Pictures of some of our speakers

 

Season's greetings!

✨ Season’s Greetings from GPN! ✨ https://gaypronet.blogspot.com/2025/11/thank-you-for-coming-yesterday-and.html
As we reflect on an inspiring year of talks, connections, and community, we’re excited to look ahead.

🌟 Tuesday 27 Jan 2026
We welcome Claire Ebrey to share insights from the Pride in Leadership Report — exploring barriers to LGBTQ+ career progression, intersectionality, and how our lived experiences strengthen leadership.

🎟️ Book now: link.outsavvy.com/claire

Wishing you joy this festive season — and we look forward to seeing you in the new year! 🌈💫

Thank you for coming yesterday and a brief recap of the year, warmest wishes of the Season!

 Dear Members and Guests,

Thank you for joining us yesterday evening—it was a pleasure to see familiar faces and to meet new ones. Your presence and support mean a great deal. The Gay Professional Network exists to connect, inspire, and support you as we learn, grow, and thrive together.

As I often say, we are all connected by just three degrees—someone you know knows someone who can open a door, spark an idea, or offer support.

Yesterday brought us a delightful surprise visit, which I only wish we had had more time to explore together. It added to the spirit of the evening, already enriched by Tony J. Selimi’s thought‑provoking talk. Although longer than anticipated, I could see how engaged everyone was—his insights resonated deeply, and the rapid sell‑out of his books was a testament to that enthusiasm. His latest work, Climb Greater Heights, which I mentioned in my introduction, was generously offered to me as his last copy. My heartfelt thanks to Tony for guiding us with such an inspiring vision of transformation for entrepreneurs, business owners, leaders, and CEOs aspiring to achieve greater success.

I hope you found the talk engaging and the meeting worthwhile, with insights gained and meaningful connections made. To help shape the future of GPN, I’d be grateful for your 30-second anonymous feedback—you can share it [here].

Let’s continue to grow our businesses and networks together. Speaking of growth, I invite you to consider upgrading to Business Membership next year. You can explore the benefits [here].

🌟 As the year draws to a close, I send you all my good wishes for the festive season. December, despite its merry‑go‑round of activity, is also a time to reflect, take stock, and look forward. This year we had the pleasure of hosting many remarkable speakers:

• Dr Steven Sparling on peer‑to‑peer support
  
• Iain Muggoch from Madam F, sharing his wines (and letting us taste them too!)
  
• Dr Paul Taylor from Metamorphosish, presenting his book Still Here! Still Queer! Now What?
  
• Steve Nallon, with ghost story fiction and the gay men who write it
  
• Marc McLane from M&G plc, on global diversity, inclusion, and well‑being
  
• Sue Sander, reflecting on 55 years of Pride, SchoolsOut UK, and LGBT+ History Month
  
• Mark Ward from Haemosexual, courageously highlighting the infected blood scandal affecting thousands
  
• Chris Beale, teaching us how to network effectively
  
• And myself, speaking on the threats of division—including the King’s Army—and how to stand in unity against hate (read more here)
  

We also discussed the importance of allyship in creating belonging and driving business success, the upcoming Gay Games in Valencia 2026 (details here), and The Pride Book (press release here). This year, we were proud to partner with the London Business Show for the second year running, though I remain thoughtful about the exposure it provided.

🎉 Looking ahead, I very much look forward to seeing you again on 27th January 2026, when we welcome Claire Ebrey.

Warmest wishes for the season,

Jean-François Dor
  Founder
Gay Professional Network
jf@gpn.one

www.gpn.one

https://calendly.com/jeanfrancoisdor

From market stall to international brand: The Spice Kitchen journey 🌶️

 How does a simple idea become a global success?

Joining me next on the 'In Conversation' hot seat is Sanjay Aggarwal, Co-Founder and CEO of Spice Kitchen. We'll be discussing how a Christmas Day conversation sparked an international brand now stocked in over 600 UK retailers and exporting to the US.

What you’ll learn:

✅ Practical tips for entering new markets – trade shows, branding, digital platforms
✅ How Spice Kitchen leveraged DBT support to expand internationally
✅ Actionable insights to help UK businesses grow with confidence

📅 Date: Wednesday 3 December
🕒 Duration: 1 hour
📍 Online - Free to attend

Don’t miss this chance to hear Sanjay’s journey from local market stalls to global shelves, and learn how you could follow in his footsteps.

👉 Reserve your spot now

Raj Theper

UK Export Academy Adviser - Department for Business and Trade

Create content that converts overseas

 Your UK content won't land the same way in Canada, Croatia & China, and that's the opportunity. The brands that scale fastest abroad don't shout louder; they sound local.

Join us on Wednesday 26 November, 10:00 - 11:00 for a free, live webinar: Top tips on content creation for an international audience.

What you'll learn:

• How to identify the preferences of different regional audiences to lift engagement and sales
• Techniques for creating tailored content that resonates across markets and builds brand loyalty
• The best tools and platforms to streamline personalised content creation and distribution across borders  

👉 Ready to make your conten travel further? Book your place now, spaces are limited.

This webinar is part of: Strategic Horizons in Export: Running over the course of a year, SHE is a bespoke webinar series for women entrepreneurs and leaders of small businesses in the digital economy, where you'll learn how to scale your digital business globally from leading experts.

We hope to see you online on 26 November.

Department for Business and Trade

UK Export Academy Team

'Pride, Passengers and Personnel': Collecting LGBTQ+ Experiences in and on London Transport in the 1970s and 1980s.

  https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/projects/pride-passengers-and-personnel

Support - Parents from the LGBTQIA+ Community Experiences of Health Visiting Services