Our small team has driven our project from volunteers with a great idea to the opening of our doors at Bankside. Our paid staff members ensure the day-to-day running of the Centre goes smoothly, while our board of Trustees ensure we have a strong foundation in place from which to drive our strategic vision. Get to know our incredible crew.
Staff
Bisila Noha
General Manager
Bisila Noha (she/her) is the project’s first paid staff member, working as a General Manager three days a week. Bisila is Spanish-Equatoguinean and has lived in London for the past 10 and a half years, so considers herself a Londoner in her heart now.
With a background in Translation and International Relations, Bisila has vast experience as a Project Manager and joined us from Apple. Moreover, she co-directs Lon-art Creative, an arts and activism organisation that offers a platform for everyone to create, collaborate and reflect upon social issues through the arts. Their main focus at the moment is on Violence Against Women and Girls through their flagship project Sheroes.
As a passionate advocate for social justice and inclusion, Bisila also is on the Steering Committee of Design Can, a campaign, community and active resource platform calling for an inclusive and representative creative industry.
Along with her community work, she also is a ceramic artist. With her work, she aims to challenge Western views on art and craft and to reflect upon the idea of home and oneness pulling from personal experiences in different pottery communities around the world. You can check out her ceramics here.
Bisila loves a good book and all kinds of music, so any recommendations, don’t hesitate to send them her way.
Bisila is on an extended leave until April 2025. For any partnership queries, email [email protected].
Elsa Cardona
Interim General Manager
Elsa (she/her) is French and grew up in Paris, next door to the local LGBTQI+ Community Centre. For the past seven years, she has made London her home and is thrilled to support the queer community in her adopted city.
With a background in urban studies and public policy, Elsa brings nine years of experience in the charity sector, specialising in women’s and girls’ rights as well as youth empowerment and participation. Her work has included leading campaigns against sexist harassment in public spaces, managing global and national youth leadership programmes, and championing young people’s activism. She is passionate about amplifying community voices and building sustainable organisations that make a difference in society.
Beyond her role at the Centre, Elsa is Head of Operations and Finance at the Economist Educational Foundation, a charity supporting children all around the world to strengthen their news literacy and critical thinking skills. She is also a Trustee for the English Folk Dance and Song Society and, when not working, can often be found enjoying a musical from the back rows of a London theatre.
Daniel Gould Loftus
Centre Manager
Daniel (he/him) is our Centre Manager, working five days a week at the Centre.
He spent ten years working in speciality coffee, retail operations and events planning before coming to work with the Centre. Born and raised in London, he has a great love for the city and its social history, and is an advocate for the need and importance of safer, more accessible, intergenerational and intersectional third spaces in the Capital, especially for the LGBTQ+ community.
With a background in archaeology, Daniel is an avid psycho-geographer and amateur urban landscape archaeologist, and can usually be found exploring the city’s hidden corners, forgotten heritage, and invisible ecologies on his days off.
Izzy MacCallum
Centre Assistant
Izzy (they/them) is our Centre Assistant, working three days per week at the Centre.
Izzy is a mixed media artist and performer, whose artistic practice uses painting, alongside film, digital manipulation and collage to explore alternative queer spaces between lived realities, distant fantasy, non-linear narratives and performative self-portraits.
With a background in the arts and LGBTQI+ nightlife, Izzy is passionate about creating community connections and support.
In 2019 they started Intersexxy, the first club night dedicated to celebrating and supporting intersex joy and talent. Since moving to London Izzy has worked at and performed for LGBTQI+ nightlife events across the city, and is active in London’s indie pop-up strip club and queer club night scene.
Izzy is now a part of the East London Strippers Collective, a community-run, stripper-run enterprise employing exclusively strippers, fighting for better working conditions for sex workers and smashing stigma, running their weekly life drawing classes and events.
Cherokee Seebalack
Communications and Marketing Manager
Cherokee (they/them) is our Communications and Marketing Manager. They work four days a week at the Centre, managing all of our comms channels. (If you’ve DM’d us on socials, you’ve probably met them already!)
