Looking back and reflecting on what we've achieved, the projects we've delivered, the events we've held, and most importantly, the impact that we've had over the course of the last year as a team, collective, and organisation.
At We Create Space, it's Our Mission to equip our clients and communities with new tools and practices for Inclusion, Leadership, and Wellbeing. As a queer-led social-enterprise, profits made from the work we do with corporations are reinvested back into the community; providing free events, well-being solutions, resources and support to our wider global queer network.
At the start of this year we set out our WCS 2024 Community Action Plan, based on our WCS 2023/24 Community Survey. We asked respondents what they wanted to see from We Create Space in 2024. We continued to survey our community throughout the year to monitor our progress but today we wanted to revisit how we’ve achieved those original goals. So much of the work we do is 'behind-the-scenes', so our team has put together this review highlighting just some of what we have all accomplished as a collective over the last 12 months.
1. We organised more FREE in-person and online events for the community than ever before.
This year we again expanded our in-person programming, bringing We Create Space to venues in London, Brighton, Barcelona, Madrid, Sofia and Amsterdam for a total of:
108 free community events
83 in person & 25 online
96% felt their voice represented
98% felt safe attending our events
91% felt a sense of community
95% would recommend WCS
“Every event I've joined has felt so welcoming, safe and powerful. They are really well planned and consider lots of different intersectional perspectives, which feels really valuable." - Feedback from our 2024 Half Year Community Survey.
From insightful panel discussions on The Power of Queer Leadership to wellbeing classes, hikes and networking events, we've created meaningful opportunities for the international Queer Community to learn, forge new connections and pursue personal growth.
This year our programming has increasingly focused on the importance of creating space for different intersectional communities under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella to come together, discuss common challenges and share knowledge.
We launched our Queer Women in Business meet-ups, which have provided a unique opportunity for Queer women to forge intergenerational support networks and source career advice.
Our DEI Business Community Socials brought DEI leaders in London together to enjoy inspirational talks from guest speakers, network and swap best practices.
Throughout the year we’ve held The Mid-Life Queers conversation series in collaboration with Dr Paul Taylor-Pitt, exploring a range of topics through the lens of the middle aged Queer experience.
After great success in Barcelona, we expanded our Queer Speed Networking event series to London and even created an online version, allowing even more members of our community to connect with other likeminded LGBTQ+ people.
We’ve also worked hard to support the mental health of LGBTQ+ people, both through Queer Wellbeing classes, Queer Hikes and our A Space for Dialogue online events series. The latter has allowed WCS community members across the world to connect with each other on pressing global issues like racial violence, war & genocide, trans rights and anxiety after the US election.
If you would like to see what events we have coming up, check out our Events Page. Don't forget to sign up to Our Newsletter to stay up-to-date with the latest information.
“This is the first time I’ve ever been to a business event exclusively for queer women. I really enjoyed the opportunity to come together and hear about other’s tactics for self-care." - Feedback from a Queer Women in Business Meet Up.
2. We launched our own FREE online community learning platform and social hub, WCS | Campus.
This year we launched WCS | Campus, our new digital space where you can connect with other like-minded people from our community - engaging in meaningful discussions, workshops, and events - at a global and local level.
Over the course of the year we’ve been working with our community to shape the platform, and we’re thrilled to announce that we’ve achieved our goal of reaching 1000 members in our first year of WCS | Campus!
“We Create Space has been an invaluable resource to Omnicom Group and has provided thoughtful and powerful insight to programming across our global network.” - David Azulay, Omnicom OPEN Pride LGBTQ+ ERG Global Co-Chair
3. We hosted dozens of FREE learning and leadership development opportunities for our global community.
This year we further explored online and in-person programming that aimed to expand our participant’s horizons and help them develop into the next generation of Queer Leaders. We held three in-person Queering Leadership masterclasses in Barcelona: Growing your Influence and Impact, Activism Through Creative Writing and Goal setting for Visionary Leadership.
