Taking pride in ourselves and workplace

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Happy Pride month dvm360 readers (and listeners)! We are excited to kick off our pride month celebrations with this special episode of The Vet Blast Podcast. In this episode our host Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, welcomes guest Josh Sanabria, DVM, to discuss what it is like to be an openly gay veterinary practice owner, the importance of representation in veterinary medicine, and advice for both the LGBTQIA+ and Latinx communities inside and out of veterinary medicine.

Below is a partial transcript.

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: What would be a piece of advice that you would give to your fellow Latino and our LGBTQ+ community in the veterinary medicine field?

Josh Sanabria, DVM: I think to me, the most important thing is, obviously, to accept ourselves, but to be vocal about who we are. Yeah, we have these labels, not just Latinos. But also in the [LGBTQIA+] community, we have different things or how people would see us like fem, masc, or you're a professional in this field, or your skin color—whatever it is, there are so many things that can change how people will see us. I think we need to stop thinking about those things. And just think about who we are and what we want to achieve in life and work as a community.

But I do believe that we have to be vocal about it because if we just work and do our own thing without showing, like, 'Hey, I'm Latino and I'm proud to be Latino,' or I'll be proud to be gay, you don't get opportunities, or you miss opportunities to connect with people, and then only move forward in life as an individual, but also as a community. And we need that even more now than ever. So I think pride is definitely a reminder every single year to stop caring about what people think. Be yourself and try to be the best you can not only for yourself, but also for your community.