As part of Pride Month, Girls' Network Ambassador Amy joined our Managing Director, Em, for a Career Conversation, where they discussed identity, representation and leadership. Together, they reflected on the importance of visibility, being your authentic self and creating workplaces where everyone can thrive. Below is a little of what they talked about, you can watch the full conversation on our YouTube channel.

---

About Amy and Em

Amy completed a mentoring programme with The Girls' Network before becoming an active member of our Ambassador Community. Since finishing her mentoring journey, she has represented The Girls' Network at events including visits to Downing Street, spoken with politicians about issues affecting young women, and helped organise Be You events. She now works as a pastry chef in Eastbourne and is passionate about supporting other young women to achieve their ambitions.

Em is Managing Director of The Girls' Network. Before joining the charity in 2025, she spent more than twenty years working in further education, progressing from teacher to Deputy CEO of a large college group. Earlier in her career, she served in the British Army. Throughout her career, Em has championed equity, diversity and inclusion, helping young people and colleagues thrive through leadership, coaching and mentoring.

The conversation

As part of Pride Month, Amy and Em explored the importance of authenticity, visibility and inclusive leadership, reflecting on their experiences as members of the LGBTQ+ community and discussing how workplaces can become more supportive environments for everyone.

One of the key themes of the conversation was visibility. Em spoke about the importance of being open about her sexuality in professional spaces and how seeing LGBTQ+ people in leadership positions can help others feel that their own ambitions are possible. Drawing on her experience in education, she reflected on how meaningful it was for young people to see leaders who shared aspects of their identity and were thriving in their careers.

Amy shared similar reflections from her experience working in the catering industry, where women remain underrepresented in many senior roles. She spoke about how inspiring it was to recently work alongside a successful female pastry chef and how important it can be to see people with similar experiences succeeding in industries that can sometimes feel difficult to navigate.

The pair also discussed the challenges that women and LGBTQ+ people can face in professional environments. Amy reflected on experiences earlier in her career where she felt underestimated because she was a young woman entering a male-dominated workplace. Em acknowledged that many women still face barriers in leadership and highlighted the additional challenges that can arise when different aspects of identity intersect.

Throughout the conversation, Em and Amy returned to a shared belief that representation matters. Echoing The Girls' Network's belief that "you can't be what you can't see", they discussed how visible role models can help young women imagine futures that may previously have felt out of reach.

---

A big thank you to Amy and Em for sharing their experiences and reflections during Pride Month. Their conversation highlighted the importance of visibility, authenticity and inclusive leadership, and showed how powerful it can be for young women to see people like themselves succeeding in different industries and leadership roles.