Hi M., and thanks for applauding what you’ve described as our openness! It makes us glad to know that accepting people for who they are is an action that resonates with you. Celebrating diversity, as well as furthering equity and inclusion, are closely tied to an intrinsic part of what we do: spreading the joy of baking. Since some groups of people have historically been excluded from many parts of the baking world based on things like their race, gender, and sexual orientation, we feel that it’s particularly important in this moment to go out of our way to let people know that they have a place in our kitchen as their whole, authentic selves, where it’s not necessary to hide or downplay parts of their lives that make up a key part of how they experience things. As Frank mentions here in his story, he began sharing this part of his life with others at a time when it was often very risky to do so. Our goal in sharing these stories is to let people know that this is a safe and welcoming place where you’ll never need to choose between sharing your love of baking and sharing who you are.

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