Visibility in Action: Recent Episodes
Dave Sweeney
Visibility in Action is a project aimed at amplifying the voices of LGBTQ+ people in the STEM industries.
Telling our stories, highlighting our challenges and advocating for diverse and inclusive workplace cultures.
The project is run by Dave Sweeney, Sales Enablement Lead at global specialist recruitment business Solutions Driven.
Hit me up on LinkedIn if you want to find out more - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-bd-sweeney/
TrainYo co-founder, Omark Sadik, joins me to talk about his mission to increase diversity in tech sales. Specifically we discuss his passion for increasing representation for people from different socioeconomic backgrounds. After all, we all know that the stereotypical sales team are white, male, middle class and university educated...so let's change that!
In the first episode of the all new Visibility in Action podcast, I'm joined by Adriana Romero. She tells me about her experiences as a Latina women in sales, as a migrant finding their feet in a new country and ensuring she can still celebrate the best of her Latina heritage.
In the first episode of 2022 I'm joined by Preston Taylor. Head of Supplier Content Programmes at RS Components and co-founder/Chair of SPECTRUM, the company's LGBTQ+ ERG.
Preston tells me about the story behind starting the ERG, his experiences as a trans man in the workplace and so much more.
In part two of our Bi Visibility Week triple bill I'm joined by Dr Sam Rowe, Public Engagement Officer at the Earlham Institute. We talk about everything from why Bi+ people tend to come out later than Gay/Lesbian people to why damaging "binaries" are so entrenched in our society.
Part one of a Bi Visibility Week triple bill!
This time I speak with Amanda Wacker, a PhD student and research scientist at the University of California about her experiences as a young Bi woman in Science and Academia.
The final part of our Bi Visibility Week triple bill. This time I'm joined by Vaneet Mehta. A writer, campaigner, software engineer and creator of the #BisexualMenExist hashtag.
In episode 2, I talk with Dr Clara Barker, Lab Manager at the Centre for Applied Superconductivity at Oxford University. She tells me about her experiences as a trans woman in STEM, the differences between the commercial and academic worlds and why LGBTQ+ young people are dropping out of STEM education so frequently.
In episode 3 I'm joined by NavTech Rader Commercial & Marketing Director, Louise Early. We talk about everything from LGBTQ+ drop out rates in early career roles across STEM to Mentorship and why being visible is so important.
In the first episode of Visibility in Action I talk with Henry Langston, Chief Commercial Officer at Spectroscopy and Photonics business Ocean Insight, about everything from coming out to clients, masculinity (of the toxic variety) in STEM and what Henry calls "discrimination by omission".
In this episode I'm joined by Emily Hamilton, VP Strategic Change at RS Components. Emily started transitioning in late 2019 and tells me about her experiences so far...both positive and negative. We also cover topics including the importance of unity across the LGBTQ+ community and the toxicity of the current climate towards trans people.
In episode 4 I'm joined by Evan Patterson (Senior BDR @ Reprise, Coach @ SDR Nation and all manner of other things too!) to talk about everything from dealing with LinkedIn trolls to vetting prospective employers about inclusivity.