Rebecca Salsbury from the Financial Times talks about why allyship is so important in the workplace
BY DYLAN MANN-HAZELL, IMAGE PROVIDED
Rebecca Salsbury’s career has taken her from early technology roles in the United States to senior product and technology leadership at the BBC and the Financial Times. Now the FT’s Chief Product and Technology Officer, she talks to myGwork about the people and choices that shaped her path, including the mentors who encouraged her to take risks. She also discusses her work with FT Proud, and what can help make workplaces and society more inclusive for LGBTQIA+ people.
Could you talk us through your career journey to your current role at the FT?
My career has largely centred on roles in media and entertainment companies – mostly in technology and product. I was appointed Chief Product and Technology Officer at the Financial Times (FT) in January 2026, after having held the Chief Technology Officer role since joining in May 2023. Prior to that, I spent a few years as a consultant – with shorter assignments at Napster (a music streaming company) where I led a programme of work updating the product experience and hired a product team, and at the University of Arts London, where I conducted a data maturity assessment. Before that I was at the BBC for more than ten years, during which time I held six different roles developing digital products and platforms – and leading teams.
When I left the United States to go travelling in 2000, I didn’t know what I wanted to do next, or where I wanted to live – I just knew I needed a change. I ended up taking an ex-pat role for TiVo, a US-based consumer electronics company, and was based in Edinburgh, Scotland for six years. During that time, I transferred to Sky (a UK entertainment company), moved to London, and became a technology project manager on a web and interactive TV product. I took on larger and larger projects (and teams delivering them), and worked for a few different companies and managers, until I arrived at the BBC – where I took up my first real leadership roles.
What was your childhood like — where did you grow up, and were there any hobbies or experiences that shaped who you are today?
I had early tastes of leadership growing up, not least because I worked in my mum’s business as a kid, and even had a summer “in charge” at the age of 15 while my mum was away working to support my dad’s business during the week. My mum would say that my “bossy” nature came to the fore, but I prefer to think that I had the beginnings of leadership skills and qualities, and put that to work managing my mum’s business and keeping me and our one other employee busy with the jobs that needed to be done.
I grew up in Maine, in New England, where my parents still live in a beautiful, but very rural town on the coast. My mum was a full-time mother until my entrepreneurial dad spotted an opportunity to open a garden centre / DIY business – and my mum (not my dad!) has been running that business ever since. I had wonderful times growing up with my younger brother and our neighbourhood friends – we had the run of the neighbourhood, where everyone had woods and fields and streams to play in, bikes to ride, ponds to swim in, and so on. I loved school and always did very well – I was a well-behaved, hard-working kid, striving to make my parents and teachers happy.
My hobbies now are the same as they were then: reading, being outdoors, gardening, being crafty with knitting and sewing. These days I enjoy cooking – something I certainly did not inherit from my mum (although she’s a great baker, and I do like to bake).
How has your understanding of LGBTQIA+ identities and experiences evolved, and what has shaped your approach to allyship?
I consider myself an ally of the LGBTQIA+ community. Growing up, I was only barely aware that people I knew were gay or lesbian, and we certainly didn’t speak about it in my family. As a product of a rural, working-class and faintly religious (or at least traditional) community, sex and sexuality were taboo subjects, and a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach prevailed.
It wasn’t until I went away to university and later lived in larger cities that I began to encounter people and experiences that challenged some of those assumptions. Although I consider my perspective to be better developed these days, I’m still very much a product of my early experience and upbringing: I still find myself making missteps and assumptions based on those traditional ideas of sex, sexuality, relationships and identity. I’m still learning, and retraining my thinking
Becoming the executive sponsor for FT Proud gives me another opportunity to do that: to support and champion the work of the network, but also to listen, learn and continue challenging my own assumptions.
What has been the proudest or most defining moment of your career so far?
I’ve had a real “spider web” of a career – moving laterally across a web of opportunities and challenges, which makes it hard to name defining moments. When I’m asked for career advice, I most often encourage an openness to unexpected possibilities and a willingness to take risks. I leapt across the Atlantic to find something new, to challenge myself, and to see where I could go next. My first leadership and management role was a risk: I didn’t know if I was ready or had what it would take. The other advice I give is to find someone that you think “gets” you, and really listen to them, trust their advice. Pivotal moments along the way have involved key people – managers, advocates, sponsors – who understood me, spotted qualities that I couldn’t see in myself, and were able to guide me, push me toward new opportunities or encourage risk-taking.
In what ways does the FT work to build an inclusive, open environment for its LGBTQ+ employees?
At the FT, inclusion isn’t just about saying everyone is welcome; we try to create an environment where people can be open about who they are and have a real voice in shaping their experience at work. This includes senior leaders who are visible and open about who they are.
FT Proud, our LGBTQIA+ employee network, is a big part of that. It creates community and visibility for LGBTQIA+ colleagues, but it’s also been a genuine force for change within the FT. FT Proud, alongside trans colleagues, worked with FT People (HR) to shape a trans inclusion policy and made the case for gender-affirming care within our private healthcare benefit.
An inclusive culture is something we have to keep working at, particularly when the wider environment for LGBTQIA+ people can be increasingly difficult, or differs between countries in which our colleagues live and work. But I’m proud that our people feel able to challenge us, and that we’ve demonstrated we’re prepared to listen and act.
Over the course of your career, how have you seen attitudes towards diversity and inclusion evolve?
Oh, loads! Many years ago, diversity initiatives were often framed around particular identities. While well-intentioned, they could sometimes reinforce the idea of a dominant norm, with everyone else defined by their difference from it. They could also try to put people into particular boxes: women, LGBTQIA+ people, people from different ethnic backgrounds. But of course, many of us belong to more than one of these groups, and those identities intersect.
I’m thinking of my experience with “Women in Technology” initiatives. It’s a different context, but one that illustrates my point. Conversations could quickly end up framed as pitting merit against identity, when of course the two aren’t mutually exclusive.
What’s really resonated with me is the growing emphasis on inclusion alongside diversity. Inclusive leadership makes much more sense to me: recognising different experiences and barriers, while understanding none of us can be defined by a single characteristic.
What changes would you most like to see for LGBTQ+ equality — both within the workplace and in wider society?
Inclusion is a necessary first step, but I don’t think it automatically leads to empathy, understanding and acceptance. We need to listen to people’s experiences, particularly when they challenge our assumptions, and to be willing to change our thinking as a result. In the workplace, that means creating the conditions in which people don’t have to hide who they are or explain themselves in order to belong. More broadly, I’d like differences to become less remarkable – simply part of the enormous variety of who we are.
Financial Times is a proud partner of myGwork, the LGBTQ+ business community. Find out more about LGBTQ+-friendly job opportunities at Financial Times.
Love media made by and for LGBTQIA+ women and gender diverse people? Then you’ll love DIVA. We’ve been spotlighting the community for over 30 years. Here’s how you can get behind queer media and keep us going for another generation: linkin.bio/ig-divamagazine
Did you know that DIVA has now become a charity? Our magazine is published by the DIVA Charitable Trust. You can find out more about the organisation and how you can offer your support here: divacharitabletrust.com
