Hosted by Chloe Davies, the event saw a panel of speakers share vulnerable and honest stories about their experiences as LGBTQIA people
BY ELLA GAUCI
OUTSpoken Speakers, the speaker’s bureau designed to amplify and inspire LGBTQIA women and non-binary people, hosted their first-ever networking event on 7 December. With a panel hosted by Chloe Davies, the event heard vulnerable and evocative talks from the speakers Raga D’silva, Rebecca Dandridge and Jen Mendenhall-Waldorf.
Co-founded by Raga and Polly Shute, OUTSpoken Speakers launched earlier this year to provide a new platform to amplify, connect, and support LGBTQIA women and non-binary people. This first networking event, which took place in Trainline’s HQ, marked the first in many events to come which will focus on queer women and non-binary people.
Karishma Paroha, Senior Products Lawyer at Hogen Lovells, said: “This was the event of the year for me. Three extremely brave and powerful women talking about their tough personal journeys of life and the meaning of ‘family’ to them and sharing how they have fought through to overcome their battles caused by a society which is still light years behind the times. I wish those who spoke from their hearts could do a global roadshow and help change the world for the better.”
The event included moving stories from all the speakers about their own experiences as LGBTQIA people. Neil Taylor, Chair of Trainline’s LGBTQIA Network, said that there wasn’t “a dry eye in sight with the honest conversations had”.
You can find out more about OUTSpoken Speakers here: https://www.outspokenspeakers.com/
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