Their background is in communications and marketing, with nearly ten years of experience working in the charity sector on a wide range of campaigns, publications and projects.
Alongside their work at the Centre, they provide comms support for other organisations, grassroots groups and charities. They’re passionate about telling the stories of LGBTQ+ people and continuing to document the histories of our community.
To get in touch about communications, marketing or press contact [email protected].
Vivika Chugh
Communications and Marketing Assistant
Vivika (she/her) started at the London LGBTQ+ Community Centre as a volunteer, and now works with us as the Communications and Marketing Assistant, working two days a week at the Centre.
Vivika has a background in graphic design and visual arts, working with everything from Adobe Illustrator to oil paints on canvas. Her work explores themes of community, identity and intimacy through a queer and feminist lens. She’s passionate about design and visual communication, aiming to challenge traditional narratives and spark meaningful conversations. She is currently studying Design for Art Direction at University of the Arts London.
Vivika is committed to amplifying the experiences of queer people of colour and is dedicated to creating an inclusive and intersectional space where everyone in the LGBTQIA+ community feels welcome and valued.
Jesualdo Lopes
Events and Outreach Lead
Jesualdo (he/him), born and raised in Lisbon, is a multidisciplinary artist whose journey has led him to become a versatile force in the realms of film, events, and community activism.
In 2021, Jesualdo established The Blacker The Berry Project, a collective highlighting Black LGBTQ+ artists across the globe through creative intervention such as exhibitions, club nights, workshops, and residencies. The collective has made a significant impact and even pioneered The Blacker The Moses retreat in collaboration with Vale de Moses, a yoga facility in the mountains of Portugal, as well as the country’s first known Safer Spaces Policy.
In addition to his work, Jesualdo is the Events and Outreach at the London LGBTQ+ Community Centre. His enthusiasm for creating safe, intergenerational, and intersectional spaces within the LGBTQ+ community is a testament to his ongoing commitment to making a difference and fostering inclusivity.
To get in touch about booking an event contact [email protected].
Lucy Hayhoe
Finance Lead
Lucy (she/her) is our Finance Lead, working two days per week at the Centre.
She is the Executive Director of LGBT+ arts charity, Raze Collective, looking after the organisation’s development, creative strategy and financial management. She is passionate about creating space for queer arts to flourish.
Alongside her work at the Centre and with Raze Collective Lucy is a live artist, creating interactive installations and performance interventions. Her work ranges from intimate encounters to large-scale productions. Over the last 15 years, Lucy’s artwork has toured nationally and internationally, to venues and festivals across Europe, Japan, China, Australia, and the US.
Helen Jones
Research Lead
Helen (she/her) works at the Centre two days a week, running a research project into the impact of the Centre’s work. She is looking at how the Centre supports people’s wellbeing and how it contributes to wider LGBTQ+ communities.
Helen has worked in mental health in the past and was the founder CEO of MindOut LGBTQ Mental Health Service, until 2022. She now works freelance for Mind, the National Development Team for Inclusion, GALOP, AKT, Mermaids and the University of Brighton.
Some of Helen’s previous research projects include LGBTQ+ experiences of bereavement by suicide and pathways between LGBTQ migration, social isolation and distress.
Outside of work, she spends lots of time on her allotment trying to grow vegetables and talking to her house plants. She likes a stomp across the hills and can often be found in a tent.
Trustees
Chloe Davies
Chloe (she/her) is an activist, proud bisexual woman, mother of two, chef and entrepreneur, who campaigns for inclusion and equality in social spaces, corporate organisations and the wider community. She spent over 15 years working in retail, artist management and PR before starting her own company in 2015.
Chloe is Head of Social Impact at Lucy Generals, having previously worked as Head of Partnerships for myGwork – The global recruitment and networking hub for LGBT professionals and organisations promoting diversity and inclusion.
Chloe volunteers with UK Black Pride (UKBP) as the Strategic Officer, working closely with the Executive Director and the Board of Directors to help shape the future of UK Black Pride.
