A bit more about my personal career journey

Trust, honesty and openness are three qualities I try to foster in all my working relationships. To help build your trust in me, both as a person and as a practitioner, I’m sharing this brief reflective account of my career journey up till now.

Throughout my journey as an activist, consultant, and facilitator, I have had the privilege of working with incredible organisations and world-leading initiatives.

From 2015 to 2024, I spearheaded the Intersex Human Rights Fund (IHRF) at the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. During my tenure, I oversaw its transformation from the initial seed donation of US$50,000 to a multi-million-dollar budget Fund. Over the course of 10 annual grantmaking cycles, I led the IHRF to providing crucial grants to intersex-led organisations worldwide. The most recent cycle (2024) supported 62 intersex-led organisations across more than 50 countries. My responsibilities encompassed facilitating an bolstering regional and international movement spaces as well as accompanying and supporting local, national and regional intersex groups in navigating various capacity and organisational needs, particularly through the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

I am proud of my identity as a queer trans person from the Mediterranean and coming from a small island state. These aspects of my identity have positioned me at the peripheries – including geographically and linguistically – as well as belonging to a non-dominant class and non-normative genders and sexualities.

They’re aspects that offer me valuable insights into being, existing and surviving on the margins. Yet, I am mindful of the privileges afforded to me through education, fluency in the dominant English language, and connections to European political and movement spaces.

Constantly being open to new and critical perspectives has kept my work alive and relevant. Remaining receptive to multiple dimensions and critical viewpoints ensures my work remains alive and relevant. While being part of non-dominant and non-normative communities grants me unique insights, I acknowledge and remain acutely aware of the boundaries of my own experiences and the privileges I hold.

As much as belonging to particular minority groups gives me insight into certain issues, I make a conscious effort to be aware of the limits of my experience.

My clients come from diverse communities worldwide, including LGBTQI organisations, feminist philanthropic organisations, think tanks, academic institutions, governments, and service providers. These groups can have very different ways of approaching the same issues and there’s much that can be learnt from each of them. One of the most important things that I do is find ways to amplify the voices of people who have been left out of policy-making decisions in the past and foster genuine exchanges between people.

The many encounters I’ve faced on my journey have made my more resolute both personally and professionally I’m profoundly thankful for the chance to share the knowledge from both my achievements and adversity faced.

It’s an honor to accompany and support organisations that align with my unwavering commitment to social justice. If you’re keen on discovering how I can assist you on your journey, please feel free to reach out or browse through my Services page.