Opening doors: Tess Williams' inspiring journey championing trans equity at SFU

Tess Williams, a systems consultant at Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), is making a lasting impact through her tireless efforts championing institutional change and advocating for trans rights at SFU. Her commitment to fostering equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) has inspired positive changes across the university.

As part of her volunteer work as an Administrative and Professional Association (APSA) board member, Williams was crucial in advocating for gender-affirming care to be included in the extended healthcare benefits for SFU employees. Her actions have had a strong impact—starting this summer, SFU will offer gender-affirming care for all faculty and staff.

Together with health sciences assistant professor Travis Salway, Williams also co-developed and delivered the first Trans Equity Survey aimed to identify the most pressing priorities for change at SFU. The survey results clearly broke down areas to address gender-diverse inequity across the university, and resulted in the creation of a network of over 100 people consisting of faculty, students, staff, alumni and allies, all with a commitment to push for structural change.   

Williams is also part of SFU’s EDI Community of Practice (EDI-COPr), a group of staff and faculty leads who are engaged in equity and inclusion work as part of their job description or are involved in unit-level EDI-related initiatives. Thanks to Williams and other community members, the EDI-COPr will establish a Trans Equity Pod as a focus area.

“I would like to recognize how so much of this EDI work happens at the side of people's desks and it is important to honour the personal cost for Tess in terms of the time and labour she has put into this work,” says Paola Ardiles Gamboa, Senior Advisor to the VP, People, Equity & Inclusion. “We are very pleased to be able to support the pod moving forward as part of the work of the Community of Practice.” 

Before joining SFU, Williams worked in the private sector for several years. Reflecting on that experience, she shared, "I didn't feel comfortable coming out. I was living a double life." Her story highlights the struggles that many in the transgender community still face in the workplace.

“Grueling, debilitating. I don't have enough adjectives to describe what an awful experience it is to live that double life,” says Williams. “You start these changes. It's called transition for a reason, it's not a light switch, and many companies are still ignorant, or back then they didn't have processes to support trans folks.”

Williams joined SFU in the summer of 2021.

“I recall that Tess really stood out as unique among the other candidates,” says FASS Information Systems Director and Williams’ former supervisor Jasper Stoodley. “While her skills and experience on paper were similar to others, she expressed such a keen desire to work at SFU and did not consider it just another job.”

Williams says, “From day one, I was extremely motivated. I knew how hard it was for trans folks to get jobs because of my experience, and I would not mess this opportunity up so I worked as hard as I've ever worked in my life in order to retain this job.”

Today, Williams’ hard work is recognized by all those who have had the chance to work with and around her. Described by colleagues as “personable”, “incredibly knowledgeable”, “determined” and “extremely helpful”, her impact extends far beyond her IT role. 

Reflecting on the last three years, Williams describes her time at SFU as “transformational”. 

“Being able to work in a job where I am myself 24/7 was the beginning for me. It allowed me to feel confident. It allowed me to evolve. It has been everything to me,” says Williams. “It has set me on a path and put me in touch with people who I consider my heroes. It has changed my life completely.”