Tudor Kovacs’s career has been focused on education, empowerment and the rights and the health of the LGBTQI community. He now works as a Programmes Manager for the International Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Youth and Student Organisation – IGLYO.

For many years, he worked as a senior trainer and training program coordinator for the United States Peace Corps Romania, where he built, trained and coordinated a team of 17 language and cultural adaptation facilitators. He has considerable experience in behavioral interventions for the health of vulnerable populations, having worked as the Executive Director of the umbrella organization ECOM (Eurasian Coalition on Male Health), and prior to this, at Population Services International (PSI) in Romania. During this time, he also served on the Steering Committee of the Global Forum on MSM and HIV, participating in global level advocacy and capacity building for MSM worldwide. He provided input to several United Nations publications and contributed to the content and rollout of UN for All program (including the TOT of the first line of trainers) to improve workplace inclusion within the UN, as well as designing and implementing the theory of change and activities for a UNICEF project to prevent and reduce alcohol use among early teenagers in Romania.

Ryan Ong is the Communications Officer at ILGA Asia. Prior to joining the team, Ryan was the co-founder of PLUHO, People Like Us Hang Out, an organisation that builds virtual and physical spaces and services for LGBTIQ communities in Malaysia. Ryan also contributed as Associate Editor at Queer Lapis, a platform to highlight local marginalised and intersectional queer voices and lived experiences. They were also involved in queer student activism while studying at Monash University Malaysia and campaign efforts to decriminalise LGBTIQ people in Malaysia.

Ryan holds a Bachelor of Arts and Social Sciences double majoring in Gender Studies and Global Studies from Monash University Malaysia.

Follow Ryan on Twitter at @ryan_okl.

“The stories told about LGBTQIA people can shape how the world sees and interacts with us. When we take the power of storytelling into our own hands, we can be agents of change, showing both our current realities and our vision for an LGBTQIA inclusive future.”

Mina Tolu is a trans activist and young green politician. They have 10 years of experience in campaigning and communications on human rights and environmental issues. This includes designing and implementing online and social media campaigns for IGLYO, Transgender Europe, and We Are – an LGBTQI youth organisation in Malta. As well as coordinating a national referendum campaign in Malta in 2015, and their own campaign as a candidate for the European Parliament in 2019.

Mina will conduct a workshop on designing graphics for social media. Online presence is key for LGBTQI activists and this workshop will allow participants to explore various formats of social media products. Participants will be presented with specific concepts regarding visual hierarchy, colours, and content. The workshop will include recommendations for specific social media such as Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

We will soon announce other exciting experts