WATCH: The Container Store Celebrates Transgender Employee

My name is Ayden Oliver and I’m a trans man living in Oakland, CA. I have worked at The Container Store for over 5 years now and I was able to transition on the job with them. Everyone in my store supported me even though they had never experienced a similar situation before. We did a campaign last year called What We Stand For and every employee was asked to pick one word to describe the company and why. I chose the word ‘Fearless.’ A while later my word and description was picked along with 15 others to be a part of a video campaign. I was asked to make a video describing why I chose the word and what it meant to me.

I chose the word Fearless largely because of my transition. After going back and forth I decided to disclose my trans identity to the entire company in my video. I didn’t know what to expect but I was met with open arms. Then, an even bigger surprise: my video was picked with a few others to be featured on our blog. Better yet, they wanted mine to be first.