Wayne

Wayne's profile:

• Accountmanager

• Team Corporate Sales Healthcare

• Works in Utrecht and from home

• Lives in Roermond

• At VodafoneZiggo since 2014

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 Wayne Strolenberg below. Wayne 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?

Freedom is being able to be yourself, always and everywhere. I have been fortunate to have loving parents who have always given me their full support. And in both my work situation and private life I have luckily never had negative experiences and have always been able to be myself.

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

As a cis gender gay man, this is a difficult subject for me personally. I think it's a good development that everyone can be and is allowed to be who he, she, they are. I'm convinced that if you can be the best version of yourself, you'll be a happier person. In my younger years, there were very few role models for gender identification. The only one who comes to mind is Kelly from Big Brother.

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've been involved with what had then not yet been given the name Queers Connected right from the first year I worked for the company, which was then still called Vodafone. In the first years, my involvement was mainly through Vodafone Group's ally programme, and when Vodafone and Ziggo merged, I became involved with the first pink network within VodafoneZiggo. But I have to be honest and say that in recent years I have not played an active role in the network apart from being present every now and then.

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

In general and across the board, I think it's a bad development that people are no longer listening to each other and are not willing to enter into dialogue. It's no different within the community. When you come out as a young – or maybe a bit older – queer, when you've taken that huge step, you find yourself in a community that's not just unicorns and rainbows. There, too, you have to find your place and there are hurdles to take. If people were to talk and listen to each other more, that would be a good thing. You don't have to agree with each other, but you should accept and embrace each other's differences!

What's a role model to you?

To me, a role model is someone who is the best version of themselves and who, because of that, can inspire others to be themselves, too.