To help us get the best outcomes when working together, it’s important to remember we all bring different strengths, and skills to tasks and we all have different working styles and communication needs. Alongside our Team Profiles, we have created this brief guide to help staff navigate team collaborations. If you have any ideas for ways to improve the resource please email: [email protected]
Lucie - Profile
Role summary
Job Title: Engagement Officer
Standard working days: Mondays & Wednesdays
Key tasks
- Membership applications | Welcome meeting for new members
- Dashboard resources
- Training Providers Network Lead
- Safeguarding Network Lead
- Internal huddles:
- EDI Huddle
- Website Huddle
- Policies sub group
- Good time management
- Quite creative
- Good problem solving
- Love creating resources!
- Happy leading / co-facilitating net-works or training session
- Good at staying on track & getting tasks completed...in fact one of my friends calls me a “completer” (at least I hope that’s what they said!)
- Due to health issues - in person is tricky
- I work best with clear actions
- Always need help when trying to add subtitles to videos!
- I’m okay with different channels and formats and don’t have any specific preferences
- I like creative tools (e.g. Jamboards) for generating ideas but prefer a ‘linear’ approach for actions
- Prefer Excel for actions but appreciate it’s not everyone's cup of tea
- I can find it difficult to keep up with all the different Teams chats as I’m only in 2 days a week
- I enjoy photography and Photoshop. I've entered a few amateur competitions for fun...never won but had a couple of images published as a runner up!
- I LOVE doggies - my profile picture is my dog Lenka —she’s a rescue from Romania.
Ray - Profile
Role summary
Job Title: LGBT Partnership Stakeholder Officer
Standard working days: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday
Key tasks - Working directly with Mylo to:
- Communicate/collaborate with HW Alliance members
- Respond to emergent NHS consultations, policies, and strategies
- Plan and deliver HW Alliance funded core work (the focus of this changes every year but it’s always connected to LGBT health inequalities)
- Engage with LGBT Partnership Members and facilitate regular meetings
- I love facilitating (even though it makes me anxious)
- I’m good at thinking in terms of interlinking systems, inequalities and oppression
- I like writing reports and resources
- Love getting to be creative and use design skills; slides, posters, social media content, etc
- I’ve had a lot of fun creating easy-read and accessible resources using image banks and hemingway app.
- Love working in a team and alongside other people, bouncing ideas off
- I’ve developed my ability to interface with policy people in the health and care system and get my head around NHS language (I feel like these are tough spaces to navigate and I’m getting better at meeting them on their terms)
- Good at note-taking and condensing notes
- I’ve found it hard to work in a siloed way or by myself- I really like to be able to bounce ideas off people or build on things together
- I can get quite demand avoidant and sometimes need to trick myself into getting stuff done!
- I work best when I have really clear actions and instructions (and I can struggle to understand abstractions)
- In general I need clear language. I’m trying to get better at asking people what they mean and I can miss context.
- I can get in a good flow when I’m busy, but when I have less to do I can procrastinate more
- Please can anything important be in writing or over email!
- Direct communication is better please- subtext and implicit social rules are hard!
- It’s useful when actions are identified and assigned after meetings
- I really like when people ask (or are asked) before offering advice or solutions
- I love excel but get that not everyone does!
- I find it hard to keep on top of teams chats, but I love direct messaging and chatting one on one
- I love co-working calls (for company and accountability!) and happy to set them up anytime
- Outside of work I’m an artist and poet
- I just completed my level 1 BSL
- I love making zines and comics
Ley - Profile
Role summary
Job Title: Participation Lead
Standard working days: Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri
Key tasks
- Support community panels to assess funding applications and our wider participatory grantmaking work
- Support applications through application to award to wraparound support
- I love to brainstorm and bring creative ideas and solutions to the table
- I enjoy facilitating and ensuring everyone is heard, and the conversation keeps moving
- If you wanna talk through a rouge idea- I'm your girlie👂
- I'm good at dealing with sticky situations and irritated people!
- I can proofread for tone and vibes really well, but not for grammar
- I can get distracted easily and will often take a conversation down a random road- always appreciate being brought back on track
- I can be slow to reply to messages- nudges are welcomed
- My grammar is something I struggle with- corrections and suggestions are always met with appreciation!
