Finding a Community, Making a Difference

While Pride officially takes place during the month of June, Booz Allen’s business resource group (BRG) GLOBE+ celebrates its spirit year-round. For more than 20 years, the award-winning BRG has honored Pride’s legacy by standing up for equality and visibility, helping employees to thrive and to support the LGBTQ+ community at large.

Here three employees talk about how they got involved with GLOBE+, what the community means to them, and how they’re working with the BRG to drive positive change—within Booz Allen and in the world. 

“We’ve got you.”

Senior Consultant Lianna Newman heard these words from a GLOBE+ board member soon after joining Booz Allen and has been helping others feel a similar sense of support and inclusion ever since.

Lianna started with GLOBE+ as a “super-volunteer,” then served as director of intersectionality. Now co-chair of infrastructure and operations, Lianna plays an integral role in driving the BRG’s “4R strategy” of recruitment, retention, reputation, and resilience.

“We aim to make sure employees who are part of our community are having a positive experience at Booz Allen and that the firm not only accepts but celebrates LGBTQ+ employees.”

This work involves connecting members of the LGBTQ+ community and allies alike to programming, education, and more, including events featuring noted advocates, speakers, and Booz Allen executives.

Involvement by leaders at the highest levels distinguishes Booz Allen and “means a lot to everyone,” according to Lianna. “It’s not just words. They show up.”

When Capital Pride in Washington, DC, hosts WorldPride in 2025, the work of Senior Consultant Emilee Cocuzzo will be part of the reason why.

As a member of GLOBE+, Emilee worked on a study demonstrating Capital Pride’s significant economic impact on the Washington, DC, community, which reported that Capital Pride drives over $371 million in positive impact each year for Pride. The pro bono project not only leveraged the skills she uses in her work supporting clients like USAID, but it also contributed to Capital Pride successfully winning the bid for the 2025 global event.

“Being a part of this project, which had a positive impact in the DC LGBTQ+ community, was incredibly satisfying,” Emilee says.

Emilee arrived at Booz Allen as a Summer Games intern. She says that GLOBE+ has been invaluable in helping her feel at home in a firm with more than 30,000 employees. When she first joined the firm and found herself searching for a project, for example, “the GLOBE+ folks were the first to stand up and say, ‘send me your resume,’” she says.

And when she first joined Booz Allen, she says, GLOBE+ leadership was there with the ultimate words of encouragement and support: “Just be authentically you.” 

Melody Stauchor has long been an advocate at Booz Allen and in the greater community, taking an active role with Capital Trans Pride and the transgender military advocacy group, SPART*A, and as a leader with GLOBE+. Today, this involvement includes being GLOBE+’s director of Pride programming and co-chair of TransAct, which advocates with and on behalf of the trans community to build more inclusive employee benefits and a more inclusive culture.

Melody says she has a passion for helping others. “I always ask myself, ‘how do I make the world a better place for people who come after me?’”

Employee advocacy, like that of Melody and the Globe+ BRG, is one factor that plays into the firm’s evaluation of employee benefit policies. Booz Allen offers a comprehensive benefits program designed to meet the ever-changing needs of employees. The most recent updates to the 2023 employee benefits program includes expanded coverage for transgender essential services, greater access to fertility services, as well as treatment support and additional mental health access.

“Booz Allen has a history of leading the way in this area,” Melody notes. When she joined Booz Allen more than a decade ago, for example, “we’ve had groups thinking of my needs long before I was aware of what my needs would be,” she says.