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As anti-trans legislation and rhetoric continue to escalate across the U.S.from sweeping state-level bans on gender-affirming care to renewed efforts to bar trans people from public lifetrans nonbinary elite runner Nikki Hiltz and ACLU LGBTQ+ rights lawyer Chase Strangio find themselves at the intersection of justice and representation. Fresh off a historic Olympic run and record-breaking season in 2024, Hiltz has become one of the most visible trans athletes in the world. In the same year, Strangio, the codirector of the ACLUs LGBT & HIV Project, argued a landmark case before the U.S. Supreme Court, challenging Tennessees ban on gender-affirming care for minors. Though their platforms differ, both emphasize the power of showing up authentically, especially in a political climate that seeks to erase trans existence. We asked the two changemakers to interview each other about the personal cost of visibility, the meaning of true allyship in business and beyond, and the LGBTQ+ trailblazers who inspire them to push for progress.This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Nikki Hiltz: Within the past four years, [youve] been everywhere fighting the good fight. I came out in 2021, which, at the time, had the most legislation passed [targeting] LGBTQ+ and, specifically, trans people. Every year since, it’s been more and more. Chase Strangio: I do remember you coming out and a number of cases involving trans athletes in sports. In 2021, the first [anti-trans] sports bill passed, which was in Idaho. I was really focused on sports at the time. Trans inclusion and participation in sports was something that people were very tentative about. Athletes have such an important, critical voice. Hearing and seeing [you] has been a source of inspiration and a lifeline in terms of representation and advocacy. Just seeing you achieve has been really thrilling because so much of trans discourse often is about all of the ways that we’re targeted. But I really love watching and celebrating trans success. One thing I’m struggling with a lot right now is that I actually don’t like being [so] visible [in the public eye]. And yet, I don’t want to disappear. It’s become a part of how I do the work. I’m curious how you feel about being visible and being highly seen in all of these different ways. Hiltz: We’re on a big stage, especially with something like the Olympics. It’s the biggest global sporting event ever. It doesn’t necessarily come naturally for me. I’ve made change through visibility. After the Olympics, I remember a mom messaging me saying that her kid had come out to her as nonbinary, and she knew what that meant because she followed me. Just by being me and running on the biggest stage, I normalized this identity that’s been so dehumanized. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I’ve been running my fastest after coming out. Where do you see your visibility play a role in your work? Strangio: In 2013, there was this real absence of people in my field who were trans lawyers speaking out about trans advocacy. It felt important to push myself because I knew on some level that visibility was going to have an impact in both where I’m engaging with lawyers and then also for the public. Leading up to the marriage equality [Supreme Court ruling], this backlash was looming and increasing toward trans people. Very few people who were trans were speaking in the media about being trans in a way that resonated for me. I remember this moment of saying [to myself], You have all of the resources in the world. You have support. You have a responsibility. I have experienced similar things to those that you mentioned: Young people reaching out to me and saying, Seeing you made me realize I could do this. It’s that reminder that there’s so much fullness in trans life and being a model of that feels absolutely essential. Our power comes through our unapologetic insistence on being ourselves in spaces that don’t expect us to. Hiltz: I really relate to that. I feel like we’re both just two people who are really good at our jobs. Strangio: There’s all different types of visibility. The first way in which my visibility sparked change was being an out trans lawyer at the ACLU, a 100-year-old institution. I was the only trans lawyer there. By being visible in that space and engaging with lawyers and other staff, it allowed the ACLU to shift over time, which I think is one of the biggest impacts I’ve had, because it is such a large and powerful institution in legal advocacy. I feel that I am an embodied refutation of [our opponents] arguments about trans life. Before I arrived, there were just fewer opportunities for staff in the legal department to work directly with trans people who were also lawyers. With more trans people coming into the space, we are able to help our colleagues understand the nuances of our legal arguments and the realities of our lived experiences in more concrete ways. Hiltz: In my