Amplifying LGBTQIA+ Inclusion in the Workplace and Society

Join us for a discussion on Amplifying LGBTQIA+ Inclusion in the Workplace and Society with Bree Fram on April 25 at 17.00 at Telenor Fornebu

Diversify, in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy Oslo is organising an event to discuss and amplify inclusion of the LGBTQIA+ community in the workplace and society. Our featured speaker is Bree Fram, a renowned American trans woman serving as an active duty lieutenant colonel and astronautical engineer in the United States Space Force. Read more about her below.

Our partners for this event are Telenor and DNB.

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This event is open to all. It is a hybrid event so you can join us in-person at Telenor Fornebu or digitally. The link will be sent to you on registration.

It is free to attend! Tickets available on a first come first served basis so book your spot now! Snacks and light refreshments included.

Location: Telenor Fornebu

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Speakers:

Bree Fram (She/Her)

Bree Fram is an active duty lieutenant colonel and astronautical engineer in the United States Space Force. She is also the President of SPARTA, a non-profit that advocates and educates about transgender military service and is dedicated to the support and professional development of over 1600 transgender service members. Bree is also a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ Diversity Working Group and develops programming to increase diverse representation in STEM and aerospace.
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​Bree is currently stationed at the Pentagon to lead space acquisition policy development for the Department of the Air Force. Prior to recommissioning into the Space Force in 2021, she served 18 years in a wide variety of Air Force positions including a Research and Development command position and an oversight role for all Air Force security cooperation activity with Iraq. In earlier assignments, Bree served in the Air Force Directorate of Strategic Plans, as a Legislative Fellow at the US Capitol on the staff of Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo, several tours as a program manager for satellite and technology programs, and deployed to Qatar and Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

​Bree came out publicly as transgender on the day the transgender ban in the military was dropped in 2016. She transitioned while in a command position and served through the re-imposition of a transgender ban from 2019-2021. She is currently one of the highest ranking out transgender officers in the United States military.

Bree has appeared on national and international media, including ABC and NBC Nightly news, France 24, BBC, PBS News Hour, and NPR’s All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and 1A. Her writing has been featured in the Washington Post, Military Times, Inkstick, and LGBTQ Nation.

Bree is an editor of With Honor and Integrity: Transgender Troops in Their Own Words from NYU press which released in November 2021 and an author of Forged in Fire: From Discrimination to Leadership in the LGBTQ+ Community, a forthcoming work on LGBTQ+ Leadership Development from Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
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Bree has been married for 18 years to Peg Fram and they have two kids.

Chisom Udeze (She/Her)

Chisom is an Economist, a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) Strategist, and a 3 times founder of impact driven companies. She has over 14 years of experience working with organizations like the European Commission, The United Nations, ExxonMobil and The Economist Group. Chisom is analytical and a data enthusiast. She is passionate about interrogating the cross-sectoral relationship between society’s inhabitants, resources, production, technology, distribution and output. She efficiently and effectively unlocks complex systems, interprets data, forecasts socio-economic trends and conducts research.

Having lived and worked in 7 countries across 3 continents, she is highly adaptable to different circumstances and people, and thrives in uncertain environments.

As the founder of Diversify and Diversify Consult, Chisom and her team work with companies, institutions, governments and civil society to develop sustainable DEIB strategies and embed measurable diversity and inclusion initiatives in the workplace and society. In addition, in 2022, Diversify launched the Diversify Nordics Summit, the largest conference in the Nordics that gathers cross-sectoral stakeholders to amplify DEIB in the Nordics and beyond.

In 2020, she founded HerSpace, a diverse and inclusive co-creation community for all genders, with particular focus on women and non-binary people. In 2022, HerSpace launched HerTech, Women in Tech incubator, for women-led companies, with a focus on the inclusion of diverse founders. 

Chisom is a thought-leader in DEIB and a passionate advocate for mental health and wellness. She writes often on DEIB and justice related topics, some of her work is published on Forbes. 

Chris Hovde (He/Him)

Chris Hovde, is an urban monk who is passionate about his purpose to make people and robots fight together for a more thriving world. His core values is to live regenerative, equal and authentic.

He has broad business experience from various leadership positions and HR in large international companies such as Telia, IKEA and Varner Group, as well as the former CEO of an Oslo based healthcare clinic called Balder. He has been nominated for a number of awards for for his work within digitalization, leadership and inclusion.

He is currently working as Leadership and Culture Lead at Telia Company, Chairman of the Board of Future Leaders Global, Made to Grow and Hagegata 31, he is the founder of Regenerative Monks and host of the videocast A regenerative future.

Miriam Hardarson (She/Her)

Miriam is a trans woman, a mother of two children, a leader, and an activist for LGBT rights. At the consulting firm Sopra Steria, she is a director and part of a management team responsible for over 1.000 consultants and technology experts. She is also the leader of the company’s LGBT+ network across Scandinavia and involved in many initiatives centered around diversity and inclusion. She transitioned in 2021 and has quickly become a trailblazer for trans rights and trans representation in Norway.

