants accounting and financial management students to embrace who they are — as it is the inclusion of all the colours that makes a rainbow beautiful.
In her first year, the founder of the first and only school of accounting and finance 2SLGBTQ+ club, Chloe Cheng, would walk into her lecture hall in awe of all the interesting kinds of people in her program yet timid to be revealed — like a gallery of blank canvases with underlying colours yet to be revealed. What art could she make of this?
To be or not to be was not a choice for Cheng: what may have appeared as a girl with the professional composure expected from the business world was a girl struggling behind closed doors. Like many others in the business world, Cheng felt the pressure to hide her true self, haunted by the thought that being part of the 2SLGBTQ+ community was not deemed professional. The depth of her true personality was drowned by the fear of how she may be perceived if she didn’t fall into the slim mould of a professional. Feeling suffocated, she sought a breath of fresh air in a community of industry professionals who were just like her — a family of colourful souls intertwined to make a world where they were finally understood. This sense of belonging allowed Cheng to realize that it is okay to embrace her colours in this industry.
Cheng would later walk into the same lecture hall a year later, determined to boldly voice this realization. Here, she stands firm in her place in the business world, where she will build a home that bridges the business and queer worlds, which she would later call Q-Suite.
To learn more about Q-Suite and their upcoming executive member applications, visit their Instagram @qsuite_uw
