I’ve always felt like an outsider in business and it’s probably why I started my own companies.  Why do you need to wear a tie and suit in business to be successful?  You don’t.  I haven’t worn a tie in over ten years.  I see it as my own little protest against those in positions of power and influence.

I work with clients across all industries at a very senior level largely Chairman and CEOs which means they are majority (supposedly) straight, white and male.  When I walk in the room, they don’t expect someone like me to be supporting them with diversity and inclusion and I love that I challenge their perceptions and biases every day. 

 I’m unapologetically gay. I want to inspire others to do the same. Be out and proud and be you. 

When people think of Canary Wharf, it is usually the tall buildings that spring to mind. But it doesn’t take much exploring to appreciate the deep expanses of docklands water that punctuate the towers of glass and concrete. As a hard-working Investment Banking Technologist, I wholly appreciate the opportunity to step outside the door and get closer to nature. The docks and nearby waterways are home to a variety of birds, fish and other animals. You know animals can be almost as interesting and diverse as people. There’s “nowt as queer as fish” as they say. Many species of fish are able to change their physical sex and a number of animal species are known to exhibit same sex attraction. I wonder how much the existence of these “queer fish” impact underwater politics? How much does it matter in the everyday life of the colony that a dolphin is bisexual or a fish changes sex? Not a great deal I suspect. I just happen to be pansexual and transgender. In the everyday life of the Investment Bank that shouldn’t make any difference. And mostly, it doesn’t.

I realised I was queer when I was 6. I didn’t know what it meant but I know I didn’t feel the same way as everyone around me. I remember sitting in my garden looking at the stars wishing that I could explain it. Throughout my career I have been discriminated against in every industry that I’ve worked in from fashion to modelling art, the club world and in many of the corporate companies I’ve worked with. Everything I do comes from a skill that I’ve learnt along the way. I have never seen anything as an obstacle, just an ambition. I visualise things and I make them into a reality, it happens on a daily basis. Some people might say I’m tuned in but I work hard on everything I do and things just don’t happen overnight.

I prefer to work on as many projects at one time as I can. I appreciate standing out as the idea of blending in it’s quite annoying unless it’s with an interior. I often sit in boardrooms subconsciously rolling my eyes thinking people do not have a clue when I open my mouth. People are very quick to shut me down but then they take a moment and think.

I believe in collaborating with young artists and people that don’t really have a platform and I do as much as I can with them to lift them up as well as create beautiful collaborations. I would say to anyone, be yourself, everyone else is already taken, especially if you are struggling. Be fearless. Be unique. If people don’t get it they don’t deserve you, but know, when you mess up take ownership and don’t dwell on it, think of a better way of doing it next time. I would say to any employers, question yourself and your hatred if that’s what you have in your heart. Empathy goes a long way. When you hire queer people know that you’re hiring a problem solver because they’ve had to deal with more than you can imagine. Some advice for people hiring, The billionaires of this planet intentionally hire queer people. Corporations work with artists to speak with audiences. Queer artists in all industries are often groundbreaking. Hatred and discrimination to LGBTQIA+ people in the workplace costs the economy billions a year.

I’ve worked in banking for over two decades now – many of these years have been in the City.  When I started my career, I was firmly padlocked inside my closet.  It was difficult enough to fit in as a woman, let alone to muddy the waters by coming out as lesbian too.  I wasn’t good enough at golf or cricket, to feel like I could fit in around my cis, het, predominantly white male colleagues.

I’ve seen so many barriers removed in that time.  Gradually we have crept towards a more thoughtful, more inclusive and empathetic agenda, allowing a far broader and diverse workforce to join us here in our wonderful square mile.  The balance of people is still visibly unequal – men to women, white to people of colour, able bodied to those with disabilities, and invisibly too, for those of us in the LGBTQ+ community - but the willingness for change is there, and that’s significant.

It’s hugely important for both my wife and I that, in our industries (TV and banking), and in our London, we really see diversity and we keep on challenging what is ‘normal’.  Our kids may or may end up working in London (or France, or America, or Space) – and we need to ensure that our daughter and our youngest child have every single opportunity available to them to celebrate exactly who they were born to be, without constraint or hesitation around sexual preference or gender conformity.  We have come a long way.  May our City continue to thrive and may the rivers of people who flow through it, grow increasingly rich in their diversity.

Having grown up in a small seaside town in Devon I did not have many gay peers to look up to. By the time I started going out with friends there was no gay scene in my area, so my social life was predominantly hanging out with my girlfriends. I had a very fortunate experience as a young gay teenager because I never experienced any homophobia, in fact everyone in my life was absolutely indifferent to my sexuality. This meant though that I hadn’t had any exposure to gay culture and the gay scene.

I left Devon in 2016 to move to university all the way up in Manchester – and I am sure everyone can imagine how scary leaving a one Starbucks town to a big city felt. Very early on I met a great group of friends and we started to frequently go out on Canal Street. Despite never having any issues relating to my sexuality, this was still the first time I had ever been in my community and around other queer people. I have met some fabulous friends through the gay village and the area is so special to me.

I think for a lot of queer people they feel that they have to hide their sexuality in work. My team however are nothing but supportive and make me feel that I can be myself at work. Perhaps it is a generation thing, but I feel as if Mazars is a safe space to be an openly out gay man working in the corporate world.