I used to be much more sporty then nowadays, I guess “age” has part in that, but also “time”. I practiced volleyball for many years, until my shoulders cried to stop!

But my biggest passion is windsurfing. My dad and granddad were sailors, where my dad was even a European champion in the 70’s and so the sport was part of my life from the moment I was born. I can sail and also did some competition in that, but the windsurfing is really more me. I started when I was 14 years old and I have participated in some competitions where many men were challenged by me. Nowadays I try to go windsurfing once in a while for pure fun and adrenaline to the lakes in the Netherlands enjoying wind and water. From sailing perspective I regularly go sailing with my dad who has a small yacht and we even participated a few times to the “ALU regatta”.

Jellyfish…As a windsurfer my greatest fear. I once saw on Miami beach the Portuguese man o’ war (Physalia physalis), and I slightly touched her tentacles with my foot… it was soooo painful… and the trouble is that one cannot always see whether that “simple” animal has tentacles or not!

I was married to a man for 11 years and we have 2 lovely daughters. I always felt that I did not have the connection with men that other women that I knew did, but it wasn’t until many years after I married that I understood what that really meant. It was a struggle for me emotionally as I grew to understand that I was a Lesbian. In 2006 I was able to make the tough and right decision to come out to my friends and family. My husband and I divorced, keeping a positive communication for the sake of our kids.

In 2008 I married the love of my life and since then I live a very happy life while enjoying a co-parenting arrangement with my ex-husband for the two girls. This has been difficult for my parents, but now they also accept me as I am, and realize I am still the same daughter as I was before I came out.

My coming out was never an issue, not in my private or professional life. I am very open about it and experience that when one behaves as it is the most normal thing in life, your environment does the same.

I must admit that I do live in a country and city that supports diversity in all its senses. I hope that my knowledge and experience build up from my own situation can help GLBT people and their families to feel good in their skin.

Singing and making music. I sing in a folk group ZEIL (own Dutch songs) and I am the lead singer in a cover band RockFort . Both on amateur level. Especially the cover band RockFort gives me joy and fun. We are four ALU employees, drums, guitar, bass and vocals, and we bring a brought repertoire from the 60’s till now…. We played at some parties and even entertained the all staff meeting 2 years ago for ALU Bell. Within the folk band ZEIL we are 6 to sing and make music (flute, drums, guitars, …) and whenever I can I will sit behind drums, or pick up some percussion… Unfortunately I did not have any musical education besides basic solfege at school, but I play and sing from my heart and I am blessed with a pretty good feeling for rhythm;-)

Laugh and cry: Mama Mia – the movie with Meryl Streep…amazing how this movie touches my emotions in both ways..if I do feel down , I watch this one, sing along and cry my heart out when all that love is in the air!

I work virtually most of the time and usually from my home. Our 15-year-old cat Maynard has a touch of arthritis which slows him down. He likes to sleep on top of the heater grates to feel better. His favorite spot is on top of the grate right inside the door of the downstairs bathroom. He goes in, gets up on his hind legs to push the door shut and then settles down on the grate. It’s a small space and with the door closed it becomes a sauna which he seems to really like. He is in there for hours. When he wants to leave, he puts his paw under the door and pulls it open. The funny part is that when he is in there I can’t use the bathroom. He pushes back on the door and cries. I have to go upstairs. I find that amusing.

Acquiring skills as a videographer is my current top avocation. I enjoyed making movies as a kid but film was expensive, projectors were hard to set up, editing was messy – it was hard. Now with a iMac for editing and using my iPhone camera I am having lots of fun and it’s easy. I am also gaining experience using more advanced cameras and I look forward to getting myself one that will allow me to do really interesting work.

I like to think that all my jobs have had impact. Being in communications it is difficult to get hard, objective feedback but I know how important it is for people both inside and outside the company to know and understand what is going on with ALU. Currently I am a member of the corporate communications writing team. I have had a variety of responsibilities over time but writing is my passion and I am delighted to not have to use a hyphenated string of words to describe what I do but instead just say I am a “writer.”

I recall that I joined EQUAL soon after I joined Lucent eleven years ago. In my career I have never tried to hide my sexuality but having always worked in relatively small companies I had never had an opportunity to belong to an LGBT organization. When I learned of EQUAL I knew it was something in which I wanted to participate and I am very glad I did. It gives me an opportunity to interact closely with colleagues I would not meet with otherwise and enables me to support our community which I think is very important. I am sorry I never had the opportunity to belong to a local chapter but being part of the ‘At Large’ chapter gives me the chance to get to know people in locations far from Raleigh, North Carolina and that’s fun.

I am a sucker for the big cry fests of the 80s, especially E.T and Terms of Endearment. I am looking forward to seeing War Horse. My grandfather was a surgeon in the trenches during World War I and the scenes depicting what he experienced are very vivid according to my aunt who has seen the movie. I saw the play on Broadway and was very impressed. Just seeing the War Horse trailer I started to tear up so I expect the full experience will be enjoyably cathartic.

The original La Cages aux Folles still stands as one of the funniest movies I have seen. I remember a friend saying that it was good the movie was subtitled because the audience was laughing so loudly it was very hard to hear the dialogue. I’ve seen three Broadway productions of the show but the original movie is still the funniest.

