When he was standing in front of his colleagues to explain why Pride Week is important, it suddenly struck Pim Blom that he had a bigger mission. A mission that would result in a transition from a strategy consultant to a freelance journalist, writer and LGBTQ+ advocate.
In Episode 81 of Women Disrupting Tech, we explore how Pim uses storytelling to champion workplace inclusion and inspire change.
Key Takeaways from the episode
When listening to this episode, you’ll discover:
✨ The influence of LGBTQ+ representation in senior leadership on careers
✨ How storytelling drives diversity in senior leadership
✨ Ways allies can listen and act for real impact
Curious to learn how storytelling can change the workplace? Hit the play button below.
The Power of Storytelling for Unconditional Inclusion with Pim Blom | Ep. 81 – Women Disrupting Tech
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- Key Takeaways from the episode
- Be an ally, be part of the movement!
- The magic you can expect in this episode 🪄
- The Two Zero-Cost Ways to Support Women Disrupting Tech
- What makes this episode magical🌟?
- About Pim Blom
- Let me know what you think!
- What’s coming up?
- More episodes like this?
The magic you can expect in this episode 🪄
A couple of years ago, Pim Blom explained to his colleagues at Vinted why Pride Month is important. He told them that being LGBTQ+ was illegal in 94 countries. In other words, he could not be who he was in about half of the world. When he heard himself say this, he decided to do something about it.
Fast forward to the end of 2024, a year in which being LGBTQ+ is still considered illegal in about one-third of the world. Pim uses storytelling to advocate for inclusion and equality of LGBTQ+ people.
In episode 81 of Women Disrupting Tech, Pim and I envision an ideal world. One where everyone can be their true selves. We discuss:
– The impact of LGBTQ+ role models and representation on career choices.
– The crucial role of storytelling and education in increasing diversity at senior leadership levels.
– ️The importance of listening to LGBTQ+ people and amplifying their voices.
Plus, Pim turns the tables on me and lets me explore my biases and the boundaries of my own comfort zone.
🎧 Listen to episode 81 of Women Disrupting Tech to hear Pim’s inspiring journey and our honest dialogue. Click the button below to tune in on Spotify!
The Two Zero-Cost Ways to Support Women Disrupting Tech
When you’re ready to support my guests in making DEI obsolete by the end of 2032, help out by doing these two things:
- Use the share buttons below to share the podcast with friends, family, and co-workers. This way, you give the women disrupting tech the platform they need to make it happen. Use the buttons below to share.
- Rate the podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Better yet, leave a review. You can use a rating of one to five stars. This will help other people discover the podcast. And if you leave a review, it will help me improve.
What makes this episode magical🌟?
In this episode, Pim and I talk about an ideal world in which everyone can be their true selves. That includes being accepted as a person, unconditionally. And it goes beyond accepting or celebrating that people are different. It’s about considering these differences as normal.
Pim also highlights the role of early education, not on gender differences but on including different gender combinations in the materials we use at school. He says that “unconsciously, you learn from a young age that society revolves around cisgender men and cisgender women having a relationship.”
This connects nicely with the insights that Katty Hsu shared in episode 78 about the implicit biases of white men running for-profit companies in teaching materials for students at Erasmus University in Rotterdam.
Pim’s story underlines the importance of how we tell our stories in educational settings. Click the button below to listen on Apple Podcasts, or click the image with the quote to watch the episode on YouTube.
“Representation and education are very important, especially through personal stories.”
Pim Blom, Freelance journalist and writer
About Pim Blom
Pim Blom is a freelance journalist and speaker about diversity and inclusion related to LGBTQ+ people.
He has a background in econometrics and started working as a strategy consultant for Bloom. Bloom was later taken over by Vinted, a European marketplace for preloved fashion, where Pim worked as a data analyst and as a product manager.
He currently lives in Hanoi with his husband, where he’s writing a book on how to be successful as a queer person in the workplace. The Dutch version of the book is out now.
You can connect with Pim and follow his journey as a writer on LinkedIn and on Instagram. And you can find the Dutch articles that inspired this episode here.
Let me know what you think!
What would be your ideal world? And how would diversity and inclusion fit in? Share your views, questions and observations in the comments.
If you would like to suggest a guest that I absolutely must have on the podcast, please let me know via email or send a DM on LinkedIn.
What’s coming up?
In the Christmas edition of Women Disrupting Tech, systemic change guru Karim El Oteify will share how we can use DEI as a force for good in business.
After a short break, we’ll return in the new year with an interview with Diana Oganesian about how Sestive uses AI to transform therapy & mental health outcomes.
So stay tuned for more inspiring Women Disrupting Tech and their allies!
With that, I wish you Happy Holidays and a Happy, Healthy and Disruptive 2025! Until we meet again in the next episode, keep being awesome!
More episodes like this?
It’s always difficult to compare, but if I could recommend three episodes related to travel and entrepreneurship, it would be these:
– In episode 78, Katty Hsu highlights the importance of data when striving for gender equality in entrepreneurship.
– In episode 62, Ruben Brave shares how he’s creating new narratives for a more innovative society. This episode covers his work with Dutch New Narrative Lab.
– In episode 6, Jacqueline van den Ende states that gender should be a non-issue by the end of 2032, and as a result my podcast will be obsolete.
Women Disrupting Tech | The Podcast 
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