Off the back of these masterclasses we launched Become the Vision, a 10-week online programme facilitated by WCS Programme Director Ora Özer, designed to empower Queer Leaders at every level with the tools and insights needed to create their most daring and innovative visions of change. Throughout the programme participants were invited to apply a diverse range of holistic tools, drawing from Western psychology and science, ancient wisdom traditions, spirituality, philosophy, quantum physics, and ancestral knowledge.
"Become the Vision added some much-needed electric energy to my ongoing efforts at self-transformation. Ora is ordained in this work, and I blossomed under her gentle care. This course was accessible, intimate, vulnerable and still rigorous; and the community I built and lessons I learned will be with me as a journey forward." - Participant feedback from 'Become the Vision'
Queer individuals and allies from across the globe also tuned in for our Queer Living Webinar Series, where we facilitated insightful conversation on a range of LGBTQ+ lifestyle topics.
Average audience rating 9.3/10
We explored:
Queerness, Employment & Careers.
Queerness & Chosen Families.
You can find recordings of each of these sessions and more on our Youtube.
“Really informative and educating content about a topic that is often misled in the media. Both Coda and Eva were subject matter experts and clearly knew what they were talking about.” - Feedback from 'Queer Living' webinar series
4. We celebrated achievements of Queer Leaders with the first WCS Awards and WCS Pride Gala.
This year's WCS | Awards celebrated a diverse range of LGBTQ+ change-makers across Spain who use their platforms, profile and roles to drive change. At our WCS Pride Gala we awarded these 39 Queer Leaders working across the arts, activism, politics and the corporate sector to make the world a more inclusive place for all LGBTQ+ people, amplifying their achievements to a wider audience.
I really enjoyed the opportunity to listen and reflect deeply about the things I can do as an individual to be a better ally rather than wait for my organisation to make institutional change. - Participant feedback from WCS x Unicef: Creating Safe Spaces & Cultivating Compassion
5. We developed our internal team and global speaker collective.
2024 has been another rollercoaster year for our team, as we have navigated the evolving DEI landscape and adapted to the evolving needs of the business. We built out a new WCS Global Advisory Board, improved internal processes, and provided better support to our growing WCS Leadership Collective of 300+ speakers.
This year we have onboarded over 60 new speakers, further diversifying the range of experiences and identities represented under the collective and allowing us to bring even more fresh and nuanced perspectives into our work with clients.
We also launched our Queer Journeys film series, which follows the personal stories of members of our speaker collective, depicting the nuance and diversity that makes up the LGBTQ+ community,
6. We supported the inclusion, leadership and wellbeing journeys of our community members with FREE educational content.
This year we launched our first FREE online course “LGBTQ+ Inclusion” via WCS | Courses! This e-learning programme is designed to help you deepen your knowledge and understanding of LGBTQIA+ identities, experiences and allyship, through informative video lessons and interviews with WCS Community members.
65,000 views of our website content
18.6k followers on IG
7.5k on Linkedin
91% found our content valuable on their person learning journey
93% said we offer something their workplace doesn't
"My company offers generic DEI training but there is nothing this detailed or specific. The fact it's been created through an intersectional community lens makes this even more powerful. - Feedback from LGBTQ+ Inclusion Course
We also expanded our educational offering by launching the WCS | Reports series, where we explore key issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion in greater depth. Our qualitative research study “DEI Insights & Trends in 2025” shared first-hand insights from DEI practitioners on the industry’s most pressing issues heading into 2025.
We created 54 new articles, bringing together members of our global collective and in-house team to share nuanced perspectives on everything from intra-community allyship and ERG collaboration to Queer migration, nonbinaryphobia and QTIPOC mental health.
Here is some of our most popular content from 2023:
Click here to explore our full content library.
7. We expanded our global corporate partner networks and culture-change consultancy services.
At WCS we are passionate about provoking change in the corporate world so LGBTQ+ people can bring them full selves to work, enjoying fulfilling careers unencumbered by prejudice or discrimination. We do this by providing a range of services and product that support businesses with building and growing their own internal communities, including:
All delivered through our bespoke Event Packages and Annual Memberships.
