My name is Lia, and I work in Customer Operations here at Monzo. I've also been the Project Lead in our first celebration of Black History Month at Monzo. This year Black people have been the topic of many conversations in our collective effort to effect change and true allyship.
As a child, I was taught the history of my ancestors by my parents and grandparents. It's because of them, that with all the adversity I have faced being a Black woman I am proud to be Black.
It was important to me and my fellow Black colleagues at Monzo to celebrate our history, resilience and innovation. Especially at a time where we feel outraged, angry, tired and drained by what is happening to Black people here in the UK and in the United States.
So this October, we'll share the importance of celebrating Black History and why it's important to us by celebrating some of our ancestors who made great leaps in Economics and Finance, as well as some money management schemes black people used to finance themselves when banks would not loan them money.
We've come so far, and still have a way to go. But this month, we want to share with you our pride in our race, their accomplishments and educate you about different part of our history you may have never thought about.
So, look out for what we've got coming this month:
The Stories of Black History in Finance - a four-part piece telling the stories that don't often get heard
What does Black History Month mean to me? - videos from Black Monzonauts telling their own stories
An optional custom app icon celebrating Black Culture... available now! 🎉
Internally, guest speaker Jaz Broughton will be joining our weekly All Hands meeting to lead a session on race equality in the workplace & Performative Allyship.
The content we've created serves as reminder of how Black people have succeeded and achieved even in harshest of environments and will continue to do so. And we hope you'll join us in celebrating too!