space, specifically track and field, I’ve had so much success. It’s like, you can’t ignore me. The sport has really changed and evolved because they had to make space for me. That has been really cool to witness over the past four years. Okay, we have to get Nikki’s pronouns right, and that comes down to the whole broadcast team. Now, it’s very normal to tune into one of my races and hear them get my pronouns correct. It’s a powerful example for everyone watching. Strangio: The media climate currently [is] informing [peoples] view of the world with very reductive narratives. We need there to be entry points to change their understanding about trans people. Trans people are an easy target to make those broader political moves that have serious consequences for everyone. With endorsements, have you felt a sort of hesitancy post-Trump? Hiltz: I think I felt the opposite. I felt more supported. In January, when one of the first things out of [Trumps] mouth was like, there are only two genders, the amount of people that reached out was really cool. Allies are showing up in ways they haven’t before because they see what’s happening. Lululemon is the biggest brand that I work with. They’re my apparel sponsor and a Canadian brand. They’re like, You can come live in Canada if you want. Strangio: We’ve seen a widespread capitulation among powerful law firms. I think that has sent a really damning message. Thankfully, there have been other law firms that have taken on the administration and fought back. Its a situation of just trying to create the conditions for people to be more brave. Hiltz: When I think of training for the world championships this year, its never going to be ne big workout that I do that’s going to make the difference. It’s the cumulative work, the day-to-day things. I feel the same way about inclusion. Making sure in your life or work you’re getting people’s pronouns correct. Never assuming people’s sexuality or gender identity. Support the organizations that directly help trans lives.Strangio: You know, white supremacy has allowed, especially under U.S. capitalism, to suggest that diversity is somehow in tension with excellence, when the opposite is true. Diversity feeds excellence and achievement. I’ve been very disappointed and frustrated with corporations slapping on the rainbow logo while still denying healthcare to their trans employees and refusing to stand up against anti-trans bills while donating money to candidates supporting anti-trans bills. You don’t get to have it both ways. You can’t commodify our fabulous existence and then facilitate the conditions for our eradication. If you want to celebrate us, if you want to enjoy the bounty of queerness, which is plentiful, then you better be working to create the conditions for queer thriving. In 2016, we did see corporations take a stand when North Carolina passed HB2 [the bathroom bill, mandating individuals use public restrooms based on birth sex, not gender identity], and that was really the end of that. We need more of that. It makes a huge difference in the United States. The single most powerful thing is money. Politicians are driven by financial incentives. I’m very learned at yelling at powerful people. I’m litigious. I sue people in power, and that is satisfying. You get paid less if you work in this capacity as opposed to if you represent corporations, but it means you get to fight back in all of these ways, and I feel grateful for that. Hiltz: Totally. [We] wouldn’t have it the other way. I feel like every single queer person who wasn’t afraid to show up and be themselves has really influenced me. All the trans influencers just sharing their stories is so powerful because it just normalizes it. My mom [grew up] pre-Title IX, so when I started getting into sports, I was like, Mom, what sports did you play? She was like, Women weren’t allowed to play sports, and it blew my mind. I want to tell [my kids], It was crazy in the early 2020s. Trans people weren’t allowed to play sports. It was so weird. So I always think that’s the legacy I’m trying to leave. We’re changing the world and it doesn’t seem like it right now, because of whos in power, but we’re on the trajectory to have that one day be the world. Strangio: I am amazed by just how things can change in a generation or two, not just in terms of the sort of substantive changes, but people’s consciousness of what’s possible. [Transgender immigrant activist] Lorena Borjas and Pauli Murray are two people I credit the most. Lorena for being relentless. Pauli, a Black, likely nonbinary or trans, queer lawyer, shaped both the Black civil rights movement and the women’s rights movement. Just knowing Paulis legacy was instrumental in getting me into the courtroom. I hope that I’m doing right by Pauli, and I hope that in a few generations there are people who are dreaming up these arguments in far more expansive ways. Hiltz: I think you’re doing right by Pauli, Chase. Strangio: Thanks, Nikki. I hope so. We both are.
