In the 100th episode of the My Career Story podcast I open the episode with an important career update of my own, before diving into answering the questions previous guests on the show have submitted including Katherine Jennick, Polly McGee, Michael Stephens, Kathy Caprino, Asifa Lahore, Rebecca Bayuk and Carolyn Parry.
Christopher Kenna is CEO and Founder of Brand Advance (BA), a startup 100 2020 company which connects brands with diverse audiences globally, through Insights, Media and Creative that more authentically engages these communities. Chris is also the Director of Diversity and Inclusion at OUTvertising, the Advertising industry Lobbying Group and as a mixed race, out gay father - is a strong advocate for diversity and representation within the Media and Advertising industry as a member of the WFA Diversity Advisory Board and is also on the advisory board for the V&A Museums. An award winning entrepreneur having received the Innovator of the Year Award at the second annual Ex-Forces in Business Awards and was recently named on EMPower’s 100 Ethnic Minority Executives 2020.
Bobbi was the first openly transgender person in bp and as co-chair of bp Pride’s Transgender Group has transformed trans awareness within the company. She is the founder of “Trans in the City” - a corporate collaboration of over 250 organisations to further transgender awareness globally. Bobbi is a Diversity Role Model and a very proud champion of Stonewall Housing. She was voted #1 in the OUTstanding 50 LGBT+ Future Leaders’ List 2019, #4 in 2020, included in the PWC Stonewall 50 Inspirational Role Models 2019, was winner of the Rainbow Honours LGBTQ Champion Award 2019, the Nestle Diversity Champion Award at the 2020 British LGBT awards, placed #14 in the Pride Power List 2020 and was a business nominee in the 2021 Diva Awards. She plays guitar and bass and sings, has two grown up children and lives in Brighton, UK.
Patrick is a Website Operations Specialist in the Online Fashion Retail sector. He gas been in this field for 12 years, falling into it randomly after giving up as an actor and briefly working in recruitment (which he was dreadful at). In his current role at Levi's he is also the Membership Secretary and Culture Lead of the European LGBTQ+ ERG.
This bonus episode captures the live audio of a panel discussion recorded as part of the virtual shortlist reveal for the 2021 Queer Student Awards, focusing on the timely conversation around reclamation of the word 'Queer' by the LGBTQ+ community globally.
Your hosts: Spencer Cooper, Mufseen Miah
The panellists: Alan Shannon-Smith, Harriet Lunney, Annie Gainsborough, Khadija Lewis
About Queer Talk
Queer Talk is an LGBTQ+ Podcast bringing you a regular dose of positive news stories and fabulous interviews, hosted by Spencer Cooper and Mufseen Miah.
Ultra Naté. She reps hard for Baltimore, Maryland and is a world renown singer, songwriter, DJ, producer, label owner and promoter.
She has released nine studio LPs [1990-2017] and travels the globe performing and spinning live for a variety of audiences. From horse races and the fashion elite to house parties and dance festivals.
Concedes Ultra, “I've been writing my own songs since the beginning of my career. This was pivotal in establishing me as an artist with a distinct style all my own. I was one of the first artists in house/dance music signed to a major record deal with Warner Brothers in the UK in 1989 and I have more than 25 years of experience making groundbreaking music - having collaborated with a wide array of artists such as: The Basement Boys, Nellee Hooper, D-Influence, Mood II Swing, Nona Hendryx, Lenny Kravitz, Frankie Kuckles, N'Dea Davenport, DJ Class, NERVO, Tony Moran, StoneBridge, Todd Terry, David Morales, Michele Williams (of Destiny's Child), Boy George, 4 Hero, Deee-lite, Masters at Work, Roger Sanchez, Morgan Page, Chris Willis, Quentin Harris and others!”
Ultra Naté has delivered her classics, new tunes and energetic dj sets all over the globe performing everywhere from Amsterdam, Paris, London, Japan, Moscow, Sweden, Dubai, Italy, Brazil, Norway and Spain to residencies in Ibiza and such varied events as Glitterbox, children of the ’80’s, Greenpeace Festival, Battle Hymn, U.S. National Cherry Blossom Festival to name a few!
Her spirited presence has graced the stages of New York's massive Summer Stage in Central Park, Nile Rodgers acclaimed FOLD Festival sharing the stage with the likes of CHIC, Duran Duran, Pharrell and Beck to Lincoln Center’s annual Midnight Summer Swing and numerous Pride events around the World.
In Ultra’s nearly three decades of making music, she has remained a musical chameleon, embracing a variety of sounds. Her sound embraces a variety of genres including house, soul, disco, electro pop, R&B/hiphop and rock. Ultra is honored to be considered an icon of the Dance and LGBTQ communities worldwide. She was recently named one of Billboard Magazine’s "Greatest of All Time" *Top Dance Artists (#12) along with having three entries in the industry bible’s respective “Greatest Of All Time” *Top 10 Dance Club Songs including the perennial, platinum-selling #1 anthem, “Free.”
