Cultivating Change Foundation Announces Annual Award Recipients
June 30, 2021
Today the Cultivating Change Foundation announced the recipients of its annual Cultivator of Change and Cultivating Change Ally awards. Through its annual awards program, the Foundation recognizes individuals and organizations that help to advance its mission to value and elevate LGBTQ+ agriculturists through advocacy, education, and community.
The co-recipients of the Cultivator of Change award are Justin Gayliard, Senior Manager, Customer Solutions for BASF Agricultural Solutions, and Jenneth Layaou, Director of Campus Enrollment and Retention for Pennsylvania State University and Director of the Pennsylvania School for Excellence in the Agricultural Sciences. The recipient of the Cultivating Change Ally award is Barbara Coty, Senior Food Scientist at Tyson Foods. Read more about the inspiring work of each award recipient below. Next month, the Foundation will announce the organization receiving the annual Agriculture Influencer award.
Cultivator of Change
The Cultivator of Change award recognizes individuals who have played a pivotal role in championing visibility and voice for the LGBTQ+ community within the agriculture industry, has shown a commitment to LGBTQ+ agriculturists, and will use their talents to further the cause of celebrating agriculture and celebrating people.
Justin Gayliard
From the start of his professional career in agriculture, Justin knew he had to choose. He could choose to maintain his anonymity at work as a gay employee, or he could choose to change a company culture that was less than welcoming to members of the LGBTQ+ community. Justin chose the latter, and in doing so, he began a nearly 20-year journey of advocating for LGBTQ+ employees at major agricultural companies. His advocacy has inspired others with the courage to self-identify in the workplace as LGBTQ+ and has helped to change company culture.
As one example of Justin’s leadership, he created the first-ever chapter of ALLchemie at the North America headquarters of BASF Agricultural Solutions. ALLchemie serves as a safe space for LGBTQ+ employees to live authentically at work without fear, but equally important, ALLchemie helps cultivate LGBTQ+ allies at BASF. These allies have been pivotal in amplifying LGBTQ+ voices and creating a more inclusive workplace. In ALLchemie’s first year in 2012, it grew to 100 members at one site. And by 2016, ALLchemie had over 250 members. Justin then helped other BASF sites start local ALLchemie employee resource groups (ERGs). Today, there are more than 12 ALLchemie ERGs throughout BASF.
Justin’s vision and passion helped ALLchemie achieve its goals of receiving management support to drive a culture of change at BASF; creating a corporate culture where ALLchemie employees feel welcomed and valued; encouraging active membership participation; and ensuring a committed ALLchemie leadership team. ALLchemie has become critical in helping BASF recruit, retain, and develop LGBTQ+ talent at the company and embrace a more diverse and inclusive environment. “ALLchemie has had such a positive impact on a broad group of people because it allows them to bring their full potential to the workplace which exponentially impacts others around them,” said Justin. “If people are able to bring their true self and share that passion, it spreads throughout the workplace, which makes us all more successful.”
Cultivating Change Foundation Director Bill Hendrix commented, “I first worked with Justin when he was at Dow AgroSciences. He was an amazing leader and organizer who stepped up to run the LGBTQ+ network there at Dow AgroSciences. His honest and observable leadership had real impact especially within the field-based and remote employees. After his move to BASF, he did amazing things to organize ALLchemie and make it into one of the recognized standard-bearers within the industry. Now, in Canada and with his amazing family, he is doing the same for that region and bringing visible representation to an underrepresented area.” We’re thrilled to recognize Justin as a Cultivator of Change!
Jenneth Layaou
Jenneth has served as advisor to Penn State Students for Cultivating Change (SCC) since 2016. SCC at Penn State was the first collegiate affiliate of the Cultivating Change Foundation, and Jenneth has been part of SCC since the beginning. To form a student group and receive funding at Penn State, the student founders needed an advisor, and Jenneth enthusiastically stepped into that role. Jenneth helped SCC organize programming, such as hosting Monsanto (now Bayer), Corteva Agriscience, and other agriculture industry employers on campus. She also supported SCC members in professional and leadership development. According to current and former SCC members, “[Jenneth] saw her role as advisor to encourage student-led success, not run the organization herself. Without her contribution, the Penn State chapter would not be the success it is today. And without the Penn State chapter’s success and outreach, the [national] chapter program would not be the same.”