Honestly – almost anywhere. What is most surprising to folks is that I’ve never been outside of the US except for a few side trips to Canada. I have never had to travel for work outside the US and my personal travels have only been to see the other great areas in the US. If I were to pick one place I’d want to see, I think it would be to go to Egypt to see the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx. When I was a kid, I wanted to be an archeologist and find the next great Pharaoh’s Tomb. It’s still a fascinating topic to me. Science is taking us further and I expect more major discoveries in the years to come in places like Egypt.

I’ve gotten to the age where I’ve stopped playing more competitive and active sports such as volleyball and softball and moved on to golf. I play in a league once a week during the spring and summer as well as casually on weekends. When I get to retirement, I’ll have to find a place where the weather is good for year round golf .

It’s hard to say what the funniest experience has been because there are just too many years too think back through. I will say though, that my linkage with EQUAL! and working with the other EBP groups has probably been the most fun part of my job. I’ve had opportunities to go to conferences, meet people from across the globe, and participate in community events and volunteer work. All of these types of activities open up doors to so much more which includes a lot of fun.

I feel I have two responsibilities within the company – my day to day job and representing EQUAL! Both of these give me opportunities to contribute to the company. First with EQUAL! – I know that I have helped people understand many aspects of topic of being GLBT and why it’s an important topic in the workplace. Aside from teaching multiple classes over the years, I think the most impactful aspect has been one on one conversations with people. It’s amazing what impact you can make by putting a face on the topic, saying a few words or answering a few questions. You can easily help people’s understanding of something they really don’t know much about. People fear what they don’t understand.

It’s easy to talk about actions that have direct financial contributions to the company. I think though that my most impactful roles probably have had no clear link to finance. I’ve been with the company over 20 years and my very first job here (for about 6 years) was to do development on a signaling test tool called the 2STPE/NCPE. This was a critical piece of testing equipment used to test multiple releases on multiple products across the company and is in fact still used today – helping improve the quality of some of our products daily.

Being located on a campus that has always been very active with EQUAL! activities, I started out as an outsider looking in. At the time, I was not out at work and wasn’t ready to be. One of my good friends came to work for the company and started getting involved with EQUAL! As she was “brave” enough to come into a new company and be totally out, it made me think about my own comfort level. Being secure with my position in the company, I made the decision to talk to my closest peer and then my manager. I was supported much more than I gave anyone credit for. I was at an EQUAL! conference a few months later and president of our local chapter within two years. Needless to say, once I jumped in, I jumped in with both feet. I have never looked back.

Japan has always been my all-time favorite. Although I’ve already traveled there a couple of times, its culture never fails to fascinate me every single time! Next year though my partner and I are going to try something a little different and spend a vacation in the US (hello, NYC!) – which is kind of exotic as we are so far away from it here. Oh, and I don’t mention China because that’s where we currently live – but there are so many things to do here, too!

I’ve been playing badminton for a while (and since it’s very popular in Asia, it’s somewhat easy to find venues to play in) and recently I’ve started to enjoy squash, too (although I’m terrible at it!). But at least it’s fun – much more so to me than, say, being on a treadmill. I’m actually a specialist in taking gym subscriptions I never use; I’m proud to say I’m a bit stronger-willed now – I will simply refuse to sign any more of those contracts .

In 2010 my partner and I entered into a civil union (for those of you familiar with the French system – a ‘PACS‘) and I suddenly realized that I could not get the same benefits as my co-workers. This led me to discuss with my local HR team to try and harmonize those benefits, and shortly after to take a more active role in EQUAL’s Board.

The other interesting thing is that while we have a strong and active membership in the US and Europe, there aren’t that many EQUAL! members here in Asia-Pacific. So I thought I’d get the ball rolling and make our organization more visible in the region – which is sometimes a challenge as GLBT topics are often not openly discussed in the society at large. Thankfully my co-workers have shown nothing but support, so I’m very hopeful things can change for the better.

Spending the Christmas/New Year break at my in-laws?

Hmmm, tough one. I’m more of a TV series person though, so I’ll just say that one of the very few times I’ve actually cried in front of an episode, it was the ‘Six Feet Under’ series finale. Loved the series – one of HBO’s finest.

And in terms of laughing – no brainer for me – it’s any episode of 30 Rock. Tina Fey is just that good!

I have traveled so much for work that I feel that I have been to all of my top countries. However, I would LOVE to return to Greece, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Austria, Australia, Switzerland, and Ireland. I don’t know if I will make any of those trips, but it is so fun to remember the great things I saw and was able to do there.

For over 30 years I have ridden Dressage – this is an equine sport that you’ll find in the Olympics, however, you won’t find me there. I enjoy Dressage because no matter how much I train, I learn something new everyday. I own several horses and my greatest riding partner is named September. He was imported from Germany to the states and I love him dearly.

During my years as Director in mobility, I had a large team at three locations and I feel that those were my years of greatest impact. Being able to work with a highly motivated and generally very happy team was rewarding for me personally. Being open, honest, approachable and clear in my expectations seemed to have a very positive impact with my department.

I started many years ago with the founding organization LEAGUE. I got involved with the then struggling organization as people were trying to obtain corporate recognition. It angered me how co-workers and corporate were responding as GLBT folks were trying to organize. I was at a great point in my career, was promotable, very well thought of, and I decided that I could risk being public about my support and challenging upper management. This was one of the best decisions of my life – and – career.

Although I saw these many years ago, I can still remember laughing so loudly at Ghostbusters that people were turning their heads and looking at me my date. And as for crying, The Color Purple had me and a friend sobbing. And we couldn’t stop. His partner got up and moved away from us.