- I can procrastinate and actually thrive more then there is lots to do
- Emails for important info please
- I might ask you to repeat what you said or ask for clarity
- Sometimes a planned quick call to work on something together suits me, but I appreciate it might not suit others
- I always have a new recipe I want to try out and am just waiting to mention it in conversation😉
- I get a tattoo after every ultra race I do
- There is nothing that makes me feel more at home and connected to my heritage than cooking and eating with my family
Marita - Profile
Role summary
Job Title: London Engagement Lead
Standard working days: Mon-Thurs (usually)
Key tasks
- Coordinating our London work
- Supporting London members alongside the London Engagement team and wider Engagement team
- Building relationships in the London LGBT+ sector and beyond
- Increasing visibility of our work and the work of our members in the capital
- I really enjoy writing, whether it’s briefing notes, blogs or reports
- I have a very good overview of London - its organisations and their dynamics and relationships, local authorities, venues, various networks, sometimes the GLA and will usually be able to point you in the right direction if you have a London query
- I like discussing project plans and strategy, and problem solving
- Event planning: I have planned many an event and am very happy to share insights
- Good at finding funding opportunities for LGBT+ organisations and projects
- Big fan of research
- Certified Canva enthusiast
- Proofreading and formatting
- My memory is quite unreliable so I will take notes all the time to help me remember.
- My hearing isn’t always the best but I will tell you if I can’t hear what you’re saying!
- I process written information best.
- If you need something from me please communicate it clearly and directly as I don’t always pick up on indirect communication or subtle clues.
- Email is best for important information.
- Always up for coworking - I love company!
- I love geography, maps and playing geography games such as Geoguessr. It all started with this silly little computer game called Backpacker..
Mylo - Profile
Role summary
Job Title: LGBT Partnership Officer
Standard working days: Usually Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Key tasks - Working directly with Ray to:
- Communicate/collaborate with HW Alliance members
- Respond to emergent NHS consultations, policies, and strategies
- Plan and deliver HW Alliance funded core work (the focus of this changes every year but it’s always connected to LGBT health inequalities)
- Engage with LGBT Partnership Members and facilitate regular meetings
- I love all forms of writing
- Listening and providing feedback where asked for
- 'Big picture' thinking and strategising
- Meeting facilitation - online or in person
- Thinking about how to apply intersectionality in practice
- I love working as part of a team
- Events organising experience
- Experience with designing cooperative structures and processes.
- Experience and understanding of NHS contexts.
- I have a chronic health condition which can occasionally impact my energy levels and cognitive processing
- Working on politicised trans related issues as a trans person can be challenging
- I would say that I'm neurodiverse but not yet always aware of the ways in which this interacts with my work activities.
- I'm happy to be contacted over teams and email.
- Please send any information that I might want to save, over email.
- Short sentences, roomy spacing, and bullet points all help me to absorb info more effectively.
- If in longer (1h+) meetings I find it helpful to take short breaks at set intervals.
- I'm a visual learner so find it super helpful when things are represented visually.
- Always up for co-working!
- I have a love of motorbiking and cycling
- I'm trying to teach myself how to DJ
- I worked as a market gardener for several years as a way to recover myself from the ambulance service!
Briony - Profile
Role summary
Job Title: Head of Membership & Engagement
Standard working days: Tuesday - Friday
Key tasks
- Overseeing all elements of our membership process and sector engagement.
- Supporting the Engagement Team to make sure all 600+ of our lovely Member groups get what they need from us.
- Working with Paul and Hels to keep Consortium running smoothly
I used to be a trainer and am really comfortable designing and delivering workshops and webinars.
My background is in mental health, safeguarding, community support services and trauma-informed practice, so I am always thinking about holistic ways to support our team and the wider membership.
I am a reflector so if you want someone who is going to take some time and think about an idea and come back to you with suggestions then I am your woman!
I am a terrible procrastinator and very easily distracted so if I say I am working on something but you see me chitchatting on Teams have a word!
