Helen Choudhury

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“Hi, I’m Helen Choudhury and I work for the MPA as their Head of Diversity, Equality & Inclusion. I have a legal background in public law and human rights. I went into DEI by ‘accident’ and ended up working in global EDI for over 20 years. Working for various organisations, I have learned what works well and what doesn’t. I have also witnessed many positive changes throughout my career but there is still a lot to do. I believe that we all have something to contribute to DEI, regardless of our backgrounds and that nobody should be left out of the conversation. What I enjoy most is bringing people together through shared experiences, education, understanding and raising greater awareness about topics that can impact them directly or indirectly.

The M3 Employee Network is very important to me, it has been created from my personal experience of living with two chronic, debilitating and progressive gynaecological diseases known as endometriosis and adenomyosis. I am also perimenopausal. These experiences and the extensive research I had done around them made me realise that an Employee Network and Guidance for employees and managers could help create more supportive workplaces. I spent some part of my working life pretending these issues didn’t impact me, smiling and delivering work whilst in chronic pain. I didn’t know if this was something I could discuss with my colleagues or manager, or whether doing so would affect my career progression. I want others to have the tools they need to ensure they don’t have to do this too. I hope that by sharing my experience, I can help others open up and share their personal stories too.”