Proud To Be Queer
By Queer Student Awards
(Music used with licence - Mattijs Muller 'Nu Disco Groove' premiumbeats.com)
Proud To Be QueerNov 14, 2023
Emma Miller-McCaffrey (she/her), Head of Relationships at Diversity Role Models
In this episode we speak to the Head of Relationships at the QSA's charity partner Diversity Role Models, Emma Miller McCaffrey (she/her). Emma shares more about growing up as a teenager during Section 28, her journey towards motherhood with her partner and the work of DRM.
Find out more about Diversity Role Models and volunteer to become a role model at diversityrolemodels.org
Ash Scholz (they/them), QSA2023 Role Model of the Year: Education
In this episode we speak to the QSA2023 Role Model of the Year: Education, Ash Scholz (they/them).
Clay Nash (they/she), QSA2023 Activist of the Year
In this episode we speak to the QSA2023 winner of Activist of the Year, Clay Nash.
Jasper Hopkins (he/him ), QSA2023 Role Model of the Year: LGBTQ+ Youth
In the latest episode of Proud To Be Queer we learn more about one of the QSA2023 Role Models of the Year, for the LGBTQ+ Youth category, Jasper Hopkins (he/him).
Emma Prach (she/they), QSA2023 Influencer of the Year
In the latest episode of Proud To Be Queer we learn more about the QSA2023 Influencer of the Year, Emma Prach (she/they). Emma was also awarded runner-up of the Queer of the Year and Role Model of the Year: LGBTQ+ Youth categories.
- Follow Emma's work at Project Sonrisa here
- Watch Emma's mental health documentary 'Our Minds' here
- Listen to Project Sonrisa's podcast 'It All Matters' here
Taj Donville-Outerbridge (he/they), QSA2023 Queer of the Year
In the latest episode of Proud To Be Queer we learn more about the QSA2023 Queer of the Year, Taj Donville-Outerbridge (he/they). Taj is also one of two winners of the QSA Role Model of the Year: LGBTQ+ Youth category.
Read ‘#EmbraceEquity: an opportunity for solidarity’ written by Taj, which is discussed during the episode, here: https://www.royalgazette.com/opinion-writer/opinion/article/20230313/embraceequity-an-opportunity-for-solidarity/
Miles Russell (he/him), Global Head of External Communications at WTW
Miles has worked in the financial services sector for more than 30 years. He is currently WTW's global head of external communications, Executive Sponsor of the company's LGBT+ inclusion network and a member of the company's global I&D Council. Miles has been openly gay at work throughout his career and has seen tremendous change throughout this period. Now married to his Spanish partner of 28 years, Miles is concerned that the rights many in the LGBTQ+ community now take for granted, could easily reverse unless we maintain the fight against prejudice and discrimination.
You can listen to Miles' queer anthem 'Wind Beneath My Wings' by Barbara Streisand on our YouTube playlist here.
Justin Farrance (He/Him), Ambassador for DE&I at Allen & Overy
Justin is a diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) changemaker and leader. His role as the first Global Ambassador for DE&I at one of the world's largest law firms enables him to lead and empower others to have a positive impact on people, workplace environments, culture and society.
Having trained and qualified as an employment lawyer, he uses his past and current experience to help ensure A&O recognise people’s differences and understand the benefits and value people with diverse backgrounds, thinking and experience contribute to an organisation. This means challenging discrimination, dispelling stigmas and ensuring people are treated fairly, with dignity and respect.
He is also the Founder and CEO of GROW Mentoring, a registered charity supporting more than 4000 underrepresented future lawyers, addressing intersectionality and providing mentoring for diverse aspiring lawyers.
He has been recognised as the #1 Future Leader in the UK by The British LGBT Awards 2021 and is the recipient of the global McKinsey & Company Achievement Award. He received a Commonwealth Points of Light Award for social impact by the British Prime Minister and is listed on Attitude’s global 101 LGBTQ+ Trailblazers 2021. Justin was the first winner of 'QSA Rising Star' in the awards' inaugural year. Hs is a regular speaker, panellist and has given a TEDx talk.
