After graduating with a degree in Events Management and Marketing, I spent my 20s doing lots of different things - from working in tourism, sales and marketing to a short stint working freelance in TV production, including Outlander. I also gained experience in the third sector when working for a youth sailing charity and eventually decided the charity sector suited me best in terms of wanting to give back.
I’d heard of LGBT Youth Scotland and it really resonated with me. The work they do means a lot to me because growing up as a teenager, I wished there had been something like LGBT Youth Scotland to help me get through my coming out. Figuring out who you are as a young person is confusing enough in itself, but if you don't have the role models and community who accept you and love you for who you are, it can be especially hard. I grew up in a Baptist church in Southern Germany and falling in love with a girl for the first time at the tender age of 14 was exciting but also conflicting and confusing. We were told it was a sin and we needed to be "fixed". It was particularly tough not having anyone to talk to at the time and I was lucky to have got through it.
A few years later, I went to a youth work camp in Belgium where I met a girl who was doing a gap year there from Scotland. We fell in love and on a quest for safety and an instinct for survival, I moved to Glasgow to be with her shortly after turning 19. Everyone I met in Glasgow was so warm, welcoming and so open-minded. I could be out and gay and happy. It really felt like coming home. I fell in love with the city - and Scotland. People really do make Glasgow and almost 16 years on, I am still here and loving it.
