We Create Space: Being transgender at work.

As a part of Transgender Awareness Week, five trans and non-binary activists and change-makers share their lived experiences to educate and promote more trans-inclusion within organisations and hopefully inspire and empower other individuals to live more authentically within their own communities.

Through insightful interviews, these LGBT+ professionals not only shed some light on the discrimination faced by the trans community, but also highlight what helped them feel comfortable in their workplace.

About the speakers:

Jason Kwan (he/him)
Jason is a queer non binary person from Hong Kong, living in East London. He's also a singer/songwriter and a youth worker at AKT, a charity supporting young LGBTQ+ people experiencing homelessness across the UK.

Rico Jacob Chace (he/him)
Rico is a trans man living in London. He is also a videographer, writer and vocal activist. As a board member of TransActual UK, he works to change UK legislation for non-binary equality and raise the Black Queer intersectionality question in all forums.

River Solace (they/them)
River Solace is a London-based non-binary, autistic songwriter and poet. They use their own lived experience with mental health struggles and self-discovery to create music with a message. Their song ‘Paranoia’, an original piece about gender-based violence, was recently featured in the UN Women UK 'A Safe Space' Virtual Exhibition. As Creative Director of The Soft Approach Zine, they are currently working with the Co-Founders to publish the first digital issue ‘Riding the Crimson Wave’, which will be about navigating periods.

Alex Howell (he/they)
Alex currently works full-time for a homeless social care support charity. Before making a recent career change, Alex was previously a graduate trainee at a large consulting firm, working across Banking Risk consultancy, HR consultancy and Audit. He simultaneously worked with the firm’s LGBT-network, representing the firm at multiple LGBT recruitment events, and reviewed the firm’s policies regarding LGBT-inclusivity. Alex transitioned while at work, and learnt to juggle personal challenges and uncertainty, while maintaining workplace full-engagement.

Eva Echo (she/her)
Eva is a trans woman based in Birmingham. She is a writer, activist and currently a brand ambassador for the London Transgender clinic, a spokesperson for Gendered Intelligence, and founder of the #PassItOn campaign that encourages conversation around trans and non-binary people’s image standards. She also sits on the Crown Prosecution Service’s hate crime panel for England and Wales.

About WE CREATE SPACE:
WE CREATE SPACE are non-profit organisation and global collective of change-makers on a mission to drive positive change for LGBTQ+ people across global industries, cultures and societies.

With special thanks to JTI who kindly funded the production of this video.

[marlenag.]

THANK YOU for making this - I plan to share in my company for Pride Month.

[davefisher]

I just discovered this video. It’s too bad there aren't hundreds of millions of people who have viewed it as what a positive difference it would make in the world if everyone understood being transgender.

[sammiedreamscometrue]

Guys i really like that idea. We deserve a job. ❤❤❤