Sarah Moore
Sarah (she/her) is one of the project’s co-directors and has been involved since 2017. She is a digital campaigns, communications, fundraising and content strategist, specialising in political and charity campaigns. She is currently Deputy Head of Digital Communications for the Mayor of London, and was previously within communications for other political and charity organisations including Dogs Trust, the Labour Party and Stonewall. Sarah also spent two years as co-chair of the Labour Party’s LGBTQ+ staff network.
In 2015, Sarah graduated from Stonewall’s Young Leaders programme. In 2017, Sarah’s photography was commissioned by the National Trust – her portraits of trans activist Munroe Bergdorf were displayed in the Sutton House Queered exhibition. Her poem ‘Throwing Bricks Through Glass’ now appears alongside a portrait of Munroe in the Museum of Transology.
Dee Jas
Trustee – HR
Dee (he/him) founded we are colourfull in 2018 to create greater visibility through storytelling of queer people of colour (qpoc) given his own experiences in the queer community. It has since evolved from a media platform to a consultancy that aims to increase visibility and the inclusion of the LGBTQ community and People of Colour in the workplace as well as wider society – using data, storytelling and design thinking. Prior to this, Dee held HR Leadership roles in creative organisations inc. the BBC, Net-A-Porter and Girl Effect and you’ll often find him travelling, practicing yoga or making a cocktail (alcohol optional of course).
Patrons
Charlie Craggs
Charlie (she/her) is an award-winning trans activist, author and media personality dubbed “the voice of a community” by Vogue, best known for her national campaign Nail Transphobia, her LAMBDA nominated book, To My Trans Sisters, and her groundbreaking BBC documentary Transitioning Teens.
In 2016, Charlie topped the Guardian’s New Radicals list of social innovators in Britain. She has since gone on to be the recipient of a Marie Claire Future Shaper Award, front global campaigns for brands like The Body Shop, H&M and Selfridges, and speak at the Houses of Parliament.
Shiva Raichandani
Shiva (they/them) is a non-binary British filmmaker who is passionate about telling inclusive, intersectional, gender-expansive stories with a focus on social justice and universal hope, by using the performing arts as a narrative device.
They were a semi-finalist on Britain’s Got Talent; a recipient of the inaugural Netflix Documentary Talent Fund through which they directed a film called Peach Paradise.
They have also had their independent community-funded musical film, Queer Parivaar, win the prestigious Iris Prize’s Best British Short Film Award leading to its release on Channel 4.
Recently, they were a recipient of Together TV’s Diverse Film Fund through which they directed a documentary titled, ‘Always, Asifa’ that was broadcast on television.
Shiva also freelances as a diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant within the wider creative industries.
DOM&INK
DOM&INK (they/them) is an illustrator and author hailing from Bolton via Narnia.
They love to create work that empowers the queer community and celebrates queer icons.
They’ve released two books, Free To Be Me and Queer Power! which both centre around celebrating our beautiful community and amplifying the voices within it.
Andrew Fitzsimons
Celebrity hairstylist, Andrew Fitzsimons (he/him), was born in Dublin, Ireland. After leaving school to pursue hairdressing at just 13 years old, Andrew’s career has exploded on a global scale.
With 15+ years of experience under his belt and more than 1 million Instagram followers, Andrew now works internationally with fashion, beauty, commercial and celebrity clients alike.
Alongside his work, Andrew is a lifelong champion of the LGBTQ+ community. In collaboration with the Los Angeles LGBT Center and the Trans Wellness Center, he founded the Trans Cosmetic Donation Program. The service is as an opportunity for beauty brands and professionals to donate unused personal care items to organisations that work with trans women and gender non-conforming people.
Join the team
Volunteers are absolutely paramount to our work and we really value those who are keen to support us. If you’re interested in getting involved as a volunteer please register your details by clicking the button below.
Want to support the work of the Centre? Set up a monthly donation! We depend on contributions from the community and allies, so even a few quid a month will go a long way.