An incredible session diving into a ‘Masterless of Allyship and Advocacy’ and the heart felt impressive feedback received galvanises the true impact from this session!!
Massive kudos and respect to Impact Match, in partnership with WIBF, for hosting this insightful, engaging, thought provoking and inspiring session in which so many themes and topics were covered.
The session kicked off with an incredible introduction from Leigh Smyth who provided some background on the mission and work of Impact Match. #ImpactMatch connects organisations with impact-driven leaders, strategists and advisors to create more social impact in the world. So, why are we doing this? It’s an easy equation, steering organisations founders and leaders towards social impact isn’t just an ethical and a smart business move, we know it helps people feel happier about their work.
Following this, the truly amazing Beverley Brown shared an incredible overview covering the history, objectives and impressive work of WIBF and who then went on to introduce Pips Bunce. Women in Banking & Finance is volunteer-led social enterprise that has been championing women in financial services for over 40 years. We connect our members to a wide network of influencers, business leaders and women at all stages of their careers, we challenge the industry to adopt new ideas and address structural barriers, and we inspire our wider community, across many intersections of diversity, to push for change.
Pips kicked off the session talking about her work and advocacy over the years. Having been in Financial Services for over 3 decades, she brings a wealth of information and is an experienced and accomplished IT Executive, senior leader, coach and mentor. With extensive knowledge, experience and industry best practice across the global financial markets and technology sectors, including amongst others, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, UBS and Bank of England.
Pips also talked to her work as an appointed Leadership fellow at St Georges House (Windsor Castle), an exec board member and advisory board member for various organisations and charities, a Henka certified coach, a United Nations assigned delegate and a true culture champion and agent of change. She is also a proud and out non-binary, gender-fluid and Trans member of the LGBTQI+ community and an appointed member of the McKinsey Global LGBT+ Alliance.
Pips kicked off the session sharing her own journey as a gender-expansive individual, her identity and the inspiration and triggers that drive her to carry out so much advocacy work driving a more open and accepting workplace and society and why allyship and advocacy mean so very much to her (and highlighting why allies really are super heroes)
Moving on, the objectives and impact from ally programs was covered, taking a deep dive into a range of holistic LGBTQI+ identities (covering topics such as gender identity, gender expression, sexuality and biological sex), how these themes intersect, the challenges and nuances faced, common misconceptions and misinformation, and some tokens, tags and labels associated to the many identities that fall into the wider set of LGBTQI+ identities.
The journey of moving from being unaware of the changes faced by underrepresented groups though to how awareness is raised, education and insight provided and how individuals can then move to being an Ally or even further to an advocate, followed by many examples on how this takes place in the corporate world and across all sectors globally to drive for a better and more inclusive world.
Many other themes were covered as part of this from visibility and role modelling to education and advocacy through art, to media channels and the differing perspectives on the role of an Ally and why intersectionality is such a key foundation and guiding principle.
Many topics were discussed when looking at some real-life statistics (self-harm rates, suicide, feeling of a safe space, bullying etc.) as to why this work and allyship is so vital, how this is affecting our diverse population, the amazing impact that Allies have and how the universal concepts of allyship are holistic across all forms of Diversity. Also diving into what an Ally should be verses what an Ally does not need to be and how Allies can make an even bigger impact.
Ending the session, Pips covered a range of questions from the audience covering so many thought-provoking topics from the audience. During the entire session, it’s fair to say, we had tears of laughter and tears of sadness with such emotive and impactful topics being covered and really being brought to life.
The feedback received conveys how well this session was received (just wow!!) and it was a pleasure to host this event for all in attendance who have taken so much away to go out into their firms, their networks and their worlds to make a positive impact in this world, to help drive positive change and to be the change they want to see so as to make our workplaces and our communities more open and accepting to all.
Such an inspiring being as always. A great reminder of how much is being done and still needs to be done. Elegance and poise on point, making it look easy! Got great takeaways from your slides this hour, and thankful for getting to know more about impact match too. Glad I joined. Stay great, my icon!
Pips, I just have to say your session was absolutely brilliant, really enjoy watching this, was so informative.
A little about the keynote speaker
Pips is able to facilitate a range of sessions covering many themes and having overcome adversity as a Queer individual, she speaks and leads with sincerity and humility, espousing the impact authenticity and allyship has on the entire LGBTQI+ community and across all diverse communities.
She can be contacted via pips.bunce@yahoo.com to discuss the provision of a range of sessions across many themes.
In recognition of her impact, Pips has received many awards including amongst others the Financial Times/Yahoo Finance Top 100 LGBTQI+ executives, British Diversity Awards Inspiration Role Model, British LGBTQI+ Awards Inspirational Leader, Bank of London Rainbow Honors role model, British LGBTQI+ Awards Inspirational Leader and sat alongside Steve Cook and Sam Altman in the Business Insider Finance Top 7 power list and, featured in the Top 100 most successful LGBTQI+ executives worldwide as part of the People Management D&I power list.
