International Women’s Day 2024

As part of International Women's Day, our local Battersea MP, Marsha De Cordova invited me to the House of Commons to be part of a panel of speakers. The theme of the talk was Inspire Inclusion. 

Speakers included:​​
Marsha de Cordova MP for Battersea (hosting and chairing)
Helen Hayes MP, Shadow Minister for Children and Early Years
.Abena Oppong-Asare MP, Shadow Minister for Women, Health and Mental Health
Laura MaMullen, Shark Ninja Vice-President Product Development and General Manager London

I spoke about my career and my own diverse background.  Being mixed race, left handed and neurodiverse puts me in a unique position to see the world. As an embodiment of inclusion, I want to inspire others to understand and appreciate our collective differences. I choose to do this through creativity and my voluntary work at BAFTA, the National Portrait Gallery, Museum of London and Film London.

Redefining polarised divisive messaging is one of the core things I strive to do with my work. We hear from the press that there is a war on woke and the regular mention of ‘culture wars’.  I was keen to dismantle this political weapon with the platform I was given at the Houses of Commons that day. Over the past few years, I have been in situations where the word woke has been used to attack me personally, so I decided to check out the meaning. The Oxford Dictionary states it means to be: well-informed, up-to-date/ alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice. To me, this is normal behaviour. So it is a very strange universe that we live in now/ that can twist this word into a negative slur.  I personally take the word as a compliment. I concluded my speech proudly stating I am woke- I do want to be well informed, up to date and alert to social discrimination and injustice, and I will strive to enable others to understand and respect differences and collaborate together for a better world in my work at Chocolate Films and beyond.