The Angelic Troublemakers

This weeks guest is Belton Flournoy, a Director in Protiviti’s Technology consulting practice where he founded the UK Pride network.  Under his leadership, the network hosts D&I events at the Shard and recently won best LGBT+ initiative by the Inclusive Tech Alliance. He volunteers with Pride in London, where he serves as Head of Pride in the City – a Mayor backed initiative he founded in 2017 focused on increasing D&I within businesses. Belton is a TLC Lion, a Radius Employee Network Leadership Program graduate, has moderated at the Telegraph’s D&I conference and attended an event at No.10 for his efforts in the D&I space.

In this episode Bisi interviews Dr Sue Black. Sue left home and school when she was 16 years old, got married when she was 20 and by the age of 25 was living in a shelter with her three kids. This did not stop her from pursuing a career to become a computer scientist and a passionate activist.  If you’d like to know more about Sue Black you can visit their website sueblack.co.uk and you can find them on twitter @Dr_Black and on instagram @blackse.

In this weeks episode Bisi interviews Charlie Craggs, an award-winning activist, author & founder of Nail Transphobia. Six years ago Charlie started travelling around the U.K. with her pop up nail salon and her squad of trans nail techs, offering the public free manicures for the chance to sit down and have a chat with a trans person in a bid to break misconceptions and make allies.Charlie has been dubbed ‘the voice of a community’ by Vogue. She is also author of the book To My Trans Sisters, a collection of letters written by successful trans women from a variety of fields, as a way to pass on knowledge and wisdom from their unique experiences of transitioning. To find out more about Charlie you can find her on Instagram and twitter @charlie_craggs or visit her website charliecraggs.co.uk.

In this episode Bisi interviews Gulwali Passarlay. Due to conflict Gulwali was forced to leave his home in Afghanistan the age of 12 alongside his brother (14). The boys were soon separated and Gulwali spent a year travelling through 10 countries, during which time he was was sent to adult jails as authorities did not believe his age, all in search of safety and the hope of being reunited with his brother. He talks with Bisi about the journey, what happened when he arrived in the U.K, and what he has achieved since.  Gulwali is the director of My Bright Kite, a specialist not for profit organisation working to improve the wellbeing and inclusion of your refugees through a range of professional services and bespoke youth projects. He continues campaigning and advocating for refugee rights, supporting the work and effort of refugee charities around family reunification. He’s also working hard to end the ban on allowing people seeking asylum seekers to work, and you can find more information at mybrightkite.org.    Gulwali is also the author of The Lightless Sky: An afghan Refugee Boy's Journey of Escape to a New Life in Britain.   If you’d like to know more about can find Guulwali on Twitter @GulwaliP or visit his website gulwalipassarlay.wordpress.com/

In this episode Bisi interviews Greg Owen, UK-born activist who started a website to make generic pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medication accessible to prevent HIV infection. In this episode Greg talks about growing up in Northern Ireland in the 80s amidst the height of the troubles, his experiences coming out and his journey into activism.  If you’d like to know more about Greg you can find him on Twitter @Greg0wen and on Instagram gregowen1 and you can visit his website iwantPrEpnow.co.uk for more information on Prep and how to safely source it.  If you have been affected by any aspect of this podcast, including the discussion around them-sex, HIV and PrEP please visit your nearest clinic for support. If you are based in London we advise that you visit 56 street clinic (56 Dean Street, London, Soho)  

 In this episode Bisi interviews Lady Phyll, LGBTQ+ rights activist and Co-Founder & Executive Director of UK Black Pride and the Executive Director of Kaleidoscope Trust, UK. MS Phyll discusses her experiences coming out to friends and family, her involvement and often exclusion from the mainstream LGBTQ+ movement and her role in carving out spaces for her to exist freely and openly as a black, lesbian woman.  To find out more about Lady Phyll you can find her on Instagram @ladyphyll and on twitter @MsLadyPhyll, to find out more about Black Pride visit @ukblackpride