Jennifer Lee

Tell us your story:

I joined Monzo in 2022, and started as an entry level digital associate. At the time, I needed a fresh start but I also really wanted to find a safe, inclusive and warm environment to work in. Being selected to be a part of Monzo was the start of an incredible journey and experience.

During my time at Monzo, I have had many fantastic experiences and opportunities. I have been a financial health team manager, a coach, a leader, a mentor and most importantly part of a thriving internal LGBTQ+ network and community. I have also become part of a council at Monzo that works to speak up, give everyone equal opportunities and help make a positive difference to the employees across the business.

Over the course of my Monzo Career, I’ve been an advocate for diversity and inclusion both inside and outside of Monzo. I have become the Outreach Lead for our LGBTQ+ network, which has involved communicating with charities, hosting events and really advocating for our values. This includes things like virtual pride, cardiff pride, london pride, visibility days/weeks, partnerships with places like WAVE, working with Not a Phase, and so much more.

It has really given me the opportunity to meet and connect with people outside of Monzo and really be a champion of LGBTQ+ values. In addition to this, it has also given me the confidence to champion these values in my immediate community as well, and raise money for charities or awareness.

Overall, it’s been a delightful experience working with Monzo, I feel that I’ve been able to not only come out of the closet, but really advocate for others as well and celebrate being LGBTQ+. This is only the start of my Fintech journey as well I think, but I’m so excited for where it will go next.

Impact:

I'm a champion of diversity and inclusion at Monzo and I have worked hard to build on my previous years of work to support, advocate and work towards a better future in LGBTQ+ Fintech.

I am autistic, bisexual and nonbinary, prior to joining Monzo, it was challenging embracing who I was. However, Monzo has given me the safe space to do so and gives me the chance to be a champion of diversity and inclusion - therefore uplifting others.

My highlights are:

• Created Virtual Pride, with a drag king and having more distributed staff attend in years to celebrate pride
• Created a resource page for all of our neurodivergent staff
• Created a safe space for our LGBTQ+ staff to be able to talk on an informal basis and connect with each other during these difficult times
• Made recognition events throughout the year for Monzo (e.g. international non-binary people’s day, autistic pride day, lesbian visibility week, bisexual health awareness month, neurodiversity celebration week, etc)
• Hosted, attended and marched in various pride events this year and helped facilitate them (such as Cardiff Pride)
• Created more intersectionality with all the networks at Monzo (e.g. women’s network, black network & LGTBQ+ network), through streamlining processes to help employees attend events and promoting allyship

Outside of Monzo, there’s also many things that I have done to help advocate for a better, more inclusive community, such as:

• Helped facilitate Liverpool Pride, Sahir House made it happen and I created a fundraiser to help them, raising over £1,300 which was donated to Pride
• I raised money for Transactual through a race, totalling to over £300
• I supported many trans charities, partnering with others in my community to host a fundraiser and raised over £3,000 for Spirit Level and Gyro Liverpool, two essential trans charities in my community that help trans and non-binary people
• I supported a fundraiser which was raising funds for A-Sisterhood and Teenage Cancer Trust
• Volunteered in roles outside of work, such as the UKSEDs, which helps children, teenagers and young people across the UK get involved with STEM, and interviewed astronaut John Mcfall
• Became part of the Human Library, and speak about my experiences around the United Kingdom, breaking down barriers and challenging stereotypes

As a result of my hard work both inside and outside of Monzo, I have had many people come to me and advise they feel safe being out, or that I’ve inspired them to get more involved in the world of Diversity and Inclusion.

Overall, I would love to be on the Pride in Fintech Powerlist again because I want to show people that it’s a good thing to be yourself authentically. In the Fintech space, it can be really frightening to be yourself, but I think it’s so important to be proud of who you are. I also want to demonstrate to others that you can still succeed - even if you come out. Sometimes you can be the change that makes a difference.

Advice:

I have now been in the Fintech industry for over three years, and the best advice I have given on the powerlist before - that I would like to give again - is to never be afraid to be yourself. At Monzo, I have felt nothing but respected and heard and it’s so important to find an environment where you feel that way. I also think it’s so important to be the change you want to see in the world - whether that’s inside or outside of work.

At Monzo, I’ve worked diligently over the last three and a half years to make positive changes, inspire others and pave the way for people to feel that they can be their authentic selves at work. For me, it’s never got in the way of my career or where I want to go next and I think it’s incredibly important that we continue to drive that change in our industry.