As the LGBTQ community develops further connections across the Business School, and in celebration of LGBT History Month in the UK every year, we meet the students leading the Cambridge MBA’s Class of 2021/22 Pride @ CJBS Special Interest Group this year.
Ihor Kravets, Pride @ CJBS Co-chair and Cambridge MBA Class of 2021/22 LGBTQ+ ROMBA scholarship recipient.
This month I have come full circle. Exactly two years ago I was visiting Cambridge Judge Business School, on what came to be the last pre-pandemic MBA open day. I remember how welcoming Cambridge felt with the Pride flags waving above Cambridge colleges and the Business School itself, celebrating LGBTQ+ History Month. I am now in the middle of the MBA programme, probably one of the most exciting experiences of my life, and I am a Co-lead for the Pride Special Interest Group (SIG).
Working alongside the CJBS team, we are working on implementing important community changes across academics, administrative matters, and facilities – for example, incorporating LGBTQ related educational materials into an online portal, introducing pronouns into the MBA business cards, and organising an educational event on the queer history of Royal Opera House in London for our cohort. More activities are to follow, as we continue realising our ambitious agenda, outlined at the beginning of the MBA year.
Raghav Gupta, Pride @ CJBS Co-chair and Cambridge MBA Class of 2021/22 LGBTQ+ ROMBA scholarship recipient.
I feel grateful to have received the Reaching Out MBA LGBTQIA+ Fellowship, which is a joint effort between Reaching Out, the biggest and best-known organisation that supports the LGBTQIA+ community, and leading business schools. Through this fellowship, I have been exposed to various career, and personal development events and competitions.
I also got a chance to immerse myself in major global conferences, namely the ROMBA 2021 Conference in the USA and EUROUT 2021 in the UK. The social network and learnings that I have amassed through these avenues have been especially useful in guiding my post-MBA aspirations, as well as the activities undertaken by the Pride @CJBS Special Interest Group at Cambridge Judge.
Read more about diversity and inclusion across the Cambridge MBA year >
See our range of scholarships encouraging diversity and inclusion >