“Our identities are who we are. We’re people trying to live our lives, and we don’t want our existence to be an open question”
BY ZOË SCHULZ
Ændra Rininsland, Senior Data Journalism Engineer at Financial Times, spoke to myGwork about her journey with her identity and why we need more trans people in journalism.
Ændra (pronounced ɛndrɑ) has always been interested in journalism and tech, and her career has been a journey interweaving the two together. She remembers teaching herself web programming at a young age and publishing her first website in 1997. Similarly, she tried to push for a school paper throughout elementary school, spent all her High School years as part of the newspaper team, and was the opinions editor and then production editor for her university paper.
Growing up in Saskatchewan, a small Canadian province, Ændra realised from an early age she wasn’t straight. Reflecting, she shares that she knew this by age nine or ten, but her environment meant she stifled and hid that side of herself. Her family were very Evangelical, and she was brought up in the church, which meant it was not a particularly conducive place to be queer.
Moving to Calgary for university meant Ændra was able to start exploring herself, but she tiptoed, taking the journey slowly. “I was still really afraid to come out or be who I was,” she says. As she got older, this impacted her relationships with those around her, and looking back now, she can see why she struggled to connect and share the deeper parts of herself.
“I felt just alone a lot of the time and like I wasn’t being heard. It felt like a part of me was being neglected, that wasn’t being given oxygen.”
Entering her thirties, Ændra slowly started to share her queerness with those around her, and within a few years, all her friends and family knew, and she was able to begin medically transitioning. This changed everything for her, and her life has been completely different ever since, but she wouldn’t change it for the world.
Now based in London and working at Financial Times, Ændra has a workplace where showing up authentically is encouraged and championed. “A big part of what allowed me to feel comfortable coming out at work was the fact that I saw people like me who were living their lives and weren’t afraid to be trans at work,” she explains.
“That was a huge part of why I felt comfortable expressing this side of myself. Being trans in the workplace is scary in many, many ways, but seeing people like you within your work environment is just so utterly crucial to feeling comfortable. Being able to share experiences and support each other is incredibly important.”
Ever since coming out, Ændra has been involved with Proud FT, Financial Times’s LGBTQIA network. This has included contributing towards a trans inclusion policy, where Ændra and many other trans employees were consulted to ensure the policy met the needs of the trans community across FT. She’s also on the steering committee and FT’s representative for InterMedia UK, a network of LGBTQIA networks across the media working together to build a more inclusive industry.
ProudFT helped push for adding gender-affirming care to the company healthcare plan, which launched in the UK last year and the Trans Inclusion Policy is scheduled to launch in the US next month. Over the past six months, Ændra started electrolysis fully funded because of this, and it’s had an amazing impact on her quality of life.
“I feel so much more confident at both the office and outside of it. It’s been incredible. I’m really proud we were able to accomplish that. The FT’s one of the first UK newspapers to offer a gender-affirming healthcare benefit (if not the first), and it’s already having a material impact on the lives of trans people in the company, including my own.”
Ændra is also a part of the Trans Journalist Association, which has become a place of solace and support for her, particularly when the wider industry can be a hostile environment for the trans community. They are a professional organisation made up of journalists from across the trans spectrum; they have everyone from student journalists who are still studying to people who’ve been working in the industry for thirty-plus years.
“The Trans Journalist Association has helped me to feel like I belong in my industry. Seeing other professional journalists who are also trans has done wonders for making me feel like I am not alone in the industry, and I hope that there are more trans people in journalism, telling trans stories and talking about our own community.”
The Trans Journalist Association provides crucial research and resources; for example, they have released a style guide for journalists covering trans topics. With over twenty contributors, it is available freely to support journalists in reporting on the trans community accurately and fairly. It also shares best practices for language that captures the range of trans experiences in a way that gives the trans community dignity and respect – something that is too often missing in reporting.
As a Senior Data Journalism Engineer, Ændra’s role combines journalism and tech. Coming under this is the coverage of elections. With the possibility of a UK election around the corner, alongside the US, Ukraine, European parliamentary elections and more, it’s set to be a crucial year for Ændra and her team.
The way in which they report is currently being reimagined, with the climate constantly shifting, she explains. The drastic shift in Twitter/X is one example of this – a platform journalists relied on for fact-checking and live reporting is no longer reliable or entirely useable. This also means it is a time when they are seeing a lot of innovation and new ways of working across the industry.
Part of this is the shift in the tools available for storytelling and journalism. The work they do now, Ændra explains, wouldn’t have ever been imagined a decade ago, and that makes it exciting. The media can, however, also be a very challenging space to work, particularly for the queer community. Ændra feels grateful to have the full support of her workplace at FT and The Trans Journalist Association, but that doesn’t shelter her from what is being seen in the wider industry when it comes to conversations about trans lives.
“I think that in the last half-decade, the British media has done enormous damage to the trans community. As an industry, we’re failing to learn the lessons that we should have during the HIV/AIDS crisis. I find it endlessly frustrating because it feels like some of our best practices are being weaponised against trans people.
As an industry, it’s challenging because, on the one hand, you want to be able to present a plurality of viewpoints, and you want to be able to discuss conflicts within the world. At the same time, so often, trans identities are seen as open to debate, and they’re not. Our identities are who we are. We’re people trying to live our lives, and we don’t want our existence to be an open question.”
Despite the challenges posed by the media’s portrayal of trans identities, Ændra remains steadfast in her belief in the power of storytelling to foster understanding and empathy. Her call for greater representation and respect for trans lives serves as a reminder of the responsibility journalists bear in shaping narratives that reflect the diverse realities of our world.
“Growing up, I saw zero queer representation in media, and I think I would have transitioned earlier in life if I had. It’s only in the last couple of years that we’ve started to see trans people on television and trans lives being written about.
I’m hopeful and optimistic, knowing that the way things are right now will continue to change, and it will continue to change for the better. I also find it inspiring to see that young people are vastly more accepting of sexualities and genders that aren’t straight and cisgender. It feels like this will ultimately translate into a more accepting future for queer people.”
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Very well written article that tells Ændra’s story with clarity and honesty. Lots of great information regarding the media industry and Ændra’s journey finding her place in it as a trans person. I enjoyed reading it very much!