Miriam has been featured in national business news and national television because of her openness and approach to using the workplace as a safe space for galvanizing her gender expression while building the courage to transition. She has also been featured in documentaries, interviews, and podcasts, and has inspired organizations in Norway by telling her story.

In 2022, she enabled Sopra Steria to be the first company in Norway to guarantee paid welfare for absences due to gender-affirming care for all transgender employees. As a result, Sopra Steria became the only private company to be invited to engage with government officials to create a more including society for LGBT+ individuals in Norway.

Lisa Esohel Knudsen (she/her)

Lisa is the deputy director for the Norwegian think tank Minotenk, where she focuses on tackling racism, discrimination, and hate speech. In 2022 Lisa’s book “It’s personal: On racism and free speech” was published. It explores identity politics and the need for anti-racism in Norway. Lisa studied comparative politics at the University of Bergen and graduated from Waterford Kamhlaba United World College of Southern Africa.

Christine Marie Jentoft (She/Her)

Christine Marie Jentoft (She/Her) is a long time Norwegian queer rights activist, with a heavy focus on the situation for trans people.

She currently works as an advisor on gender diversity for the The Norwegian Organization for Sexual and Gender Diversity. Winner of several awards, among them the Honor Award handed out by the The Patient Organization for Gender Incongruence in 2022 and most recently she won the «This Years Queer Role Model» award given out at Regnbuegalla 2023. Comfortable with both the stage, screen and radio she has been visible in different parts of the world over the last 10 years. Mostly voluntarily and sometimes involuntary due to backlash from the antigender-movement.

She has also dabbled in stand-up and currently runs Rainb0w Glitter, a queer gaming network, in her spare time.

Christina Endresen (She/Her)

Christina Endresen is an esteemed and accomplished leader, with experience as a manager and director for several large companies within tech, energy and telecoms. She is currently the CEO of Telenor Nordic Towers, one of the leading companies facilitating digital infrastructure in the Nordic region.

With her management background from both Hafslund (energy), Riks TV (Broadcast Media Production and Distribution) and Telenor (telecoms), one of Christina’s greatest leadership skills (and passions!) is creating agile teams, deeply founded on culture, dialogue, collaboration, and self-development. And importantly- growth. Christina has a personal leadership style, and firmly believes that developing people and enabling them to grow and contribute to the organization accelerates financial growth.

Christina is a true forefighter for diversity and inclusion in the working environment and has made it her personal mission to establish a culture for acceptance of gender neutrality. So, why is she participating in this debate?

Christina has firsthand experience with navigating diversity issues in the business world, being both queer and a female leader in a traditionally male dominated tech industry. Being at the forefront of new societal norms can be challenging. That’s why she is eager to learn more and gain new perspectives on her leadership; working towards a workplace where acceptance, inclusion and diversity are the norm.

Dr. Poornima Luthra (She/Her)

Dr. Poornima Luthra is the author of ‘Diversifying Diversity: Your guide to being an active ally of inclusion in the workplace’ and ‘The Art of Active Allyship’, the author of the HBR articles ‘Do your global teams see DEI as an American issue?’ and ‘7 ways to practice active allyship’. She is the founder and CEO of TalentED Consultancy ApS as well as Associate Professor at the Copenhagen Business School. Poornima has spent the last fifteen years researching and teaching university courses in the field of talent management, with a focus on Diversity and Inclusion. Poornima’s work in DEI focuses on expanding the dimensions of diversity we address with an emphasis on intersectionality, empowering individuals to be active allies of inclusion and enabling inclusive leadership. Poornima is the recipient of the Professional Women of Colour Denmark 2021 Impact award, and a finalist in the Trailblazer category of the 2022 Nordic Blaze Inclusion Awards.

Poornima has worked with numerous Danish and International clients/ partners that include Carlsberg; Carlsberg Foundation; Reckitt; Novo Nordisk; Accenture; Amazon Web Services; Google; KPMG Nordics; Danske Bank; Medicines sans Frontiers (Doctors without Borders); McCormick APZ; McCormick UK; SimCorp; Visma; American Embassy Copenhagen; FedEx; Total; Telia; Maersk Tankers; IKEA Retail (Ingka Group), Kromann Reumert.

Thomas Benestad (He/Him)
Thomas is a member of the LGBT+ community, a third-culture kid, a management consultant at Capgemini Invent, and leader of Capgemini’s internal LGBT+ network – OUTfront. In addition to his day to day job, Thomas is passionate about improving workplace inclusion for diverse individuals and has been leading the way internally at Capgemini for the last couple of years. Since 2022, Thomas has been key member is driving cross company and industry LGBT+ initiatives together with AWS, Sopra Steria, Equinor, DnB, and Gjensidige in Norway.