MEET THE TEAM

Free Membership!

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Maya (she/they)

I am a Mexican-Jewish, bisexual, woman of colour and I am TIRED of trying to fit into a space that wasn't built for me. Where do I even start? I am so incredibly excited to see this project flourish even more and to meet all of you. I want everyone at the QPOCPROJECT to be bound together by queer and cultural joy as well as the difficulties we face in navigating the intersectionality of our identities in mainstream society. I was the LGBTQ+ society president and disabilities officer at King's College London until I realised I was representing a community that wasn't representing me. So here we are. I want the QPOCPROJECT to be a 'home-base' for all QPOC, it's a fresh start for many of us and an opportunity to finally meet people similar to us. There are only so many words I can write about this passion-project, but I am so excited for this to take-off more and more everyday with all of your help. To all of you who have had to repress such a crucial part of yourselves particularly during this pandemic, there is always a space for you here, use it when you can, we're waiting for you!

DIRECTOR OF GOVERNANCE & operations

R (he/him)

Hi friends! I’m the Director of Governance at the QPOCPROJECT and unfortunately I have to use this pseudonym to make sure I stay safe. And that’s precisely why I’m so motivated to working for this project and striving towards creating safe spaces for QPOC. One day I won’t have to use a pseudonym and hopefully, neither will any of you.

Everybody deserves to have a space where, for no matter how brief it may be, they can be their true authentic selves without fear of the violence of homophobia or racism nor what occurs at the intersection of those two. As such I hope that if you’re attending our events and getting involved that you’re able to find this space as a breather and a way to connect with other people who are just like you.

Please don’t hesitate to message me or get in contact especially if you’re struggling with Islam and your sexuality or gender identity, or even if you just want to chat! I’d love to hear from you

VINAY (he/they)

I’m Vinay, Director of Operations and a proud gay British Hindu man from Leicester. I’m so excited to be a part of the QPOC project because this is the kind of space I would have loved to see whilst growing up. I grew up in quite a heteronormative environment and because of this I had a hard time accepting my identity. I felt a lot of pressure to keep my sexuality hidden in order to maintain the reputation of my family, and this felt suffocating. I want other young queer people of colour to know that they are worthy of love and respect and that they don’t owe it to anybody to sacrifice their authenticity

DIRECTORS OF STRATEGY

BEN (he/him)

I am a queer, mixed race British/American who has endured discrimination, prejudice, and type casting during my time on this planet. I am done being marginalised and labelled. I am done being anything but myself.

At the QPOCPROJECT we aim to create safe spaces for our QPOC members, so they never have to feel neglected or out of place for being themselves. We will develop a strong sense of community and blaze the trail for those who still feel unable to.

We will be stronger together. Louder and prouder together. We will create and safeguard the future together.

Yi (she/her)

My brother calls me the most BBC (British born Chinese) of BBC’s. Essentially meaning that I’ve assimilated much more into Western communities than others who fit into that demographic. While it is sad that I’m not as connected to my heritage as my brother, I know one of the reasons for this, is because I’m gay.

Growing up as a queer person of colour, I’ve realised you have to make sacrifices to your identity to whomever your around. When interviewing for jobs, you’ve got to sacrifice your ‘otherness’, when you’re with your family you have to sacrifice your gayness, when you’re surrounded by men you have to sacrifice your morals for the sake of social cohesion or ‘banter’.

For me, the QPOCPROJECT is a space where I’m not limited by what other people see me as, and that I can share myself with others with the same experience as me.

DIRECTORS OF COMMUNICATIONS

STAN (he/they)

Hey! I'm Stan, I'm a bi and trans masc Indian. I'm extremely passionate about queer culture and media representation, as well as music and the arts in general. I'm doing a BA degree at KCL at the moment and hope to meet more of our QPOC community here!