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Morgan Lombardi, Keurigs senior director of product management, believes pod coffee makers have become too big, too mechanical, and maybe even a little bit ugly. Weve seen that coffee makers, including our own, have started to feel more and more like a machine, she says. They are also getting increasingly bigger while kitchens are getting progressively smaller. Which is why Keurig is introducing the K-Mini Mate, a 4-inch-wide brewer that costs $79.99 and launches exclusively at Target starting June 29.After seven years watching consumer behavior at Keurig, Lombardi tells me she observed that people were starting to view their morning brew routine as an obligation rather than a moment of pleasure. Her team discovered that consumers wanted their morning coffee ritual to feel like this wonderful little momentrather than a mechanical click-CLACK! chore. The coffee maker needed to be gentler to the eye and to the touch, and it also needed to be much smaller. Both were hard challenges, she says, because the current puncturing mechanisms for Keurigs brewers are too unwieldy to allow for a subtler, smaller design.[Photo: Keurig]The space problem drives everythingKitchen real estate drives modern appliance design decisions. Nobodys kitchen is getting any bigger, Lombardi explains. Yet, coffee makers remain essential equipment to turn on human brains in the morning, and they need to be there 24/7not taken out of a cabinet. They require permanent positioning, she says, creating a design constraint that forces manufacturers to think smaller.The most significant technical challenge to achieve the smaller footprint involved redesigning what Keurig calls the puncture mechanism. Standard Keurig brewers use a mechanical crunching motion to pierce K-Cup pods; a big handle pushes down to move the array of needles that open holes in that pod. If you have ever used a Keurig machine, it feels a little like pushing down the handle to turn off the Death Star. The standard Keurig mechanism feels like you are crunching something inside, Lombardi says.[Photo: Keurig]To enable the smaller brewer size, the puncturing mechanism needed to be much shorter: The space between the brewer mechanism and the bottom of the brewer needed to be able to fit a travel mug [around 7 inches], she says.[Photo: Keurig]They managed to reengineer the mechanism and change its position, which allowed them to get rid of the crunching handle and turn it into a flat surface that matches the cylindrical shape of its front. The new mechanism doesnt give you the same hard resistance as the previous one, which allowed Keurig to use soft-spring open and closing. She thinks that this alone creates a feeling thats more human, making the act of making coffee more like a soft handshake and less like destroying coffee pods inside a plastic crunching machine.[Photo: Keurig]A new design languageThe resulting machine is much more attractive. The design language features softer radius curves compared with Keurigs standard angular aesthetic. The brewer uses rubberized touchpoints alongside ABS plastic construction to make it feel softer to the touch, too. A small rubberized tab on the top helps you to take the water deposit out, requiring just a finger to easily remove the top. The water reservoir also sits flat on counters without tipping over, like a water jar.[Photos: Keurig]The resultavailable in black, red, and greenis a machine that brews up to 12 ounces of coffee and is about 33% smaller than Keurigs previous smallest model. One that, perhaps more importantly, doesnt look like your great aunts brewer from yesteryear, but like a modern piece of design.The companys research revealed that younger consumers entering the coffee-maker market prioritize simplicity and visual appeal over advanced features. Generation Z buyers need coffee makers for college or first apartments, but they dont have strong preferences about brewing functionality.[Photo: Keurig]According to Lombardi, consumer response has been great during testing. From initial foam prototypes through in-home use studies, people fell in love with this productand theyre saying, you know, its small. I havent seen anything like this. Its just really cute. When can I have it?She also tells me that the K-Mini Mate represents the first product in what will become Keurigs new visual brand language across its entire lineup. Keurig updates its visual brand language every five years to match shifting consumer preferences, she points out. Future models will incorporate similar aesthetic principles while adding features like larger water tanks. So, thats definitely good news for Keurig fans everywhere.
