Connecting the dots

was the 6th international conference hold by East meets West. Unfortunately we were not able to meet in beautiful Vienna due to Covid-19, however, Pavel and Ludo took the conference to a whole new level and made it virtual. This opened a gate to over 350 participants from all around the world as far as Australia, Japan up to the USA. For some people it was evening, for others night, however, this virtual concept brought the conference directly to your home.

Pavel and Ludo put together over 37 speakers that shared many stories with us. These were the most touching for me.

Alicja Sienkiewicz, a Polish activists who will be graduating this year lives in a small village near Lublin, which is part of the big ‘LGBT free zone’ Lubelskie Voivodeship and where local municipalities across a third of Poland have adopted resolutions “against LGBT propaganda” or “pro-family”. She has been an activist for the LGBTQIA community for two years and has been co-organising Lublin Equality March since the beginning. Alicja is also an activist for women’s rights. I still can’t believe that in 2020 in European Union someone as young as Alicia is receiving death threats just because she is fighting for human rights, very sad :-( 

Another person was Germán Henao, a 30 years-old Colombian, settled in Hungary since 2012 and currently working in business as digital communication consultant for the fitness industry and with a soft spot for social change. He was the face of the first ever LGBT campaign in Hungary, the #LoveIsLove campaign, done by Coca-Cola in August 2019. To share the braveness of a global company in a situation that is happening in Hungary was very strong also when Germán shared with us the different responses people had towards the cause. While some tried to cover up the billboards with graffiti, others helped to clean the graffiti off.

Of course there was much more and I need to give big kudos to Pavel and Ludo for putting together such an amazing conference and making it available for anyone for free. Thank you!

#diversityandinclusion #diversityintheworkplace #diversitymatters #2020emw #LGBTI+ #diversity