AARAN (they/them)

Hi! I'm Aaran, a South Asian designer and astrologer. As a queer non-binary person brought up in a Indian-Sikh household, I never knew how my future would pan out. There were no examples, all I saw was a heavily cis-gendered and patriarchal system based on whiteness that did not see me for who I am, in a society which continually silences and erases trans and queer people of colour.When my voice was constantly shut down, silenced or mocked for it's pitch and tone, I used art and design to express myself. When my body and appearance didn't match with my internal feeling of gender, I drew how I felt. I realised the power in visualising and manifesting our queer futures through art. It is a way to rebel against the white cis-heteronormative vision of the world, reclaim power and (re)insert ourselves into spaces where we've always existed. I used to think my life was about balancing out the equilibrium, but I’ve now come to realise it’s about disruption. I believe in the QPOC revolution, in deep expression which sees and values the plurality of our intersectional identities. I believe in QPOC infrastructure which (re)inserts our identities and lives into the world; and is our own support system of radical care and community.

Activities Group

NON-BINARY OFFICER

SEXUAL HEALTH & EDUCATION OFFICER

NON-BINARY OFFICER

MAHDEEHA (they/them)

As a south east Asian nonbinary lesbian that was brought up in a muslim household I was taught to be ashamed and disgusted in myself because of my identity. However, I was exposed to loads of different views and opinions when growing up which made me quickly realise I was completely okay with my identity.

Overtime ive come across many incredible people that are queer but was never exposed to the qpoc community until recently, that was the catalyst for me to start searching for qpoc spaces and educating myself a lot more on the community and subjects surrounding it.

I have always wanted to use my experience and platform to teach and help others who also face oppression and that’s why I joined this project because it allows me to do exactly that.

Being who I am is still seen as an issue to multiple people in my life but I no longer want to be hiding my identity and personality because people disagree with it, I’m very lucky I have great friends/people surrounding me beause the people you surround yourself matters. I want to be able to make a positive change and help queer people of colour feel more comfortable in their own skin and celebrate their identity because we are deserving of that considering the amount of stuff we need to deal with on the daily basis as a result of being queer people of colour

WELLBEING COACH

SEXUAL HEALTH & EDUCATION OFFICER

NON-BINARY OFFICER

SHAZIA (she/her)

I am a bisexual south Asian woman and I am so pleased to be able to offer my services as a wellbeing coach to members of the QPOC Project. The work I do is based on an understanding of the mind that is incredibly simple yet largely overlooked. I point towards the innate wellbeing inside each of us and work with my clients to recognise their natural wisdom, resilience, and clarity. People are not broken, and they do not need to be fixed - all we need is to uncover misunderstandings about the way the mind works and how we experience life.

If we work together, my intention will be to listen to you fully and without judgement. There isn’t a technique to master or homework to practice. Together we will explore the nature of thought, and the idea that there is potential for wellbeing irrespective of your circumstances. I have seen clients let go of years of unhelpful thinking, uncover and release rules they didn’t even know they had, and start to enjoy the natural flow of life.

To arrange an initial exploratory conversation with me, free of charge, get in touch at shaziacoaching@gmail.com

SEXUAL HEALTH & EDUCATION OFFICER

IMALE (they/them)

I am a queer Zambian artist and facilitator.

I am passionate about improving the quality of life through practical knowledge and destigmatisation and acceptance of what our cultures have told us is taboo, from sexuality to mental health.

I am keen to explore the various ways we can make room for joy pleasure and intimacy within our bodies and how we can begin to trust and communicate our needs to others. As the sexual health officer and with your presence I hope to create safe spaces to have these sometimes difficult conversations.

The Qpocproject has been an amazing space of connection and community!"

30's+ OFFICER

SEXUAL HEALTH & EDUCATION OFFICER

ASHLEY (she/her)

Growing up in a Black Caribbean household was loving, but, also it took me many years to find my identity and share this with the world. At times this is still the case, but right now I identify as a black masculine presenting Queer Muslim woman.

With all the many aspects of my identity I have found each group only accepted parts of me and never all of me. For many years I hid these parts from those around me while listening to the hate they had for them. Anyone close to me would know my biggest fear is regret. So I made the decision to live as authentically in my skin as I can. Spaces like QPOCPROJECT has and I expect to continue to allow me to not just live authentically but thrive whilst doing so.

Initially joining QPOCPROJECT was about having a safe space to be me and meet other POC who have lived similar experiences. Now I feel it is like joining another family, one that has no barriers or terms and conditions to exist.

