Divido celebrates Pride 2022 – so, what does this event mean to our People?

Written by Marketing Team

June 1, 2022

Diversity and Inclusion is important to all of us at Divido. That’s why we are working hard in 2022 to become a more inclusive place to work.

To that end, we recently launched ‘Divido and Conquer’, an internal initiative to support underrepresented students entering the legal profession.

We are now endeavouring to go further in supporting people from all backgrounds, helping them feel secure, included and comfortable bringing their whole selves to work at Divido.

One way we approached this recently was to show our support for London Pride, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2022. As a company, we entered a ballot to take part in this year’s parade.

Unfortunately, we weren’t successful in winning a place – but we weren’t going to let that stop us, and so pushed forward in our endeavour to show our support to the LBGTQI+ community.

Taking up the mantle, Prakash Marwal, our D&I lead, along with the help of Siobhan Ward of the Divido People Team, helped to organise Divido’s inaugural rooftop Pride party at our office in London.

As the photos attest, it was a fantastic night – one that we hope testifies to Divido’s awesome and inclusive culture.

And while our People celebrated the night away, we took the chance to ask them an important question: “What does Pride mean to you?”

Here are a few of the responses we received:

“Pride is about being proud and happy of who you are, whatever that may be. It’s about being accepting of others and yourself.” —Victoria

“Pride means being your authentic self. It is about acceptance, embracing others and yourself. One month of Pride celebrations gives courage and motivation to thousands of young and old people across the world, to accept and love themselves for who they are and to be proud. It is an opportunity for people to treat humans as humans.” — Prakash

“Celebrating love!” – Dimitri

“Acceptance for who you are. Diversity. Working together. Respect!” —Anonymous

“Pride is a message to the world to wake up and see that we’re all an important part of society despite our differences. It’s a beam of hope for those who are struggling, to know they are not alone. It’s a symbol of resilience converted into a celebration of joy.” —Lizet

“Celebrating differences and reminding us that we are still a long way away from levelling the playing field.” —Anonymous

“Pride is about fighting for our universal right to be whoever we want to be, and to love whoever we want to love. Pride is a protest against anyone who feels they have the right to dictate how others should live their lives, so when we celebrate Pride, we’re not just having a good time, we’re showing the world we support everyone’s right to be whoever they want to be, safe from prejudice and discrimination.” —Jonjo

“To me, pride is about resilience, recognising those who have fought to be unapologetically themselves, to love whoever they love without judgement and stigma. Pride is acknowledging and celebrating acceptance, equality, and uniqueness for all” – Siobhan

“Respecting people” —Anonymous

“Pride, to me, is about acceptance, awareness and inclusion. It’s more than just changing a logo or posting on social media. It’s about showing support every day, standing up for your values, and creating a safe space for people to be themselves. It takes a lot of courage to be your true self. And that should be celebrated.” —Nathan

“Pride is a reminder that who you are is how it should be, and that’s perfect!” —Nuno

“Diversity and inclusion is really important to us at Divido, and we’re working hard to ensure our workplace is an open and inclusive environment to people from all walks of life. Our Pride celebration was an excellent opportunity to engage with the team and demonstrate our commitment to diversity and inclusion. But, more importantly, it was also a really fun evening and a great way to kick off Pride Month!” —Todd Latham, CEO

Resources

If you would like to learn more about Pride, and discover some of the ways you can become a better ally to LGBTQI+ employees, we’ve compiled a list of useful resources below:

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