The SCC students and alumni who nominated Jenneth explained that, during her time as advisor to SCC, “[Jenneth] has made an impact not only on student members, but students across the [national] chapter network, and the Pennsylvania agriculture sector as a whole.” Kurtis Miller, an SCC alumni who now helps advise chapters in the national chapter network, emphasized that Jenneth’s leadership served as a foundation for the success of the national SCC affiliate program.
Jenneth’s commitment to diversity and inclusion extends beyond SCC. Current and former SCC members explain that Jenneth has “foster[ed] a welcoming culture for LGBTQ+ students across the Penn State campus system. As Director of the Pennsylvania School for Excellence in the Agricultural Sciences (PSEAS), she has personally cultivated an environment that ensures all students are made to feel welcome.” The PSEAS is designed to immerse graduating high school seniors in the agricultural sciences, and Jenneth’s intentional inclusion helps to ensure that LGBTQ+ students feel welcome in the program. Jenneth also serves as a member of the College of Agricultural Sciences Diversity Coordination Council. One purpose of that council is to improve diversity in staff and faculty in the college. Through her role, Jenneth helps to ensure the staff and faculty of the college better represent the diversity of the Penn State student body, including LGBTQ+ students.
“Jenneth Layaou is exactly the type of person this award intends to recognize,” said Kirk Maag, Chair of the Cultivating Change Foundation Board. “She has played a pivotal role in championing visibility and voice for LGBTQ+ students at Penn State and now at several campuses across the country. The SCC affiliate program would not be what it is today without Jenneth’s unwavering commitment to value and elevate LGBTQ+ students in agriculture.”
Past Recipients: Mark Poeschl (2019); Ellen Thompson (2018); and Karen Ross (2017).
Cultivating Change Ally
The Ally Award recognizes an ally of the LGBTQ+ community who works to advance the perceptions of LGBTQ+ individuals in agriculture. An ally is not just someone who accepts LGBTQ+ people, but advocates for issues that serve to value and elevate LGBTQ+ individuals. An ally utilizes their privilege or position of leadership to benefit the LGBTQ+ community.
Barbara Coty
Since joining Tyson Foods in 2013, Barbara has been a member of the Pride Network—an LGBTQ+ focused business resource group at Tyson Foods. In the Pride Network, Barbara has held several positions, including Steering Committee Member, Treasurer, Community Outreach Lead, and Chairperson. According to Barbara, the Pride Network’s mission “truly emulates how I feel as an individual about bridging the gap between the LGBTQ+ and agricultural communities.” That mission is to “raise expectations for how much good diversity and inclusion can do through advocacy, outreach and allyship that fosters a welcoming and authentic culture for individuals who identify as LGBTQ+.”
Through Barbara’s leadership, Tyson Foods has been a consistent partner of the Cultivating Change Foundation since 2017. Tyson Foods’ support includes direct monetary support and in-kind contributions of Tyson Foods branded products. The company has also sponsored employees who have attended the Cultivating Change Summit. Tyson Foods employees, including Barbara, have been featured speakers at past Summits.
Beyond her support for the Cultivating Change Foundation, Barbara is proud of her work with the Center on Halsted in Chicago—another partner of Tyson’s Pride Network. The Center on Halsted is “the Midwest’s most comprehensive community center dedicated to advancing community and securing the health and wellbeing of the [LGBTQ+] people of Chicagoland.” In particular, the Silver Fork culinary and job training program is one of Barbara’s passion projects. This 9-12 week program is free for students and was designed for un- or under-employed LGBTQ+ individuals and allies. Students undergo intensive culinary training, personal and professional development, job readiness, and career counseling. Barbara was instrumental in securing a $25,000 grant from Tyson Foods to Silver Fork in 2017. That partnership has continued to expand and evolve over time, with at least $100,000 in grants awarded to date.
According to Barbara, “[b]eing an ally in a position of leadership representing the largest meat company in the United States allows [her] not only the unique opportunity but the responsibility to further advocate and advance LGBTQ+ agriculturists.” Cultivating Change Foundation Director Grant Ermis commented that “Barbara Coty has been a steadfast advocate for progress and growth within the Tyson Foods diversity, equity, and inclusion space. She is an example for all Cultivating Change Foundation stakeholders and constantly helps advance our mission to value and elevate LGBTQ+ agriculturists through advocacy, education, and community. We are proud of her participation in the Cultivating Change Foundation and look forward to continued work into the future.”
Past Recipients: Melisa Augusto (2019); Stacy Bushgen, Tino Rossi, Katherine Soule, and Meghan Walter (2018).