Laura Stupple is a 28 yo queer trans woman based in PwC’s Leeds office. Her day job is project management based planning / scheduling in PwC’s Government and Public Sector business. She lived in the US for 10 years in her earlier life and joined PWC in 2014.

Laura started her transition and coming out journey in 2015. She describes this time as a point in her personal life where she wanted to begin transitioning, and to make sure that her true identity was in every part of her life. Her journey with transition at work started with conversations with her career coach and HR. She is very clear about how she has been in complete control throughout the journey – and through her experiences was even able to contribute to corporate policies relating to transition.

In July 2016 and as she was about to go on holiday, Laura sent a formal email to her contacts and colleagues to let them know about her transition. She describes her experience of the response as overwhelmingly positive with over 30 replies (by the time she got to the airport) from people letting her know how much they looked forward to welcoming her back.

Since then, Laura continues to be a driving force in our Shine (LGBTQI+) network, and for the betterment of society. She has taken numerous active roles in PwC and society such as speaking in panel talks, facilitating with Mermaids at residential camps to support trans kids and their families, as well as at coming out day, trans awareness weeks, pride.

Recently, Laura has taken on the role Co-Chair for the Gender Diversity group in Shine. This will involve Laura further developing safe spaces for gender diverse and questioning people in PwC to explore their true selves.

All of Laura’s work comes from a position of experience, and wanting to make a difference. She says “if I could have seen someone in a position that I’m in now, to help people understand how supportive the firm can be, then it would have helped me immensely. I am proud to use my position and experience to make sure PwC continues to be such a force for good”.