Phyllis Akua Opoku-Gyimah (born November 1974), also known as Lady Phyll, is a pioneer of increased visibility and advocacy for Queer, Trans and Intersex People of Colour (QTIPOC) in the UK and beyond. One of her landmark achievements is as the co-founder and director of Black Pride, the first event of its kind in Europe celebrating LGBTQ people of African, Asian, Caribbean, Middle Eastern and Latin American descent. 

She is a trustee at Stonewall, sits on the Trade Union Congress (TUC) race relations committee, and has been honoured with numerous awards, however in 2016 she publicly refused a Member of the British Empire award (MBE).  

According to Lady Phyll activism is less of a choice for her and more of a birth right: “Some of us are born with a nagging, persistent and stubborn feeling that we are part of the solution, and I’m one of those people…I decided to follow my gut and engage with the work, but it often feels bigger than me. My lineage, like that of much of the diaspora, is one of fighters, agitators and activists. I have inherited a strength that I think would be hubristic to call my own.”

Thank you to the Pride Society and Kit Lashmar for supplying the profiles. Head over to their Instagram to see more profiles being published through out October.