{"id":1669,"date":"2023-02-13T08:20:08","date_gmt":"2023-02-13T08:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/?p=1669"},"modified":"2023-02-10T17:20:32","modified_gmt":"2023-02-10T17:20:32","slug":"cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/","title":{"rendered":"Cynthia So, EDIC Coordinator, Human Resources Division"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"512\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-1670\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/files\/2023\/02\/23-02-Imperial-People_LGBT_Twitter_Cynthia-1024x512.jpg\" alt=\"Cynthia So\" \/><br \/>\n\u201cIt can sometimes be tricky to find spaces where I feel like I can be fully myself, but with the EDI Centre, I just knew that I belonged\u201d<\/h3>\n<p>I studied Classics at the University of Oxford. As a university student I was already very involved in equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) \u2013 amongst other things, I was on the Oxford University Student Union LGBTQ+ Campaign Committee, and I was the Black and Minority Ethnic Officer at my College. I organised LGBTQ+ film screenings and discussion groups, and dinners to celebrate festivals like Diwali and Lunar New Year. I didn\u2019t imagine back then that EDI was a field I would work in professionally though \u2013 I didn\u2019t realise it was an option!<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>After graduating in 2016, I started working at Imperial as a Management Trainee, rotating to a different area of the College every six months. Soon I heard that it was possible to request a placement in the EDI Centre, so of course I jumped at that chance. I loved the team and the work immediately. It can sometimes be tricky to find spaces where I feel like I can be fully myself (as a bi and nonbinary person of colour), but with the EDI Centre, I just knew that I belonged.<\/p>\n<p>I was delighted to get a permanent role within the EDI Centre in 2020. I now work as a coordinator, putting on training and events and supporting our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperial.ac.uk\/equality\/staff-networks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">staff networks<\/a>. I\u2019m also the Secretary of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperial.ac.uk\/equality\/governance\/disability-action\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Disability Action Committee<\/a>, and I work on our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperial.ac.uk\/equality\/accreditations\/stonewall\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Stonewall Workplace Equality Index<\/a> submission to help make the College more inclusive for LGBTQ+ people. It made me very proud to see Imperial recognised as one of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperial.ac.uk\/news\/234058\/imperial-stonewalls-top-100-employers-lgbtq\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Stonewall\u2019s Top 100 Employers for LGBTQ+ people<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n<p>Outside of my day job at Imperial, I\u2019m an author and I love writing queer stories. My first novel was published in June last year. It\u2019s called <em>If You Still Recognise Me<\/em> and it\u2019s a coming-of-age romance about Elsie, who has a crush on Ada, a girl she met online through a shared fandom. The summer before university, Elsie decides she wants to make a grand gesture to confess her feelings for Ada, but along the way she runs into her long-lost best friend, and things don\u2019t quite go according to plan. It\u2019s just been shortlisted for the Waterstones Children\u2019s Book Prize, which is thrilling news. I\u2019m very excited to attend the award ceremony next month!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cIt can sometimes be tricky to find spaces where I feel like I can be fully myself, but with the EDI Centre, I just knew that I belonged\u201d I studied Classics at the University of Oxford. As a university student I was already very involved in equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) \u2013 amongst other things, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1693,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[288073],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-support-staff"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Cynthia So, EDIC Coordinator, Human Resources Division - Imperial people<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cynthia So, EDIC Coordinator, Human Resources Division - Imperial people\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cIt can sometimes be tricky to find spaces where I feel like I can be fully myself, but with the EDI Centre, I just knew that I belonged\u201d I studied Classics at the University of Oxford. As a university student I was already very involved in equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) \u2013 amongst other things, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Imperial people\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-13T08:20:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/files\/2023\/02\/23-02-Imperial-People_LGBT_Twitter_Cynthia-1024x512.