Black History Month at British Land
Although we may be coming to the end of our activities for Black History Month in the UK, we’re proud to share the events our REACH Committee (Race, Equality and Celebrating Heritage) and Community teams have hosted with powerful Black public speakers throughout the month.
We started the month of with a virtual talk hosted by REACH with Olympic bronze medal-winning sprinter Desiree Henry, who spoke about her experience of racial discrimination in sport and bouncing back from adversity. While she didn’t make the 2020 Tokyo games, she taught us what it takes to build resilience and have the mindset of a world class athlete and how to overcome obstacles. She even made a surprise appearance at our social and participated in karaoke and the crowd pleaser ‘candy’ dance.
It was a pleasure to host an in-person event with Nova Reid at Storey Club at Paddington Central in celebration of her new book ‘The Good Ally’, which focuses on themes of allyship, anti-racism and accountability. A fantastic event held with a mixture of British Land staff and customers and local community groups in attendance. We had the fabulous June Sarpong OBE British Television presenter and Director of Creative Diversity for the BBC, host the evening and our CEO Simon Carter provided the welcome speaking about why events like Nova Reid’s, the work of REACH and diversity is important to British Land.
"Thank you to everyone who came and made this a sold out event, to British Land for leaning in, inviting me to celebrate Black History Month with you all, celebrating my book and being such wonderful hosts!"
@novareidofficial on Instagram
We continued the month with another virtual event. This time REACH partnered with our Women’s Network for a storytelling event with Melanie Eusebe MBE, an award-winning business strategist and founder and chair of the Black British Business Awards. Her own experience as a young Black professional informed and guided the direction of the session.
Lastly, REACH sponsored tickets for staff to attend Nouveau Riche’s FOR BLACK BOYS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE WHEN THE HUE GETS TOO HEAVY by Ryan Calais Cameron. A new theatre production at the New Diorama Theatre, Regent’s Place – continuing with our support of our communities.
We are grateful for the work of REACH in facilitating many of these events for our colleagues and recognise the vital importance of hosting conversations around active allyship to the Black community – throughout Black History Month and beyond.
Visit our website for more on our culture and values: https://bit.ly/2Zr0VBO