Ultra’s most recent album collaboration, 'Ultra Naté & Quentin Harris as Black Stereo Faith' reached Top 5 on I-Tunes and has spawned the Billboard Top 10 single and video, “I’m Too Sexy (Touch This Skin)” - a spirited alt-funked out cover of Right Said Fred’s classic.
Ultra Naté, your original 'party girl’ keeps bringing the party right back to you.
In this episode we share the career advice gifted to us from some of the LGBTQ+ guests who shared their career stories in the first 3 seasons of the podcast. Featuring - Chloe Davies, Aaron Carty, Lorna Reeves, Michael Newton, Neil Thornton, Divina De Campo, Debbie Cannon, Davide Pagnotta, Paul Russell, Chris Allan, Jamala Osman, Katrina Kibben and Eman Carballo.
John spent over twenty years working in the worlds of advertising, TV and content production, launching and running his own firm along the way. He now helps founders to grow their businesses.
DOM&INK, is a freelance illustrator and merman based in London, from Bolton, via Narnia. He loves to create work that makes you feel empowered, confident and all warm and fuzzy inside. Recurring themes in his work are LGBTQ+ rights, mental health awareness, body positivity, drag and girl bands (he can’t resist drawing a Little Mix video lewk). Throughout his years illustrating, Dom has created art for Little Mix, Cheryl, iWeigh, The X-Factor, Selfridges, Skinny Dip, Emma Watson’s ‘Our Shared Shelf’ and more. He was also the official illustrator Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK Season 1 and for Little Mix : The Search. Something he still pinches himself about daily. 'Free To Be Me' an LGBTQ+ journal of Love, Pride and Finding Your Inner Rainbow is his third book and is published by Penguin Random House UK . Illustrated and written by Dom, it’s a love letter to the LGBTQ+ community and to the reader, to let you know, wherever you are on your rainbow journey, this book will be there for you and be your safe space. Dom's also lucky enough to be feature in Cosmopolitan, Gay Times, Glamour, Buzzfeed and Time Out.
Aamir Hassan has worked in Education for over six years. He has been an English Teacher and moved into several leadership roles from this. Aamir has now decided to move in a different direction and is now an English Tutor and also helps schools with their intervention plans. Furthermore, Aamir is also an examiner for AQA and he delivers on LGBTQ+ and BAME education to various different companies. Aamir has a successful podcast with his husband and runs the account ‘You Don’t Love Me Boys’ in which he and his husband promote visibility for the Queer South Asian community. This year will also see Aamir become a published poet.
A father of two teenagers, who started off his career in retail management, then as a graduate trainee for Sainsbury’s, then donned a different uniform as a police officer, working in criminal investigation, internal investigations, human resources and operational policing, and climbing the ranks to become a Chief Inspector before, after nearly 13 years in the police service leaving, pivoting and then re-inventing himself as a senior HR professional, coming out as gay at 40, moving to London and now works for the transport giant FirstGroup plc as their Senior HR Business Partner and part of the Group HR leadership team at their corporate centre.
Devin Ibañez is the first openly gay Major League Rugby player and is dedicated to LGBTQ+ advocacy in sport. He hopes to inspire the next generation of LGBTQ+ athletes and make sport an inclusive space for them.
Raised in Boston, MA, Devin played for Major League Rugby team, the New England Free Jacks, in their 2019 exhibition season. He won a gold medal while representing Team USA at the 2017 World Maccabiah Games in Israel. He also won the 2018 D1 National Championship with his club team, Mystic River Rugby Club. When not playing, Devin has coached rugby at Westlake Boys High School in New Zealand, his alma mater Brookline High School and most recently with the Northeast Academy. He holds a degree in sport management and education from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
Find out more about Devin's Transgender Law Center fundraiser mentioned in the episode at https://tinyurl.com/translawcenterfundraiser
Matthew is the Executive Director of NAM, a community-based charity which supports people living with HIV, and those who care for them, by providing accurate and up to date information about HIV/AIDS. Prior to joining NAM Matthew was CEO of GMFA, the gay men’s health charity.
A Chartered Accountant with a passion for SMEs. Having worked for Louis Vuitton, RSM UK LLP, and BT Group Plc, James founded Audeo Fortis to advise start and scale-ups on overcoming barriers to growth (awarded Best SME Business Advisory Firm 2019 - CV Magazine). James’s substantial skills across the breadth of business stem from a purposeful portfolio career covering roles from accounting, corporate finance, and project & programme management, to HR and business process improvement.
James co-founded Join myNexus is 2019, a new digital platform created specifically to remove bias in the investment process for early stage business so that underfunded groups can get better access to funding. As an LGBT+ person James is a passionate advocate for challenging systemic biases and has a keen interest in diversity intersectionality across minority groups. James was recently awarded Institute of Director’s North West Director of the Year Award 2020 (non-executive).