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Laurie Anderson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Laurie Anderson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Laurie Anderson\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/#\/schema\/person\/9c82a214cfefc6f15caf13fe599c13d4\"},\"headline\":\"Cynthia So, EDIC Coordinator, Human Resources Division\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-13T08:20:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/\"},\"wordCount\":421,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/files\/2023\/02\/23-02-Imperial-People_LGBT_Twitter_Cynthia-1024x512.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Professional staff\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/\",\"name\":\"Cynthia So, EDIC Coordinator, Human Resources Division - Imperial people\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/files\/2023\/02\/23-02-Imperial-People_LGBT_Twitter_Cynthia-1024x512.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-13T08:20:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/#\/schema\/person\/9c82a214cfefc6f15caf13fe599c13d4\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/files\/2023\/02\/23-02-Imperial-People_LGBT_Twitter_Cynthia-1024x512.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/files\/2023\/02\/23-02-Imperial-People_LGBT_Twitter_Cynthia-1024x512.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cynthia So, EDIC Coordinator, Human Resources Division\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/\",\"name\":\"Imperial people\",\"description\":\"A look behind the scenes with the staff who make Imperial tick\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/#\/schema\/person\/9c82a214cfefc6f15caf13fe599c13d4\",\"name\":\"Laurie Anderson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3ecdbf340d42ae195ba3db6d9b46ffa137557065f05f4381293b4faf0f08ad21?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3ecdbf340d42ae195ba3db6d9b46ffa137557065f05f4381293b4faf0f08ad21?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3ecdbf340d42ae195ba3db6d9b46ffa137557065f05f4381293b4faf0f08ad21?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Laurie Anderson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/author\/landers1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cynthia So, EDIC Coordinator, Human Resources Division - Imperial people","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cynthia So, EDIC Coordinator, Human Resources Division - Imperial people","og_description":"\u201cIt can sometimes be tricky to find spaces where I feel like I can be fully myself, but with the EDI Centre, I just knew that I belonged\u201d I studied Classics at the University of Oxford. As a university student I was already very involved in equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) \u2013 amongst other things, [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/","og_site_name":"Imperial people","article_published_time":"2023-02-13T08:20:08+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/files\/2023\/02\/23-02-Imperial-People_LGBT_Twitter_Cynthia-1024x512.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Laurie Anderson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Laurie Anderson","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/"},"author":{"name":"Laurie Anderson","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/#\/schema\/person\/9c82a214cfefc6f15caf13fe599c13d4"},"headline":"Cynthia So, EDIC Coordinator, Human Resources Division","datePublished":"2023-02-13T08:20:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/"},"wordCount":421,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/files\/2023\/02\/23-02-Imperial-People_LGBT_Twitter_Cynthia-1024x512.jpg","articleSection":["Professional staff"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/","name":"Cynthia So, EDIC Coordinator, Human Resources Division - Imperial people","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/files\/2023\/02\/23-02-Imperial-People_LGBT_Twitter_Cynthia-1024x512.jpg","datePublished":"2023-02-13T08:20:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/#\/schema\/person\/9c82a214cfefc6f15caf13fe599c13d4"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/files\/2023\/02\/23-02-Imperial-People_LGBT_Twitter_Cynthia-1024x512.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/files\/2023\/02\/23-02-Imperial-People_LGBT_Twitter_Cynthia-1024x512.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/02\/13\/cynthia-so-edic-coordinator-human-resources-division\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cynthia So, EDIC Coordinator, Human Resources Division"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/","name":"Imperial people","description":"A look behind the scenes with the staff who make Imperial tick","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/#\/schema\/person\/9c82a214cfefc6f15caf13fe599c13d4","name":"Laurie Anderson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3ecdbf340d42ae195ba3db6d9b46ffa137557065f05f4381293b4faf0f08ad21?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3ecdbf340d42ae195ba3db6d9b46ffa137557065f05f4381293b4faf0f08ad21?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3ecdbf340d42ae195ba3db6d9b46ffa137557065f05f4381293b4faf0f08ad21?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Laurie Anderson"},"url":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/author\/landers1\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1693"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1669"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1676,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1669\/revisions\/1676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}