Over the years, Cordis Bright has celebrated Pride in a number of different ways: sharing our personal experiences of being from the LGBTQIA+ community, educating ourselves about the lived experiences of others, and mobilising the wider team on how to be an effective ally. We’ve also set-up staff socials during Pride month, whether that be drinks in a local gay pub or joining an LGBTQIA+ walking tour of Soho.

All of these activities have been important, meaningful and impactful across the team. There is something special about having a dedicated space where we can highlight the experiences of LGBTQIA+ people and reflect about what this means for us at Cordis Bright.

More recently my attention has turned to how we can keep LGBTQIA+ issues on the agenda throughout the year.

At work, I make conscious efforts to talk about my husband and our life together, both within Cordis Bright and more widely with clients and other stakeholders. I’m lucky to have a number of colleagues who are also from the LGBTQIA+ community and happily share their experiences too.

I hope that bringing some of our authentic selves to work gives a sense of safety, confidence and empowerment to other members of the team who are LGBTQIA+ too.

As well as Pride, there have been a number of other observances that we’ve marked including Black History Month, UK Disability History Month, Women’s History Month, Neurodiversity Celebration Week and Mental Health Awareness Week.

These provide a great opportunity to explore questions of intersectionality. Highlighting the experiences of LGBTQIA+ people within each of these topics demonstrates the richness and diversity in life but also, importantly, shows how disadvantage and discrimination can be compounded for some people. It reinforces how important it is to apply an EDI lens in everything that we do.

I’d like to find more opportunities to explore the intersectional experiences of LGBTQIA+ people throughout the year. As we start to think about our plans for 2024-25, I’ll be factoring this into our decision-making. And, of course, if you have any suggestions then please drop me a line.

Colin Horswell is Managing Director at Cordis Bright