Welcome back , you're smashing it . . .

The ethnic minority tick box question of ‘White, Black, Asian or Other (Please specify)’ on forms used to make me nervous I didn’t want to get it wrong or end up oversharing! I grew up with various step and foster parents who were all white and had no idea who my birth father was – but that wouldn’t fit in the brackets.

Uncomfortable about lying, and not sure ‘brown’ was specific enough, I landed on ‘Caramel Taupe – according to the paint chart in B&Q’ as the perfect mixture of telling the truth and diverting a difficult conversation with humour!

When it comes talking about to race, I’ve been scared I’ll say the wrong thing and offend someone. I had a bagful of questions I was too afraid to ask so kept quiet. After George Floyd’s death people a friend suggested I join in the conversation, which caused a little bit of sick to come up in my mouth. I realised that if we all avoid getting it wrong nothing changes, but if we all lean into curiosity and empathy there’s potential for a win. So I decided to be 10% braver.

I recorded this Facebook Live and invited anyone who wanted to have a conversation to reach out. Here are the lovely humans that did. It was fantastic and drove me to set up Difficult Discussion Day where those who wanted to could have open and honest conversations free from fear.