I don't mind what method people use to contact me and am happy for folks to do whatever works best for them. Having said that, a surprise phone call is not my favourite so please message first and my inbox can get a bit messy so if you need something quickly a Teams message is your best bet 🙂
I live with my wife Rach in Bristol and we have 2 cats who rule our lives. You will probably see Bear (or her fluffy stripey tail anyway) if we are on a Teams call in the afternoon as that is when she jumps on my desk and demands treats.
In the lockdowns, I got a bit obsessed with shark films and made a spreadsheet rating all the ones we watched.
Leo - Profile
Role summary
Job Title: Communications Officer
Standard working days: Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday (8am-12pm)
Key tasks
- Monitoring and developing Consortium's social media.
- Working on Communications internally and externally, including promoting activity from the Consortium team and our members.
- Developing content that is engaging and accurate which spans Consortium's work to a wide audience.
- I love helping to improve accessibility whenever I can. E.g. condensing lots of information down to a short and simple video.
- I LOVE making graphics and video-related content, it gives me opportunities to be extra creative.
- I have the lived experience of being neurodivergent, disabled and trans so can offer understanding and insight into those areas if needed.
- Working as a trans person in a Communications role can be hard to deal with sometimes. It can take a toll on my mental health and seeing the trans community constantly attacked is often draining and tiring.
- Being an autistic person and having lots of communication preferences does have it's own challenges. Quite often others may not understand the way I communicate sometimes which can be frustrating.
- I struggle with processing lots of information so prefer information to be broken down simply.
- If someone would like to request something from me, I prefer to be given a written list of things to do in order of priority instead of a vague description.
- Due to my autism, I struggle with task switching and like to focus on one thing at a time.
- I find it distressing when I have put my status on busy and people still try to contact me via messages on Teams. Unless it is absolutely urgent, I would prefer that people wait until I have replied, send an email instead or put myself as available.
- In terms of requesting content to be added to the newsletter, because several staff work on this with me, it's important to add your requests to the newsletter planner in advance of a deadline rather than messaging me directly.
- In terms of attending events in-person, I need to have my partner with me in order to attend as she is my emotional support person. She also works full-time so my availability to attend things does depend on her schedule so I need dates a few months in advance.
- Outside of work I am an amateur wildlife photographer!
- In my spare time I love doing digital art, gaming, reading and going on nature walks.
- I am a BIG Pokémon Nerd (no surprise to anyone considering my profile picture!) and am happy to discuss your favourite Pokémon in great length.
- I have two cats called Sage & Binx who sometimes make appearances in calls!
Paul - Profile
Role summary
Job Title: Chief Executive Officer
Standard working days: Monday - Thursday
Key tasks
- Being the operational lead for the organisation, providing support to both the staff team and the Board of Trustees.
- Building and maintaining external relationships with a range of stakeholders from Politicians and other voluntary sector leaders.
- Fundraising, paying everyone(!), all things finance and keeping us focussed on our strategy.
- Critical thinking and analysing approaches through different lenses.
- Creative thinker.
- Connections to a broad range of stakeholder and partners.
- My diary! So many competing pressures means am not always available.
- I am thinking on my feet much of the time, so tend to respond in the moment on many things so might result in multiple messages from me. Way my brain processes.
- Happy with messages in any format--Teams, email, WhatsApp.
- My ADHD brain will go off on a tangent, hence I talk a lot--feel free to stop me and bring me back to the right convo!
- Am a serial house renovator and always thinking about what can be redecorated next!
- Am a trained actor a singer, specialising in musical theatre.
- I used to be a puppeteer for a touring theatre company. The puppet I operated was voiced by Jon Pertwee, one of the original Doctor Who's!
- My life is ruled by Ted, our English Bulldog, and wouldn't have it any other way.
Damien - Profile
Role summary
Job Title: TRANSforming Futures Grant Officer Standard working days: Flexible
Key tasks
- Supporting the TF awardees to complete their spending for the deadline
- Organising the TF celebration event
- Supporting the evaluation process and short film creation
- I love a good plan so I’m happy to help, whether that’s proofreading one or helping to create one.
- I enjoy brainstorming sessions and think there’s a lot of value in group discussions.
- I’m always happy to share my input on grant related matters, particularly when it comes to participatory grant making.
- Problem-solving skills
- Creative, love to contribute both with ideas and creations, if I have the capacity.
