Abigail St. Clair has owned and operated TeBella Tea Company in Tampa Bay since 2010, running it by her abiding philosophy of inclusion. As a business owner, she has proudly supported passing explicit statewide nondiscrimination protections in Florida to protect members of the LGBTQ community.

“For us, when we’re hiring, we’re looking at your attitude, your work ethic, the whole employee; we’re not looking at whether you’re LGBT,” Abigail said. “Imagine not having those protections. Everyone in Florida should be guaranteed that they won’t be fired from their job for reasons that have nothing to do with their performance.”