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Episode #66 Equality Pays with Michelle Gyimah

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Today I have the very lovely Michelle Gyimah with me on Financial Fluency. Michelle is a tech gender equality consultant, a tech startup improver, trainer, and speaker. She worked for over six years at the Equality and Human Rights Commission in the UK, helping employers work within the bounds of equality law, especially in regards to maternity leave. In the midst of her own maternity leave, she decided that she wanted to strike out on her own and provide consulting for businesses and employees as an entrepreneur.

In our discussion, we cover in depth the feelings of vulnerability and fear that women encounter when revealing their pregnancy to their employer. We talk about how women might choose to become self-employed because of how their employers treat them around pregnancy and child care. We talk about how startups can provide a safe and comfortable culture for women.

Quotes

  • “Even though my employer was quite amazing, when I was pregnant I had this sense of vulnerability, thinking ‘I hope I’m able to keep my job because I really need to keep it.’” – Michelle
  • “Even though the legislation in the UK and the US is on polar opposite ends of scale in terms of leave, many of the social issues are the same.” – Michelle
  • “Even if you can take 12 weeks of unpaid leave, what if you can’t take 12 weeks of unpaid leave? What if you need the money?” – Jen
  • “The message is you can have a career if you don’t have a baby, which is wrong.” – Michelle
  • “It’s like we’re telling women from a young age that they can be anything, but as soon as they decide they want to have a family we’re like ‘Oooh, we forgot to tell you, you can’t mix the two.” – Michelle
  • “It’s only a short amount of time that you are going to have a young family that’s going to depend on you in terms of time. That’s a very limited way of looking at people.” – Michelle
  • “[In startup culture], we want to view women as more than consumers, we want to view them as creators too. Women need to feel safe, valued and wanted. It’s not just a boys club for start-ups.” – Michelle
 To connect with Michelle and learn more about her advice for employers and employees alike, check her out on LinkedIn and at www.equalitypays.co.uk.

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michelle2Michelle is a tech gender equality consultant, startup improver, inclusive business builder, speaker, and trainer.

She’s passionate about working with tech companies (whatever their size) to help them improve their gender diversity, specifically how to attract and keep female staff and working mothers and how to save their organization money by not ending up in employment tribunal.

Through customized company assessments she can identify problem areas and produce a customized plan of action that will dramatically improve your gender diversity and your return on investment.

She’s dedicated to partnering with UK and US Women in Tech thought-leaders to mainstream the improvement of gender diversity in tech.

Episode #63 Speechless No More with Linda Brogan

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Today we are taking a little break from talking about finances and I am happy to welcome the fantastic Linda Brogan. Linda is an award winning playwright, director and dramaturg. I met Linda in Selena Soo’s Impacting Millions Facebook group and we really connected over each other’s writing. She has been super encouraging of my writing and projects and I was really interested in hers.

Her professional bio is very impressive: In 1999 Brogan took part in the North West Playwrights’ course, and won the 2001 Alfred Fagon Award for her play The Well. This was followed by an attachment at the National Theatre Studio in 2002. Brogan’s first play What’s In The Cat was produced by Contact Theatre, Manchester and transferred to the Royal Court in 2005. Brogan’s other plays include Basil and Beattie presented at Royal Exchange/Liverpool Everyman, and The Very Thought of You, commissioned by Wolsey and Tricycle Theatre. Her last play Speechless did a critically acclaimed four star UK tour.

Her focus is in being born a slave to her colour, gender and class. The political, emotional and day to day ramifications of this topic are what we discuss in this episode, as well as her upcoming project with the restoration of the Reno Club in Manchester.

Quotes

  • “Because I’m working class, half black, and because I was born poor, I have a lot of beliefs that make it difficult to work in the theater, even though those beliefs aren’t that strange.” – Linda
  • “Everyone in the theater was white and middle class, so even if they were being as nice as pie to me, I would take it as if they were trying to be nice to me because I was black.” – Linda
  • “I was talented and I tied that together with a ‘fuck you’ attitude.” – Linda
  • “All I’ve been saying since I’ve been a playwright is that black people have feelings too. Their feelings are intricate, they don’t just need to be helped, and they have every day lives.” – Linda
  • “You know, I’ve read loads of so called ‘authentic” slave narratives and there’s nothing about the people that they left behind… the upset that there must be about the brother or the sister, there are no feelings and no emotions. They are never allowed.” – Linda
  • “There are no authentic slave narratives, not a one.” – Linda
  • “I was on my knees to the arts, and I didn’t think I was, but I was, telling my story in a certain way.” – Linda

Connect with Linda Brogan: http://theagency.co.uk/the-clients/linda-brogan/

More about the Reno Club: http://www.mancky.co.uk/?p=4075

More about Speechless: http://www.sharedexperience.org.uk/speechless.html

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linda-broganManchester born Linda Brogan is an award winning playwright, director and dramaturg. In 1999 Brogan took part in the North West Playwrights’ course, and won the 2001 Alfred Fagon Award for her play The Well. This was followed by an attachment at the National Theatre Studio in 2002. Brogan’s first play What’s In The Cat was produced by Contact Theatre, Manchester and transferred to the Royal Court in 2005. Brogan’s other plays include Basil and Beattie presented at Royal Exchange/Liverpool Everyman, and The Very Thought of You, commissioned by Wolsey and Tricycle Theatre. Her last play Speechless did a critically acclaimed four star UK tour. Her focus is in being born a slave to her colour, gender and class.

Linda Brogan is a playwright of real significance.   Her plays capture the unspoken complexities of human relationships – the things we say, the things we hide, the secrets that shape us – in a way that few contemporary dramatists manage.  Immensely subtle and beautifully observed, Linda’s work gives voice to unforgettable characters and leaves us mysteriously changed.