Björn

  Björn's profile:

• Senior Trainer

• Team B2C Academy

• Works in Utrecht

• Lives in Amsterdam

• At VodafoneZiggo since 2010

Only if you feel the freedom to be yourself, can you truly get the max out of yourself. Role models with whom people can identify play a positive and inspiring role in that respect. Read the interview with role model Björn Hamburg below. Björn is a member of VodafoneZiggo's rainbow network Queers Connected.

During Pride, Vodafone wants to express the idea that you can only get the max out of yourself if you feel the freedom to be yourself. What has contributed to your freedom?

I think that I created my freedom myself. By accepting yourself and feeling that you're a good and beautiful person, you give yourself immense space and freedom. Be proud of your deeds! My motto is: Make each day a little feast! To me, that's freedom.

How do you view gender and identification and how was that for you in your younger years?

It was already present in my younger years, obviously, only now it has much more of a foundation and gets more attention. I'm really pleased about that. At the same time, I don't really like to put labels on people. To me, every human being is equal and labelling simply creates too many pigeonholes. That's my opinion and how I've always viewed it.

What is your experience at Queers Connected? Do you give training/workshops, are you involved in the programmes and what was the last 'work' you did for QC?

I recently became a Queers Connected board member and I've been deeply involved in preparations for Pride Utrecht. As it's my first year on the board, this is one of the first projects in which I'm participating, but there’s more to come!

What good – and bad – developments do you see surrounding the community?

A good thing is that we're not sitting still during these grim times, but showing ourselves. This wave of activism hasn't come out of the blue, of course. It makes me feel uneasy to read that the Netherlands has once again dropped a place in the worldwide rankings of the rights and safety of our community. It shows that our once tolerant country is not so tolerant anymore. That's not a good development, if you ask me.

What's a role model to you?

For me, there are many. I think that it has more to do with the characteristics I believe in. So, a role model could be anyone, from someone in my immediate environment to a really influential or well-known person. To me, a role model should possess courage, nerve, rawness, purity, should be fun-loving, able to reflect, should be filled with love and able to laugh at themselves – and be able to display all these traits at just the right moments.