Staff Stories: Mack and Bran Alves-Morgan
A Journey From Exile To Safety
by Grace DePaull
After several years of what can be considered a “Queer exile,” Mack and Bran Alves-Morgan have finally reached a point where they are creating the life they want. But it wasn’t always this way. With growing concerns for their safety and uncertainties of a future together, the Alves-Morgans spent much of their lives crossing borders, fleeing countries and cities and searching for a sense of belonging. It wasn’t until the Supreme Court ruled on marriage equality that they finally felt comfortable settling in the United States, eventually making their way to Ithaca, New York and Cornell University.
Mack and Bran began working at Cornell in 2022. As the HR talent specialist for Cornell Bowers CIS and Cornell Engineering, Mack leads recruitment efforts for both colleges and oversees every step of the hiring process for many open positions. Bran is an advising dean for the College of Arts and Sciences and serves as an advisor in the Latine Student Success Office. Both Mack and Bran have been influential in creating an inclusive and welcoming environment while honoring the diverse experiences of students and staff across campus.
“The diversity, equity, inclusion, access and belonging piece is intrinsic to every part of my role,” Bran added. “These feelings of belonging and inclusion are something that I’ve always looked for and are what I like to bring to my work.”
Their hopes of cultivating a sense of belonging for students and staff emerged long before they assumed their roles at Cornell – stemming from hopes of experiencing the same in their own lives and at a young age.
Mack was only sixteen when he fled his home in Venezuela, a country lacking LGBTQ+-friendly legislation and sentiment. Before his departure, he researched and discovered that Spain was the first country to legalize equal marriage to the full extent of equality. That is how he chose his new home.
“I was completely by myself,” Mack said. “I just found a couple of roommates, and that’s how I started my journey there. Spain was like a safe haven for me and the Queer community at the time.”
Mack worked hard in his final year of high school in Venezuela to secure a spot at one of the top universities in Spain. He was one of only two students out of hundreds of applicants to pass an exam that solidified his entry into the country and a scholarship to help fund his studies.
“When I think back, I don’t know how I did it,” Mack said. “I was hugely unprepared to access the university system in Spain. It was very intimidating, and I even missed my high school graduation because I was so busy studying. I had to navigate a new country and culture on my own, but being able to be myself was really why I decided to move. I knew I was Queer, and I knew Venezuela was no longer a safe space for me.”
Similar concerns affected Bran, who came out at fifteen in a challenging environment.
“In Alabama, you are raised hearing the phrase ‘Don’t stray too far from the norm,’” Bran said. “Because of that, there was this unsaid uniformity, and you’re told not to stand out. So, as soon as I graduated high school, I went as far away as I knew how to go, which was eleven hours north to Virginia. I attended a women’s college the first year that it had gone co-ed, and so it felt very safe in a way.”
The two eventually crossed paths when Bran decided to study abroad for a semester in Spain. After pursuing a year of a long-distance relationship once Bran returned to the States, they decided that he would join Mack in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, where they would remain for the next eight years.
“We were looking for ways to be together,” Bran said. “At the time, equal marriage did not exist federally in the United States, so it wasn’t something that would work for immigration status. And so, we had to do this “Queer exile” where I moved to Spain, and we were able to get married and remain together.”
There, Mack and Bran channeled their energy into building an organization that would serve as a “safe haven” for the couple – keeping them in the country and together. With only seven thousand dollars in their bank accounts and barely into their twenties, Mack and Bran opened OELS English, an English language school that would become the largest in the northwest region of Spain.
The business started slowly, but within a matter of time, they had gone from handing out pamphlets on the street and experiencing periods of homelessness to having over one thousand students enrolled in their institution per year.
“Our skills grew in these specialized ways,” Bran said. “We were learning as we were going. I developed my teaching skills and learned how to train people to teach while Mack polished all of our business procedures and created all of our HR policies.”
After eight and a half years at OELS English, it was time to move on. The pair turned to opportunities in higher education, first leading them to a community college in Iowa and then to Cornell.
“We knew it was time for a change,” Mack said. “And for me, I wanted to be in the intersection between human resources and diversity, equity and inclusion. I hope that I can make our jobs a safe environment where people can flourish and feel comfortable and safe.”
Coming to Cornell has been an opportunity for Mack and Bran to continue to transform their dreams into reality, while empowering others to do the same.
“It took us a while to be in a place where we can create and design the life we want,” Mack said. “Now we’re in that “designing” process, but many people out there don’t have the means or are too afraid to create the reality they want to be in. It takes a lot of work and a lot of privilege to be able to decide how you are going to create your life.”