Pam has been teaching for ten years - four spent deep in the closet, and six years out and proud. Her job title doesn't include any reference to LGBTQ, but she says it's one of the most important parts of what she does. She's head of MFL (modern foreign languages) at Longhill High School, and also co-ordinates the trainee teachers, but since coming out to the entire school in a series of assemblies in 2018, unofficially holds the title of LGBTQ co-ordinator, head gay, and general go-to person for anything LGBTQ. She has appeared on Good Morning Britain and in the Guardian talking about this role, and most recently contributed a chapter to the #LGBTed book "Big Gay Adventures in Education"
Professional hockey players and partners Leah Wilkinson and Sarah Jones share their career stories side-by-side this week!
Leah first represented Wales in hockey aged 17. She is now the most capped player for Wales, in any sport, with 169 appearances. Leah has represented Wales in 3 Commonwealth Games and 8 Europeans throughout her career. Away from the pitch, Leah sits on the Team Wales Athlete Commission, representing the views of Welsh athletes throughout a number of sports. Leah gained her first cap for Great Britain in 2019 and is now a full time hockey player, training towards the Tokyo Olympics. She is currently on a sabbatical from her job as a teacher, teaching both History and Politics at Ewell Castle School in Surrey. In her spare time Leah enjoys spending time in the garden, reading and has a new found love for jigsaw puzzles!
Sarah is a Great Britain and Wales international hockey player with over 125 caps training towards the Tokyo Olympics. She has been to two Commonwealth Games; 2014 in Glasgow and 2018 in Gold Coast and was the first Welsh outfield athlete to represent Great Britain since 2012. She previously worked in capital investment for the Lawn Tennis Association and balanced this part-time role whilst training with GB Hockey for two years before establishing herself as a full-time member. Her career highlights include beating India at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and playing against New Zealand at The Stoop, Twickenham in front of 10,000 fans, the biggest crowd at a hockey match in the UK since 2012. She proudly represents hockey off the field and is passionate about improving the sporting landscape in Wales.
Born and raised on the island of Trinidad and Tobago and state school-educated, Charles, 32, moved to London over 10 years ago fleeing persecution of sexuality.
In the last 5 years, Nick has been working in media, film and broadcasting; holding positions at Gay Times magazine, Celeb Mix and This Radio before recently landing his dream job as a presenter on Manchester’s famous Gaydio. Nick is currently studying Media & Communication with film & Visual Culture at Liverpool Hope University to further his career in the Media Industry.
Nick has a passion for equality after his start in life, and so decided to use his platform to highlight issues within the BAME and LGBTQ+ community. This came to fruition in the form of an up and coming podcast, called “The 802”, with one his closest friends Dan. “The 802” touches on the common issues of equality, race and acceptance with an ecstatic and positive spin and features quests from all over the world and various walks of life.
Vangelis Polydorou first came to our attention when he auditioned for The Voice UK in 2016. His unique voice pushed him through to the finals and made him one of the clear stand outs of the season. His mentor on the show was legendary pop icon ‘Boy George’ who saw something in Vangelis and has continued to work with him ever since. George hand picked Vangelis to sing in his band ‘Culture Club’ for their 2018 world tour and most recently Vangelis supported them with his own set at Wembley Arena. With George on board as his Creative Manager and ex Cocteau Twins drummer Benny D on production, Vangelis began working on songs for his debut album ‘The Drama’ and has just released his first single ‘Throw Me’.
Charl Summers is a Content Creator, Podcast Host/Producer, Illustrator, and LGBTQ+ Advocate. Her work can be found via Unite UK and Lestalk Podcast, where she aims to improve views around LGBTQ+ topics.
Rico provided live updates at the London Black Lives Matter protests along with revealing some of the white-washed black history. Also for Rainbow Films, he volunteered to create documentaries on racism and queer rights, as a spokesperson and part of the film crew. The last documentary, ‘Pride & Protest’ won ‘Official Selection 2020’ at the BFI Flare film festival. He has also spoken on NHS King Cross Hospital panels and North-East A&E doctors on LGBTQI+ healthcare and on a similar subject at the Mayor of London’s round table think tanks. As a newly appointed board member of TransActual UK, he continues to strive to change UK legislation for non-binary equality, Hate Crime and raises the Black Queer intersectionality question in all forums with speeches at Cumbria Pride, London Trans Pride, quoted in Forbes and Department of Transport conferences. As a columnist at Wedzera, he continues to speak out about the complexities of sexuality, gender and racial perceptions. He has recently launched ‘Against Racism’ a nine-part show exploring the various forms of racism and how we collectively can make a difference. Rico is a very vocal activist, fighting avidly for the rights of LGBTQIA+ people and Black people.
