Beiersdorf celebrates diversity and tolerance with a “Pride Festival”

  • Beiersdorf is hosting the “Pride Festival” on August 4th and 5th, with the aim of inspiring and challenging traditional opinions.
  • The program promises a relaxed festival atmosphere, diverse LGBT*IQ topics, celebrity guests such as drag icon Olivia Jones, and authentic stories.
  • In addition to the initiatives PROUT AT WORK and Queere Vernetzung Hamburg, Google, OTTO, Accenture and Deutsche Post DHL will be showing their support as cooperation partners.

Hamburg, August 2, 2021 – Beiersdorf is inviting to celebrate diversity and tolerance with a two-day public “Pride Festival” on August 4th and 5th. In line with the motto “Sharing the Pride together,” the company has enlisted various major cooperation partners for the COVID-compliant event in virtual space. Prominent guests include Germany’s most famous drag queen Olivia Jones, Veuve Noire, Corny Littmann and Imam Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed. Overall, the festival promises a mix of top-class entertainment and authentic stories. Beiersdorf colleagues are also showing their support for this event.

The “Pride Festival” is organized by the “Be You @Beiersdorf” network. The community stands for a colorful and tolerant working environment and supports the interests of LGBT*IQ people. Within the company, it is an important pillar for diversity and inclusion: “At Beiersdorf, an open society and an inclusive working environment are important to us. To ensure that we do not pay lip service to this, we actively promote various aspects of diversity. Our goal is to raise awareness and promote tolerance – both within the company and beyond,” emphasizes Misel Ahom, Global Director Diversity & Inclusion.

Varied program with many highlights

Visitors of the Beiersdorf “Pride Festival” can expect a varied program in a relaxed festival atmosphere. Olivia Jones and fellow drag queen Veuve Noire will talk about their joint educational project “Olivia macht Schule” to promote tolerance, diversity, and respect in schools and daycare centers. With theatre man Corny Littmann, former president of FC St. Pauli, another Hamburg icon from the LGBT*IQ environment will be on the virtual stage. The French-Algerian Imam Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed will also be a guest. As an openly gay Muslim, he founded Europe’s first inclusive mosque in Paris.

Diversity in the company will be represented by, among others, two panel discussions on the family life of a gay couple with a child and on the topic of trans*identity. “With our event, we want to inspire without lecturing and invite people to engage with LGBT*IQ and question traditional opinions,” explains Piotr Specht, Global Brand Manager NIVEA Face Care, on behalf of the organizing team of “Be You @Beiersdorf”.

Cooperation partners: Achieving more together

Beiersdorf gained the initiatives PROUT AT WORK and Queere Vernetzung Hamburg as partners for the "Pride Festival," both of which are permanent cooperation partners of “Be You @Beiersdorf.” In addition, Beiersdorf succeeded in getting four major companies on board: Google, OTTO, Accenture, and Deutsche Post DHL. As inclusive employers, they are just as committed to diversity and inclusion as Beiersdorf. All four will report on the work of their in-house LGBT*IQ communities during the "Pride Festival" in key notes lasting approximately half an hour. Their statements:

Pride@Google is about belonging and celebrating the progress we have made as an LGBT*IQ community. However, there is still a lot of work to be done, which is why for us partnerships like the one with Beiersdorf are an essential contribution to a more colorful society.
Emre Celik and Jannette Flores of Pride@Google
At OTTO, no one has to hide anything, especially not because of their gender identity or sexual orientation. On the contrary: for us, queer people are an integral, important part of our society and therefore of us as a company. I am really pleased that we are able to support Beiersdorf at the Hamburg Pride Festival 2021.
Ingo Bertram, Press Spokesman of OTTO & Co-Founder of MORE*, the queer network of the Otto Group
In our corporate culture, the principle of diversity is firmly anchored. It takes all of us to establish a culture of equality – both inside and outside our work environment. So, we are very happy to be part of the Beiersdorf Pride Festival by setting an example together with OTTO, Deutsche Post, Google as well as our strong Pride communities.
Felix Steinhardt – Germany PRIDE Lead und Angelica Perez – Inclusion & Diversity Team Accenture DACH
All diverse – All people – All equal: According to these principles, people from the rainbow community have their permanent place in our company. As the LGBT*IQ network RainbowNet, we are proud to support Beiersdorf's Pride Festival together with our Group in making it a success.
Peter Steinhoff, Spokesperson RainbowNet at Deutsche Post DHL Group

You can access the program and livestream via the following website: Pride Festival (goes-virtual.de)

* LGBT*IQ is an English abbreviation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intergender, Queer and more.

Press Contact

Anke Schmidt
Vice President Corporate Communications & Government Relations

Beiersdorf AG
Unnastrasse 48
20245 Hamburg, Germany

Phone: +49 (0) 40 - 4909 2001

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