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How often do you leave work thinking, Wow, that was fun! Once a week? Once a month? Never? If you arent having funreal funit may be time to rethink your work life, says Bree Groff, author of Today Was Fun: A Book About Work (Seriously). The idea that work needed to be fun didnt hit home for Groff until her mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2022. She took a leave of absence from her job at a New York-based transformation consulting firm to care for her and her father, who had Alzheimers disease. After her mother passed away, she went back to work part time with a new perspective. One of the things that became obvious while taking care of my parents is that at some point, well run out of Mondays, she says. They aren’t a renewable resource. So, what are we doing to our lives when we’re wishing away five out of seven days of every week? A common attitude is that work is called work for a reason; its something to get through to get a paycheck. The flip side is: Love what you do, and you’ll never work a day in your life. This phrase suggests that the solution to work being drudgery is that it should be your passion and your identity. That notion also didn’t sit right with Groff. Many of the leaders shed worked with were pouring themselves into their work, but they were also sacrificing their health, sleep, and relationships, hoping for a reward that would come someday in the future. It seemed to me that the answer was somewhere in the middle, Groff says. Every day that I spend at work comes out of the finite bank of days that I have on the planet. What would it take to have fun today? If youre not having fun, Groff offers two places to start. Micro Acts of Mischief Too often, people feel they need to be their most buttoned-up, professional, palatable versions of themselves at work. But once we put on a business mask, we stifle all of our vitality, play, and joy, Groff says. Instead, introduce micro acts of mischief into the day. These are moments of diversion to the work culture or routine. If you have to adhere to a dress code, for example, wear some ridiculous socks. Or add a joke or ridiculous font to a presentation deck. Or literally mix things up, she suggests. One day we rearranged the office furniture, pulling comfy chairs over, so we could all hang out a little bit better, Groff says. The facilities team wasnt pleased with us, but it felt a little mischievous, sneaky, and fun in a way that made our team chuckle. Micro Acts of Connections You can also cultivate fun through micro acts of connections, including camaraderie and self-expression. Groff recommends sending a coworker a direct message or email, expressing appreciation for something they did. You can also ask a colleague to grab coffee. Make it light, she says. The idea is to gain a sense of the people you’re working with, knowing a little bit about their lives outside of work. Where do they live? Do they have a pet? Its getting to know them as a human and not just about the work at hand. Also, look for places to show your personality by putting your own stamp on your work. This isn’t just for creative marketing professionals, Groff says. A barista at a coffee shop can make latte art. Or a project manager can make a brilliant project timeline. How can you put your stamp on your work? Connection and self-expression humanize the workplace, Groff says. We should like the people that we’re spending our days with. Sometimes, we’re spending more time with our colleagues than our families or significant others.” Are We Having Fun Yet? Groff says you can usually tell if you’re having fun, and you can always tell if you’re not. It’s almost childlike in its sensibility. I define fun as a sense of play, experimentation, and vitality. My metric for the day is: How many minutes have I spent laughing? Dont confuse fun-looking workplaces with fun work, Groff adds. Theres a difference between thinking of fun as icing on the work cake, or fun as being the cake itself, she says. If we look at fun as the icing, thats where Ping-Pong tables or happy hour get a bad rap. You cannot fill your days with Ping-Pong and happy hour, or nothing gets done. Id also argue that is a superficial sliver of fun. Having fun at work is using your skills in a way that makes you feel good because you contributed and made an impact on customers, clients, or other parts of the organization. While there is a business argument for having more fun at work, such as increased productivity and performance, the existential argument is much stronger. If I’m a manager, I don’t want to end my career thinking, I really extracted every last hour from that employee or I made them perform better for the business, Groff says. I want to make sure that these humans have made good use of their days on the planet. That they’ve gotten to contribute joyfully and profoundly.
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