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Barry Dallman: Finding a place where you can be yourself

  • Published on Aug. 14, 2026

For years, Barry Dallman carefully separated who he was from where he worked.
Growing up in the Midwest United States and later serving in the US Air Force, Barry experienced a culture where sexuality and gender identity were rarely discussed. He learned to keep that part of himself private.

Today, Barry lives openly and proudly in Perth and works as a Workforce Planning Specialist at Sodexo Australia. His journey has taken him from feeling the need to hide part of his identity to actively helping create a workplace where others can feel comfortable being themselves.

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“I wanted to share my personal story to normalise and make Pride recognition more relevant to the team,” Barry says.

For Barry, belonging isn’t about making someone’s identity the focus of everything they do. It’s about creating an environment where people don’t feel they need to hide it.

“While I normally prefer to keep my private life separate from my work life – to be acknowledged for the work I do rather than how I identify – I wanted to share my personal story to remind colleagues that LGBTQ+ people are part of every community, team and workplace, whether their stories are visible or not.”

From keeping quiet to speaking up

Barry’s experience has shaped the way he thinks about inclusion and allyship.

“If people don’t understand your experience, they may not understand your perspective or why it’s important to be an ally.”

That’s why he has become an active contributor to Sodexo’s LGBTQIA+ network and has shared his story with teams during Pride celebrations.

For Barry, telling his story isn’t about putting himself in the spotlight. It’s about helping make conversations about identity feel more normal and giving others an opportunity to understand experiences that may be different from their own.

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Bringing his experience to his work

Barry’s day-to-day role is very different from his work as an advocate for inclusion.

 

Barry’s day-to-day role is very different from his work as an advocate for inclusion. As a People Analytics and Workforce Optimisation Business Partner at Sodexo, his work turns complex HR, workforce planning, rostering and labour data into clear insights, and practical tools that support leaders, operations, commercial and HR teams. The role has reinforced something Barry has learned throughout his own journey: people perform at their best when they feel respected, supported and included.

 

That role has given Barry a strong understanding of how much people and relationships matter to the way a site operates. His experience across different roles at Sodexo, combined with his natural empathy, has also shaped his approach to creating productive, safe and supportive working environments

Better when we’re together

Barry’s story is one of many that show what belonging can look like at Sodexo.

Sometimes it’s about having the confidence to bring your whole self to work. Sometimes it’s about listening to someone whose experience is different from your own. And sometimes, it’s simply knowing you don’t have to hide who you are to be part of the team.

For Barry, sharing his story is one small way of helping make that possible for someone else. Because work is better when people feel they belong.

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