In the ninth episode of Season 8 of the Meet the Mancunian Podcast, host Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe welcomes Advita Patel, founder of Comms Rebel. Advita shares her passionate journey towards fostering diversity and inclusion, recounting personal experiences of feeling excluded and how witnessing a colleague's poor treatment ignited her advocacy. Advita explains the inception of Comms Rebel, emphasising the importance of being a 'positive disruptor' in driving inclusive communication. She also discusses 'A Leader Like Me,' her initiative for underrepresented speakers, and the significance of micro steps in achieving social change. The conversation highlights Advita's challenges with identity and confidence, the impact of her work, and her upcoming role as president-elect for the CIPR, illustrating the profound effects of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the UK and beyond.   In Advita’s own words: “And I thought, you know what? We need a list of people who can put themselves out there, who want to speak and  want to have conversations. So I messaged a few of my friends, asked them to put their names on the list and then spread the word. And that's how the Underrepresented Speaker list started.” #Diversity #Inclusion #GM #manchester #SocialImpact #community #NonProfit   Did you know:  ·     The public relations profession faces a diversity challenge.CIPR data shows that 9 in 10 UK practitioners are White and 25% are privately educated – around four times higher than the UK national average. ·     In a recent CIPR report, over 73% of professional surveyed experienced barriers to progression while 72% faced discriminatory behaviour in the workplace.   Key resources: Comms Rebel Underrepresented Speakers List   Time stamps of key moments in the podcast episode & transcript:     (00:54) Meet Advita Patel: Champion of Diversity and Inclusion (01:37) Advita's Journey to Inclusion (05:46) Founding Comms Rebel (08:31) A Leader Like Me: Underrepresented Speaker's List (13:44) Overcoming Personal Challenges (18:20) Impact and Volunteering with CIPR (24:48) Advice for Starting a Movement (29:28) Signature Questions and Reflections   Listen to the episode and read the transcript on www.meetthemancunian.co.uk