- Happy to support with events and interested in co-facilitation, as although facilitation isn’t my strongest skill I am eager to improve.
- My working style can be inconsistent, struggling to focus on specific tasks and completing things vs completing a high volume of work in a very short time - having lenient deadlines helps me to categorise my to-do lists and have the motivation to complete work without a significant amount of stress about if I’m unable to complete work on time.
- Due to my health my working days are flexible, however I do what I can to ensure that this impacts others as little as possible. I will only cancel or rearrange meetings as a last resort, or where my own involvement is minor/can be well communicated in another format, like email.
- I struggle with memory, I take notes to avoid this being an issue but where this falls through I encourage people to let me know if, for example, I have promised to support some work and then don’t get around to it.
- I struggle with hearing, written communication is most preferable for me, though I do prefer video calls for free flow discussions where typing can hold you back. Phone calls are incredibly difficult for me and it is a preference to avoid them wherever possible.
- I need time to process what is said to me, especially verbally, so allow me some time to respond.
- I really enjoy horror – films, stories, etc – body horror being of specific interest to me.
- I crochet, embroider, collage, and would gather all artistic hobbies into my repertoire if I could.
- I am a collector, my most 3 most extensive collections are my vinyl, pins and badges, and clown memorabilia.
Sakib Khan - Profile
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Role summary
Job Title: London Engagement
Standard working days: Mon - Wed (usually)
Key tasks
- London member engagement
- London event and capacity buildings
- RJN Network Support
- Info coming soon...
- Info coming soon...
- Info coming soon...
- Info coming soon...
Philip - Profile
Role summary Job Title: Engagement and Information Officer Standard working days: Mon, Wed, Thu & Fri
Key tasks
- I lead on membership admin - processing new applications and renewals.
- I have a wealth of knowledge of our online systems - most of which I probably created!
- I remain calm under pressure, which helps with reactionary/time-sensitive work.
- I'm good at problem solving and I love a challenge!
I suffer from severe migraine attacks, for which I take preventative medication (that unfortunately doesn't always work). When attacks occur, they are debilitating and can lead to me being off work for several days.
Because of this, I am always conscious of time-sensitive work and deadlines. I would always prefer to get the bulk of this type of work done in advance (if possible), just in case - so please bear this in mind if you can 🙂
I would prefer important information/requests to be sent via email, as I can flag them until they are completed. Requests on Teams can sometimes get lost in the conversation.
I live in Exeter with my partner Neil and our 2 rescue Guinea Pigs - Ted and Monty.
Name - Sam
Role summary
Job Title: LGBT Fund Development Manager
Standard working days: Mon-Thurs
Key tasks
- Bring in funders to grow our Equity Fund.
- Develop relationships with funders both old and new
- Pitch the fund to corporate donors
- Knowledge and experience within the LGBTQ+ sector- having volunteered with education, healthcare and policy related charities
- Great at networking- I’m the ‘guy who knows a guy’
- A strong advocate for the work Consortium do- very happy to shout about all the amazing work we’re doing (and need funding for!)
- An eye for design and creativity- I love pulling together promo pieces and social media posts as well as writing articles!
- Sometimes I’m a bit scatterbrained and too quick to jump to another task before finishing my current one - often have to be strict with myself and find it easier to work to tight deadlines.
- I can get too caught up in meetings and forget to take notes- so may email you to clarify what we’ve discussed.
- I prefer having clearly defined actions and goals- both before and after meetings.
- I tend to respond better to a Teams Message or email rather than a teams call (unless it’s for a social chat- which I appreciate as a remote worker!)
- I keep a rolling Excel Spreadsheet for all my action plans where I keep track of important contacts, upcoming meetings, deadlines and tasks.
- I find it easier to process tasks in list form- especially via email.
- Through the perks of dating a zoologist- I currently own 10 species of pets including 2 frogs, 2 snakes, a lizard and 4 separate species of arachnid.
- Outside of work I’m a theatre reviewer and the director of an LGBTQ+ rights non-profit
- I love table top RPGs and am currently in 3 different campaigns including Dungeons and Dragons, Cyberpunk and Warhammer 40k
NAME - Profile
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Role summary
Job Title:
Standard working days:
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NAME - Profile
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Role summary
Job Title:
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Key tasks