“Last Saturday, we celebrated the biggest Pride Festival in Southeast Asia, with 110,000 attendees. We are becoming bigger,” Miss Mela Habijan said during her talk at Publicis Groupe Philippines.
In celebration of this year’s incredible Pride Month, Publicis Groupe Philippines brought LGBTQIA+ advocate Miss Mela Habijan to the workplace to give a Lion Lab talk on the importance of using gender-inclusive language, in which she also spoke candidly about her experiences as a proud transwoman.
“As I stood onstage, wala talaga akong boses. Pero sabi ko, ang pagiging malat ay hindi mapapantayan ng pagiging mulat. I stand for my community. [This is why] I continue to speak in front of companies about diversity, equality, inclusion, and equity.”
Miss Mela Habijan is the world’s first-ever Miss Trans Global, which she won back in 2020. Since then, she’s also become a writer, actress, content creator, and one of the LGBTQIA+ community’s staunchest advocates. She often gives companies workshops on importance of understanding SOGIE (sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression).
Mela’s Lion Lab talk, “The Basics of SOGIE” was attended by over 100 employees virtually, with 50 more coming to attend the talk in person.
Group picture with Miss Mela at the end of her incredible talk
Lion Lab is Publicis Groupe Philippine’s learning program, which encourages all employees to learn more about each other passions as well as important issues such as this one. This year’s Lion Lab for Pride Month was a company first since the Lion Lab series was launched back in 2021, and we look forward to continuing to champion the message of pride.
