UPFRONT at Mind The Product
I believe in building ladders around you and I believe we need new voices, stories, ideas and opinions. UPFRONT is one way I make both of these things happen. For the last 6 months, I’ve been working with the team at Mind The Product to coach and support three people who’ve never spoken in public before - until today! I’d like to introduce you to them and tell you their stories. I intended to tell this story on stage today but my voice has gone so this blog is the next best thing.
Sally Brogan is the Managing Director of Product and Tech at Big Sofa. She’s from the North and is now based in London. Sally has always avoided speaking in public because she thought she was too young and too inexperienced. One day, she’d like to talk on stage about vulnerability in leadership.
Tobi Otokiti is the Product Manager at Andela and Founder of Product Dive. She’s from Nigeria and recently had her first child. Tobi has always avoided speaking in public because she doesn’t see people who look like her on stage and always imagined no organise would ever welcome her for this reason. One day, she’d like to talk on stage about why we must stop waiting for permission to tell our stories.
Stewart Livingstone is Agile Delivery Manager at Coop Digital. He’s from Ayrshire (we share the same home town and here to be sponsored by Gie It Laldy) and now lives in Manchester. Stewart has always avoided speaking in public because he doesn’t think he has anything interesting to say. One day, he’d like to talk about the reality of being fat, camp and gay and his experience of not fitting into the any of the boxes defined by the gay community.
Today they each delivered a 20-minute talk in front of an audience. They all had very different styles, content and stories but each one left an impression on the audience. Of course, there have been nerves, doubts, moments of panic and stress but they each powered on and delivered brilliantly today. The feedback from all three talks was amazing!
When we go to school we are taught to sit on a mat and raise our hand if we want to speak. We are taught to wait to be chosen. Too many of us are living in a waiting room. Nobody is going to choose you. You have to choose yourself. This is harder depending on your gender, race, class and sexuality. That’s why we need to surround ourselves with ladders and make it easy for people to choose themselves.
Sometimes all it takes is someone to say I believe in you. Someone to say I want to hear what you’ve got to say. Someone to say you are good enough, right now, just as you are. Here I am, to remind you that the world wants to hear your story and to say thank you to Sally, Tobi and Stewart for sharing theirs.
Huge thanks to Adam Warbuton and his team at Mind The Product for taking action towards making conferences more diverse and accessible.