Dr Paul Taylor-Pitt is an organisational development consultant, writer, activist and all round amazing human. He's passionate about helping people to show up as their wholes selves... something he leads by example on and from listening to his story, it's always been that way.

From being quite a serious kid who perhaps took things too seriously, Paul knew he was queer and despite having an understanding that society wasn't quite ok with this, he was & simply knew that was the society's problem, not his.

He's currently writing a book focusing on the stories & experience of mid-life queers (40+) which we delve into and I am loving working on an accompanying event series with him throughout this year, especially as I've now hit my 40s. When Paul turned 50, he says he felt like he finally turned the age he always was!

Paul shares his frustration at the state of the world today, what brings him joy and tons more about his origin story which he describes as 'Ordinary, Remarkable & Ridiculous'. It's a brilliant conversation... enjoy!

This week celebrates Non-Binary Awareness Week and the world is full of SO MANY INCREDIBLE non-binary individuals including this week's guest for Pause. And Rewind... Marley Conte (they/them).

Marley is an Italian trans/non-binary freelance writer, speaker, consultant and content creator. Their passion for diversity, equality, inclusion and justice shines through and they harness they own lived experience to educate people on trans+ inclusion, issues & rights. They place a real value on their work - and encourage others to hold onto that that rather than just working with anyone.

Marley is also known, on Instagram, by their handle @thenonbinaryparent and they're committed to creating resources for trans & non-binary parents cos' frankly, it's lacking.

That's Marley now and it was great to explore their origin story to see how they ended up doing what they do! We talk about growing up in Italy feeling a sense of displacement... and their love of their country & culture against its problematic LGBTQ+ stance. We also cover parenting, Marley's take on social media & phone rules and how their daughter is Marley 2.0!

Marley is a "work-in-progress" - the three words they use to describe themself and their origin story. Marley never celebrated birthdays before coming out as they never saw themselves getting older. But now as they are about to turn 40, there's a real excitement in Marley. When I ask what brings them joy, Marley responds "Looking in the mirror and it's like 'that's it, that's me'. That brings me joy". I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did!