In 2024 we built trust with our growing client base representing industries from tech to law to manufacturing to advertising and many more. We’re proud to say that we received conisitently high satisfaction based on results from our client feedback survey!
100 corporate events
94% in client satisfaction
We’ve worked on a range of projects this year, such as partnering with Coventry City Council to design and deliver a 6 month training programme for LGBTQ+ leaders, which gained a 100% satisfaction rate from participants.
We expanded our partnerships with companies like Google, where we delivered an events strategy targeting their large Latin American employee population living in EMEA. We've explored topics like Diversity in Latinidad, LGBTQ+ migration, mental health stigma and family dynamics - all through the lens of Latin experience.
We conducted training programmes in German, French, Spanish for clients like Merck and JTI, including a Microaggression Training Programme for 1300 employees in one country. Our work included department specific consultancy and toolkit development on topics like Inclusive Marketing and Managing Mental Health of Social Media Managers. With our support Entain relaunched and grew their ERG. Our partnership with Omnicom continued to deepen as we expanded programming across multiple employee resource groups.
“Since end of May when the WCS Pride Season comms plan was launched, the BeYou Network Members increase was 35% and the Allies 22.5%" - Feedback from Entain
8. We worked with a range of amazing partners to further our mission of creating a more inclusive world for LGBTQ+ people.
This year we continued working with existing location partners like The Cover, Soho House, The Social Hub, WeWork and Mama Shelter as well as fostering new relationships with LabTwentyTwo, The BoTree, Sarana Wellness Centre, Kitchen59 and EL7.
We had the pleasure of sharing our mission further at events like The Festival of Consciousness, Work in Barcelona! Job Fair and Out in Tech’s wellbeing event “Managing My Mental Health”. Working in partnership with Vistaprint, we were able to make our inaugural Pride Gala a premium experience, setting a new standard for inclusive and inspiring galas.
"When we discovered We Create Space, we were impressed not only by the breadth of services they offered but also by the kindness, vulnerability, and genuine care they showed from the start. The team at We Create Space has consistently been knowledgeable, flexible, and a true partner in supporting our initiatives. - Kosta Christodoulou, President of Pride of WeWork ERG
During our WCS | Awards Campaign and Pride Gala we were also able to raise money for two charities: ACATHI and Doctors Without Borders. At our Queer Speed Networking events in Barcelona we have partnered with a range of Spanish NGOs such as Barcelona Queer Squad, Les Girls, International Lesbians Barcelona and Pride Toastmaster, inviting representatives for each organisation to speak and connect with our community to foster greater visibility for their own initiatives.
9. We invested back into the community through creating even more paid work opportunities for our global speaker collective.
One of the most fulfilling parts of our work as a non-profit organisation is that we are able to provide members of our LGBTQ+ Community and WCS Leadership Collective paid work opportunities. This year we have created more work opportunities and employed more queer people than ever before. We also passed a major milestone - £1m of reinvestment in the LGBTQ+ community since 2020.
We want to extend a huge thank you to everyone who has worked with us this year, whether you're a client, team member or part of our wider community. We couldn't do what we do without your continued support and passion! 2024 has been a transformative year for We Create Space and we are so excited to continue this journey with you all into 2025.
Have a restful festive period, and we will see you again in 2025!
While you're here...
Did you know we consult with Businesses, ERGs and Change-Leaders providing bespoke corporate solutions? Through consultancy we design shared learning experiences, produce DEI insights and craft bespoke content that support individuals with strengthening their roles as change-agents within their communities and organisations. Find out more here.
We also organise FREE community events throughout the year! We offer a variety of ways to get involved - both online and in person. This is a great way to network and learn more about others' experiences, through in-depth discussion on an array of topics. You can find out what events we have coming up here. New ones are added all the time, so make sure you sign up to our newsletters so you can stay up to date!
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