As the 30+ officer I hope to help those who may not have had spaces like this growing up to laugh, evolve and help each other live as authentic as we can.

BI+ OFFICER

30's+ OFFICER

BI+ OFFICER

AIDEN (he/she/they)

Despite growing up in London to parents raised in the West, I really struggled to find my place in the world as an Autistic, LGBTQ+ British Born Chinese person who attended majority-white mainstream schools. These all interacted with each other: being both autistic and bi especially made it harder to be the other. This was because of stereotypes surrounding both autism (e.g. autistic people are all asexual) and bisexuality (e.g. you must be equally interested in people of all genders at all times). In reality, I'm an autistic person whose romantic and sexual interest in different genders sometimes shifts dramatically within a short period of time!

As a result of my experiences, I've dropped out of university (thanks long-COVID) and currently work as a freelance public speaker and writer primarily on autism - search 'Aiden Tsen' and you'll definitely find me! I also want to expand my advocacy work to help members of other communities that I'm a part of. So when I heard about the QPOCPROJECT, I had to get in touch and get involved! If anyone's bi/pan, non-binary or mentally or physically disabled and wants a friendly person to chat to, please do feel free to get in touch!

Director of Social Media

AMAAYA (she/her)

My name is Amaaya Nath and I am the social media director for the qpoc project. I grew up in India where being gay was illegal and I had to suppress my identity and when I did I felt like everything about me that made me special was suppressed. So I want to make this a space where people are comfortable and represent this group to empower them. Especially because being a double minority is doubly as hard and intersectionality hasnt been reached. I am always open to new suggestions and new ideas and would love to make this a collaborative community.

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Social Media Team

Poster Creator

COURTNEY (he/him)

I identify as a queer black Bajan and Granadian man, growing up in a predominantly white, small town in Northamptonshire. I have always been a gym fanatic from a young age starting it off as a gymnast. I thoroughly enjoy music from artist like the ear tantalising soulful voices of Aaliyah, Ari, Masego too back-breaking

COURTNEY (he/him)

From my experiences in establishments of a workplace to places of leisure, I have been undoubtedly been subjected to Microaggressions, racism, homophobic abuse and other discriminative behaviour from the young age of 7/8 years old to this present day.

This is what pushes me to ensure this generation and the ones that follow, have a secure community and are aware of such establishment like QPOC Project where we/He. Him. They, She. Her and us as a collective can feel comfortable expressing our authentic selves in a space and not be characterised to a 'TYPE' of People from the white queer/Hetro community (Oppressor).

Having the opportunity to positively contribute through and creating and sharing information as a Poster creator for the QPOC Project and also educate me on matters within our society is just the start of the undoing of these issues within our society.

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Poster Creator

MADDIE (she/her)

Hi there! I’m Maddie, I’m from Hong Kong, and I’m an undergrad at UCL. I’ve always felt that I had to sacrifice my sexuality when thinking about myself as an Asian woman or set aside my race when in a room full of queer people. I’m in the process of breaking down that mindset and am beginning to explore my own intersectionality, and with the QPOCPROJECT, I’m really happy that I won’t be doing this alone. I’m so excited to work on the QPOCPROJECT and meet everyone!

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Journalism

PIPPA (they/she)

JASMYN (they/them)

I grew up in a predominantly white town in the Netherlands, where everyone prided themselves on being open-minded, but very few people actually practiced these values. I hope that the QPOC project can be a healing space where we can share stories and uplift each other.

JASMYN (they/them)

I am a mixed race non-binary lesbian. My dad was raised in a small catholic town in Italy and my mum was raised in a very small religious village in Kenya making the whole coming out experience one of the most difficult things i’ve ever done in my whole life. When i eventually came out to my parents one of my mums first responses to me was that i was spending too much time with white people and that they had influenced me to ‘turn gay’ when in reality that wasn’t the case at all, not even remotely close. I’m tired of queerness being viewed as taboo when it comes to people of colour and something that we should have to hide from people just because of the lack of acceptance we get from outsiders in comparison to white people. I’m ready to make a change and do everything I possibly can to stop any queer person of colour feeling ashamed of their queerness just because of their background.

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