I have been involved in youth work ever since I was 11 years old and I started volunteering with Swayed Glasgow since I was 16 and later joining Swayed as a board member. This helped me get a job with Glasgow Life, where I have been working for the past seven years.

When I was 19 I came out as transgender and since then I have tried to be an LGBTQ+ role model to any young people at my club, I have had several young people come out to me and have had non-LGBTQ+ young people come to me to ask questions that their other youth clubs or schools have failed to teach them.

At the age of 23, I joined the Glasgow Youth Council. In the GYC I was elected into the executive committee as the Communications and Outreach Officer where I try to best represent the young people of Glasgow. In this time I have represented Scotland in various events/trips like when we went to the European Youth Commission and an upcoming trip to Strasbourg which was supposed to be in May this year but has been postponed.

I was also elected as a Member of the Scottish Youth Parliament for LGBT Youth Scotland, where I represent Scotland’s young LGBT Community. In this role, I was part of a panel at MCM Comic Con speaking on inclusion in the video game industry and games themselves and I also hosted an LGBT History Month Parliamentary reception. I also have put forward two motions at our Scottish Youth Parliament Sittings, one on safe spaces in schools which passed in October and one on Gender Recognition Certificate costs which passed in the spring.

The two things I’m most passionate about are young people and LGBT+ rights, so I focus a lot in helping LGBT+ young people in my job, at Swayed, GYC, SYP and just my personal life in general.

I have severe Social Anxiety, so speaking to more than three people I don’t know is very difficult for me, but since being involved in my work, Swayed, GYC, SYP etc. I have grown more confident and worked on trying to speak out easier to help ensure LGBT+ people, who don’t have the same chances as me, are being heard too.

When I first came out as transgender my boss (who is also LGBT+) asked why I didn’t want to talk to any of the young people about my experience, I said I felt uncomfortable and sort of ashamed to be born as transgender. My boss said I should never feel like this and that if I want to, I should try to be that trans role model I never had and that there would be other young people just like me who would think that they are weird for being trans and I should be there for them to tell them otherwise and being open was a difficult hurdle for me to overcome. 

I’m passionate about my job and volunteer work as I believe in inclusion for all no matter who they are and if I am able to expand upon that through reaching more people up and down the country that is what I would aim to do. I want to be able to have a bigger platform to continue to spread positivity and educate others as well as making positive changes in local areas.