Lu Purll

Tell us your story:

"My journey to FinTech has been unexpected, not always straightforward, and more often than not challenging. My role at Funding Circle is definitely note my first rodeo in being out at work, but it’s definitely the one where I’ve been allowed to be as open and as comfortable as I am. Before fintech I was in igaming, and prior to that I worked in sales and recruitment. Since I set foot in FC, both my managers and workplace services manager (now my Circle of Pride co-lead) have taken me under their wing and accepted me without question. I was approached to join circle of pride, then worked as deputy lead and quickly became co-lead. Circle of Pride, our LGBTQIA+ employee resources group, work hard to educate, act and increase visibility through the LGBTQIA+ lens. Funding Circle has always felt like home but I’ve never shied away from telling others about the homophobic harassment and bullying (and just how bad my mental health suffered as a result of that), I’ve dealt with in other workplace environments. If my experiences can allow people to feel, seen, heard and accepted as well as accepted unequivocally without exception, then my job is done. If it humbles allies to educate and empathise then that’s even better."

Impact:

"At Funding Circle I am prominent for educating others on different aspects of the LGBTQIA+ community, achievements and history, I have sat on panels where I’ve shared my experience as well as presented workshops on legal issues facing the community, created educational pieces on lesbian visibility and presented articles for asexual awareness week. I’ve worked with other equality groups within FC on trans and non-binary inclusive language, engagement and visibility with circle of pride is one of my biggest areas of impact - the strategy on Slack I use and in real life has meant our events are “big names on campus”. I’m certainly not the norm within Finance so my impact is encouraging people to be their authentic self alongside this. My biggest achievement to date was working with the DEI lead at funding circle on a pride takeover of Open Circle. Open Circle is a panel featuring members of different equality groups where they answer questions on different themes such as allyship or intersectionality, I was asked to help organise and moderate for pride month.

After learning FC’s values and what it offers I felt initially that there had to be a catch and I swiftly learned to trust FC; there is no catch, it really does appreciate your individuality and what diversity can contribute to the workplace.

There’s always something to do, and more to be done, I’m constantly on the go with ideas but FC is the best place to execute those ideas."

Advice:

"I came out at thirteen years old, and coming out was hard for me as it wasn’t my choice which made the process of self-acceptance, the fear of rejection by the people I loved much harder, as it felt there was a lot at more stake than there would be if I’d have a left it a few more years until I was ready and it was essentially my choice to do so. So, from there, I decided to never go back in the closet. I bring this openness and honesty into everything I do, and that includes my career. My advice then is to be honest, be as open as you can but I appreciate this presents difficulties if you can’t be for whatever reason.

Being queer is not who or what I am, but is a part of what has made me the person I am today, and I believe that wearing my true identity on my sleeve has helped me in many ways with confidence, in my career and as Circle of Pride co-lead. Confidence is paramount, sometimes this is faked as it doesn’t come to naturally when I battle imposter syndrome and anxiety 95% of the time so I combat this by talking to people, being open, not everyone is going to accept you or like you and that’s fine but as long as I’m positive and kind the negativity NEVER touches me."