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Max Siegel
When asked what he does for a living, Max Siegel, the Director of Trans& and content creator @TheyreQueer, defines himself as a “Career Queer”. After spending years in partnerships and marketing, Max began sharing his own story of gender transition on social media and as a speaker, aiming to cut through the misinformation and misunderstandings around Trans and LGBTQ+ people. Today he speaks and consults for organisations all over the world to help them better understand, support and celebrate LGBTQ+ team members and customers.
About Max Siegel
Specialising in the “why before the what” when it comes to LGBTQ+ inclusion, Max uses an approach of honesty, vulnerability and lived experience to allow his audiences to understand how it feels to be an LGBTQ+ person in the world today. As well as discussing the importance of recognising and supporting the growing number of LGBTQ+ people in the workforce today, Max also covers the real business value of inclusion both internally and externally.
Always sticking to his key values of positive representation and authenticity, Max shares his own life and experiences online to show that Trans joy is both real and possible. Taking the same approach with clients, Max always begins his work with a reminder that is always okay to get things wrong if you’re happy to learn and be corrected. His sessions aim to help everyone feel comfortable, curious and empowered to create a more inclusive environment for LGBTQ+ people.
As well as LGBTQ+ topics, Max also speaks and consults on neurodiversity, content creation, sobriety and online abuse. When he’s not working, you can usually find him on a beach with his fiancé Lori and whippet Twiglet (star of #TwigletFriday on LinkedIn).
Trans In Real Life: Lived Experience with Max Siegel
An intensely personal fireside chat where Max runs us through the timeline of his transition against a backdrop of the realities of being Trans in the world today.
We’ll talk about his experiences of coming out, surgery, hormones and navigating the world as a trans person. Max will also discuss tips on being a trans ally, using pronouns and how organisations can be more trans inclusive.
LGBTQ 101: The Importance of Pride Month
This session uses a combination of history, up to the minute world events and lived experiences to give context and understanding to the existence and celebration of Pride month. We’ll explore the LGBTQ+ timeline with a lens of understanding current legal and social attitudes globally, and discuss the importance and power of corporate activism.
How to Run Pride Marketing Campaigns Which Don’t Suck
It’s the time of year where brands start thinking about their Pride campaigns for the following year. In this session, Max will cover 5 key elements of a great LGBTQ+ pride campaign. This session will ensure that you can avoid the rainbow-washing accusations, make authentic impact and contact with the community.
Understanding & Creating LGBTQ Psychological Safety
We’ll explore the LGBTQ+ timeline with a lens of understanding current legal and social attitudes globally, and discuss the importance and power of corporate activism and inclusion. Max will also introduce his own journey and experiences as a transgender man to give context to the session.
Understanding the importance of culture and communication as a base for inclusion and equity.
Key areas of structural and policy changes, with best practice examples.
Trans & Employed: Why do we need to be talking about Trans inclusion in the workplace?
Designed to give context to conversations about pronouns and gender neutral bathrooms, this session gives the “why” before the “what” when it comes to gender diversity at work.
Trans in Tech: Access & Responsibility
A custom session looking at the role the tech industry plays in trans inclusion and empowerment, both via their workforce and their external influence.
Trans parenting & families: In their own words
A fireside chat between Max and non-binary activist and parent Marlowe (instagram.com/thenonbinaryparent) using their experiences to discuss speaking to children about trans people and gender identity.
Masculinity & men’s mental health: Learnings from the Transmasculine experience
An intimate session exploring the perspectives that transition can give on masculinity and mental health. This session will explore how being perceived as male changes both external and internal perceptions, in the context of mental health, gender equality and employment.
Online Abuse: The Reality & The Future
Addressing online abuse and trolling from the perspective of a Trans man on the internet. This session will share lived experiences of existing openly online, discussing how to deal with safety issues and what we can do to help.
Corporate Queerness & Activism
A dually retrospective and forward thinking session, addressing where LGBTQ+ inclusion in the workplace has brought us to, and where it needs to go from here.
Testimonials
"Max came to the University of Oxford, Saïd Business School, on 22nd February 2023, as the invited keynote speaker for the University’s Annual LGBT History month lecture. Max’s lecture ‘A personal story of transition’ was delivered to a packed lecture room with a wide online audience. He spoke eloquently about trans history, his own lived experiences and the specific challenges and persecution which the community is unjustly facing today, and how individuals and organisations can step up and take action to address transphobia. Max was incredibly engaging, authentic and absolutely lovely to work with, I look forward to future collaborations!"
Head of Diversity & Inclusion - Saïd Business School
"The most significant work Max has collaboratively driven with our team, was our LGBTQ+ Internal Panel, where we invited internal speakers to participate, discuss and bring awareness to this specific topic... With that, we invited Max to be our guest and host for the session. Max was incredibly proactive and provided support and comfort to our internal panellists, but also went above and beyond to extend support to not just myself, but also the executive team and sponsors."
Global Director, Learning & Development, Diversity & Inclusion - Clarks
"Max is widely recognised as a trusted expert who wants to help companies to understand and welcome LGBTQIA+ people as employees, service users and customers. They did a fantastic session for us as part of Pride Month where they shared very valuable insights from their personal experience. We got so much positive feedback from our employees about how safe and seen Max made them feel. Also about how included, they felt by us inviting Max in to share and inspire us. They are a great speaker."
Inclusion & Diversity Director - Alexander McQueen
