Angelica Ross is the definition of multi-syllable: As a founder, CEO, transgender rights activist, actor, producer and songwriter, she wears many hats at once. After studying web design and programming, Ross began working as a webmaster. In 2014, she founded TransTech, a Chicago-based company that trains transgender people in technology skills and helps them get jobs.
Now, since finding major screen success with roles in FX’s Pose and American Horror Story, Ross is launching subsidiary TransTech Global Enterprises, an agency that provides services including web development, app development, marketing and social media management. In an interview with Inc. Your Next Move with Honey Pot CEO Beatrice Dixon, Ross discusses some of the biggest things she’s learned in her varied career. Here are three key lessons for entrepreneurs from the conversation.
Focus on yourself.
“People are always looking outside of themselves for definition, for blame, for support,” Ross says. “I’ve learned that looking outside yourself is the wrong way to practice what’s called life. You can find everything you need inside yourself.”
Ross says the biggest turning point in her life came when she was struggling financially and unable to pay her bills. After coming to terms with her circumstances and surroundings, “I began to reject the table of bank accounts and credit scores that are supposed to determine my worth.” She added that rejecting the need for outside verification allowed her to stop waiting for good things to come to her and start creating her own opportunities. Since then, she has not only been able to deal with her problems, but to “tear them down.”
Know Your Value
In addition to knowing yourself, Ross says you should also always be aware of and protect your value. As an example, Ross recalled an incident on a movie set where a person associated with the production wore T-shirts with slogans like “Build This Wall” or displayed an American flag with the words “I’m not kneeling.”
Ross says that while she shouldn’t have been the person to intervene, she knew she couldn’t let it continue. “I used every privilege I thought I had at the time. You would have thought I was a real white woman, because I am: I’m not coming out of the trailer until I deal with this situation. So many white people saw the situation but didn’t know what to say or do and let it happen. And it had to be on black people to stop the show and say, Hey, something’s got to change. “
Creating a safe work environment
Ross says business leaders have a responsibility to set the tone in the workplace, not just by hiring different employees, but by creating a space where people feel welcome. Tone-setting actions can be visual, such as installing nameplates that include pronouns or introducing single-seat restrooms. Another suggestion from Ross: Remove the hoax track for promotion and then reward those who excel at their jobs.