Dr Robert Vesty (he/they), Senior Lecturer in Theatre at Middlesex University
Dr Robert Vesty (he/they) is co-chair of the LGBT+ staff and student network at Middlesex University where they work as a Senior Lecturer in Theatre. A white cis male, they were born in Luton in 1973 but quickly moved to Lancashire before moving again to Essex when he was ten. He grew up in a working-class household with two younger straight brothers and found himself hiding his queerness from those around him, including himself. In some ways, he found space and a potential outlet through theatre, which he studied at GCSE, A-level and then at the University of Birmingham where he graduated with First-class honours. He then went to the Welsh College of Music and Drama to complete actor-training before moving to London to work as an actor in theatre. Robert ‘came out’ as gay at 27 (he was kind of ‘outed’ by his dad one Christmas) and was lucky enough to be supported by a strong network of friends and, for the most part, family too as he got to know his sexuality. At work he has mostly felt supported too - at one point in his early 30s fearlessly holding hands with his partner at the headmaster’s reception on day 1 of a new job at a posh secondary school prompting more gay teachers to increase their visibility especially when it came to including their partners at social events. In 2009, Robert did an MA, moved into teaching in academia and developed his performance practice as an improviser before embarking on a PhD. Which he completed in 2020. These days, Robert most readily identifies as queer; uses both he and they pronouns and lives in East London with their genderqueer spouse who is Spanish. They were married in 2016 in a queer act of resistance against the EU referendum and then celebrated the marriage with a day-long queer festival of performance billed as ‘our very own European union’. In terms of work, he now specialises in teaching movement for actors. He writes about and practices improvisation and is interested in the topics of queerness and class. More at www.robertvesty.com
You can listen to Robert's queer anthem 'Do You Wanna Funk' by Patrick Cowley on our YouTube playlist here.
Pavlo Cherednychenko (He/Him), ACCA member and Audit Director at Mazars
Pavlo Cherednychenko is a Ukrainian British cis gender gay man with the successful personal, professional career and geographical transitions. Currently an Audit Director at Mazars in the UK, he is a passionate coach, mentor and facilitator who is curious to see people, their unique journeys and to help them build fulfilling sustainable futures.
You can listen to Pavlo's queer anthem 'Brave' by Sara Bareilles on our YouTube playlist here.
Pavlo invites you to connect with him via Instagram and LinkedIn.
Josh Frampton (He/Him), Undergraduate Placement Student at AstraZeneca, Macclesfield
Josh is an undergraduate placement student at AstraZeneca in Macclesfield, working as an analytical scientist whilst completing the final year of his master’s degree in Natural Sciences at the University of York. He is also one of the core members of an LGBTQIA+ employee-based group within his department, focused on further inclusion of the queer community within the workplace. Josh has only very recently started being open about his sexuality in public and professional environments, having struggled with coming out as a gay man in years prior. However, he now sees his sexual identity and the experiences associated with his journey as a strength, and takes great pride in utilising this to educate his colleagues on how they can be better allies to the LGBTQIA+ community at work and in the wider world. Outside of work, Josh is an avid gym-goer (when he’s not revising) and loves all kinds of sports, but his favourite thing to do is take spontaneous trips to see live music and shows, or do karaoke – basically any opportunity to have a sing and a dance!
You can listen to Josh's queer anthem 'Everybody's Gay' by Lizzo on our YouTube playlist here.
Natalie Downing-Knowles (She/Her), Branch Manager, Enterprise Leamington Spa
As a long-standing member of the LGBTQ+ community Natalie found herself searching for a company that would accept, nurture, and develop her, not only as a person but as a professional. Enterprise is an extremely diverse and inclusive employer, whose founding values have helped them create a truly inclusive and supportive environment. This supportive environment allows her to create change in the workplace and beyond on a daily basis. Over the past 4 years, she has had many opportunities to influence and educate her peers and her senior leaders on the importance of equality and inclusion for progress, to which she is grateful. As she progresses throughout the next stages of her career, she aspires to become a mentor and role model to women and members of the LGBTQ+ community, with the aim to inspire the next generation. Seeing is believing.
You can listen to Natalie's queer anthem 'I'm Coming Out' by Diana Ross on our YouTube playlist here.
Jack Stokes (He/Him), Dudley College of Technology - Queer of the Year 2021
Jack Stokes, Student Governor of Dudley College of Technology, was crowned the first ever Queer of the Year in 2021. Jack is now 18 years old and currently studying Level 3 Applied Science at Dudley College. One principle that defines him is striving to help, to help in what ever capacity he can, it is something that is very important to him and his work. He tries to lead in a positive impactful way and to be the leader that he wants to see in the world; respectful, passionate and determined.
You can listen to Jack's 'queer anthem Little Game by Benny on our YouTube playlist here.
Grace Armstrong (They/Them), Northumbria Student's Union - QSA Queer of the Year & Activist of the Year 2022
In this episode we find out more about the winner of Queer of the Year and Activist of the Year at the 2022 Queer Student Awards, Grace Armstrong. Grace is the vice president welfare at Northumbria Student's Union. They identify as bisexual and gender fluid and love working hard to represent and empower the lgbtq* community.
