Professional Speaker | Blogger | Mentor Diversity & Inclusion Consultant | Actor 

[Summary – 85 words]

Joanne is the First Openly Transgender Past National President of the 90-year-old “Men’s Club”, The Round Table.

Taking the decision in 2016 to embark on her personal re-brand, she sold her IT Services business and transitions at the beginning of 2017.

As part of her rebirth she founded SEE Change Happen in Portsmouth, a Diversity and Inclusion Practice specialising in supporting Transgender inclusion to businesses and other organisations.  She is also a keynote speaker and talks about her journey in a very open, passionate but light-hearted way.

[Full – 488 words]

Joanne is the First Openly Transgender Past National President of the 90 year old “Men’s Club”, The Round Table.

She joined the Royal Air Force straight from school as an electronics apprentice before moving back in to Civilian life and developing her own self-taught career in computer networking.  Joanne worked for a well known International Private Bank and traveled the world deploying computer systems to some pretty far out and exotic places.

As her young family started to grow up, she decided it was important to spend more time with them and set up her first IT Support business in Hampshire in the late 90s.

Throughout a number of business iterations, she worked on a number of high profile projects including two Cable TV startups and deployment of systems to call centers around the UK for a large Insurance Company. At the peak, Joanne’s business turned over £3m and employed 25 staff.

Joanne spent 18 years as a Round Tabler, involved with the community and various fund raising activities, this culminated in her becoming the National President in 2008. This role involved meeting with Members and Clubs throughout the UK and Worldwide, supporting and promoting the organisation. It gave Joanne the opportunity talk at After Dinner and Keynote Speaking events and fundraisers.

Joanne speaks openly about the challenges she has overcome during her life and recent journey whilst maintaining her 30 year marriage, family relationships, and close friends.

Having spent the majority of her adult life significantly overweight, she also uncovers the strategies she used to loose and sustain a drop of third of her body weight, and how she managed to complete the Portsmouth Great South Run in 2008 and in 2016, 8 years apart and 8 stone lighter.

She is a Trustee and NED of three high profile charities, and is focusing her energy to inspire others to escape from the cage that is holding them back, to learn how to smile, to overcome their own impostor syndrome and to tackle their fears.

Joanne has an authentic and engaging personality, a breadth of life experiences and is passionate about promoting equality, diversity and inclusion.  Her talks are about her own experiences in life and business, and how she has overcome the prejudices she has faced.  She explores her own mental chains and fears that once held her back from becoming the person she is today.

She has inspired many others with her journey, her reinvention and her recent weight loss, using the mantra “Smile, Engage and Educate” – with some of her unique perspectives, insights and strategies you will learn how to achieve your own goals, escape your cage and make the difference to your own life that you wish to achieve.

In 2017 she founded SEE Change Happen, a ED&I Practice focusing on LGBT+ and more specifically Transgender support to organisations and business.

She is an avid blogger and works tirelessly to support others, especially in the transgender community.

You will even learn how to smile!