(Music used with licence - Mattijs Muller 'Nu Disco Groove' premiumbeats.com)
Lily Marston (She/Her), Ambassador at Not Going To Uni
Lily is a Cloud Solution Architect apprentice at Microsoft, studying a degree in Digital and Technology Solutions (Software Engineering). Her role is highly technical yet customer facing, and involves developing cloud technology and building artificial intelligence solutions for defence customers. She is super passionate about early careers and women in technology and has founded numerous initiatives and programmes like The EIC Society meet-up. She also runs @lilscodes to inspire and encourage others to follow their dreams, remove the stigma around apprenticeships and women in STEM, and share the learnings she has made over the last two years at Microsoft.
(Music used with licence - Mattijs Muller 'Nu Disco Groove' premiumbeats.com)
Chris Mattley (He/Him), William Farr CofE School - QSA Role Model of the Year 2022
Chris is the winner of Role Model of the Year for a School or College in the Queer Student Awards 2022. He works at William Farr CE School in Lincolnshire and helps to run the LGBT+ Space for queer students and allies, which also became School or College of the Year in this year’s awards. Chris identifies as a gay man and grew up during the time of Section 28. This had a profound effect on him not only during his education but also the time that he trained to be a teacher. Chris was born in Germany as part of an RAF family and as result he moved around throughout his early years. He studied Geography at Oxford University and returned there after a gap year to complete his PGCE in Secondary Education. In 2015 he was nominated as Teacher of the Year in a Secondary School in the national Pearson Teaching Awards. He was awarded a Silver Award. Chris has worked for Stonewall, helps other schools with LGBT advice and has been featured in the LGBTEd book “Big Gay Adventures in Education.” Chris has taught at William Farr School for 16 years and has helped to run their LGBT+ Space for 9 years. Chris lives with his partner Lee and only came out to his parents in 2021. Despite all the wonderful success of the LGBT+ Space, the shame left by Section 28 is the reason why he waited so long to share his sexuality with his parents. The turmoil of this long wait is forming the basis of a memoir which he is currently penning, when he is not marking books. He has an unhealthy number of Christmas Jumpers which appear every December. The movie Pride changed his life and Chris draws his inspiration from Mark Ashton.
(Music used with licence - Mattijs Muller 'Nu Disco Groove' premiumbeats.com)
Tommy King (He/Him), Branch Manager and LGBTQ+ network lead at Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Tommy is an openly gay Branch Manager working for Enterprise Rent-A-Car in the North West. He is head of their internal LGBTQ+ network Enterpride supporting 750 employees with a 30 strong committee behind him. He host events for Enterprise, sends newsletters and host events for their external partners/customers. Tommy has also been a judge for the 2022 Queer Student Awards.
(Music used with licence - Mattijs Muller 'Nu Disco Groove' premiumbeats.com)
Sue Pascoe (She/Her), Inclusivity Champion
In this episode we meet inclusivity champion, and ICAEW member, Sue Pascoe who shares her story of being a woman with a trans past and her feelings about transgender rights in the U.K.
Sue is a successful business leader, management consultant and chartered accountant with extensive business and life experience. Sue runs her own consultancy business focused on helping businesses become more inclusive. She speaks widely on the topic of inclusion with multiple media appearances and corporate speaking engagements. She is listed in the 2019 “PwC 50 Inspirational people”. She is a trained NED by ICAEW and speaker on inclusion for them. She is a trained CEO by the School for CEOs and one of their leadership podcast contributors. She is a trustee of one of the largest and oldest sexual health and LGBT+ charities based in Yorkshire.
Read articles written by Sue published on Chamber and Spectator:
Read more about Sue here.
(Music used with licence - Mattijs Muller 'Nu Disco Groove' premiumbeats.com)
Steve Keith (He/Him), Founder and Event Director of The Queer Student Awards
In this solo episode Proud To Be Queer host Steve introduces himself and shares his coming out story.
(Music used with licence - Mattijs Muller 'Nu Disco Groove' premiumbeats.com)
Proud To Be Queer: Trailer
“This is the Proud To Be Queer podcast.
Many young LGBTQ+ people worry about how their sexuality could impact on their future career choices. Each episode of ‘Proud To Be Queer’ features conversations with proud members of the LGBTQ+ community and explores the moments that have informed the way our guests think and feel about their sexuality and their identity.
Prepare to hear about the challenges, barriers, and times of adversity that they have overcome, as well as the proud moments of queerness in their careers that show just how powerful being your true, authentic self in the workplace can be.
Join us as we proudly share the queer stories that lie behind the rainbow.”
(Music used with licence - Mattijs Muller 'Nu Disco Groove' premiumbeats.com)