Match talks

Belgian deejay QUIVR is translating her love- affair with music in a unique mix of deep house, techno and tech house. She lived in Bali for the past 5 years and her soulful - and often dirty - beats seduced the crowds of the most famous nightclubs, beach parties and private events of the island. She shared the same stage with International renowned Dj's such as Nora En Pure, Prok & Fitch, My Digital Enemy, Croatia Squad, and more, in the underground scenes of Indonesia, Jakarta and Malaysia. After making her debut in Ibiza at the Woman Only-festival Velvet Ibiza, she relocated to Europe. Definitely no denying that she's back, she played at the Big Queer Party at 'The Antwerp Queer Arts Fesival', The Love United Festival at 'The Antwerp Pride', 'QUEERTRONIC', 'EXTRAVAGANZA', 'Velvet69' and many more.

Inke Gieghase (they/them) is a journalist, spoken word artist and queer activist. Through their work, they want to shatter taboos and do away with the rigid thinking that puts things into boxes. Inke may have grown up in Limburg, a province known for its residents' slow speaking style, but they are nevertheless living life hard and fast. When they are not performing on stage or interviewing interesting people, they can be found reading novels or working on their own novel and poetry collections. They are also heavily invested in the LGBTQIA+ community as a volunteer. Inke tends to say 'yes' to way too many requests and is always trying to learn new things, but those two things also mean that there is never a dull moment in their life. Inke will talk about the uselessness of gender labels in their Matchtalk.

Kis is an Afro-feminist artist, director and producer who is revolutionising the black Igbtq+ filmmaking scene. Most recently, she produced EXTRANOSTRO, a new groundbreaking webseries that offers a closer look at the black Igbtq+ and afro queer black community. Kis views herself as a militant artist, using art as a weapon to fight for social change and fight against all sorts of discrimination, notably sexism, racism and homophobia. She has directed and performed in shows across continents, in cities like Brussels, Montreal and Ouagadougou. Kis has set up her own casting business and has produced various medium length fiction pieces before focusing her attention on the production of the series EXTRANOSTRO.

A pioneer in the Belgian and international lesbian scene. Since the beginning of the 80's Carine has been one of the architects of the lesbian scene right here, in Brussels. She has organised the most epic all-girl parties in bars and clubs in Brussels and other belgian cities. During this period Carine became a real "jill of all trades" of the nightlife, juggling between being an event manager, DJ, marketing manager and party promoter. In 1999, she opened a club called the Gate that soon became an all- time favorite establishment to lesbians, until its closure in 2004. In 2010, Carine went on to create the legendary Velvet 69 parties, recurring lesbian nights in Brussels attracting women and top female djs from all around Europe. In 2015, she went on to launch the special velvet Ibiza edition, one the coolest all-girl getaways on the magical and party island of Ibiza. This year will mark the 5th Ibiza edition.

Britt is the founder of Match. Last year she started this non-profit organisation because she wanted to see more equality in business, nightlife and our society. She loves making people feel welcome and providing them with opportunities to have a good time. This of course with the right kind of custom made drinks and a stupid joke or two. In 2015, she won the silver medal at the Belgian Stella Artois Draught Master Championship. Around that time she was also granted the hospitality award in The Domincan, a luxurious hotel in Brussels. A year later Britt started her own company: BARONESS. She and her barteam have been available for providing top notch cocktails ever since. This for all sorts of private and corporate events, bar consulting and workshops. She is also known for creating new cocktails for brands, companies and influencers. Britt has lived and worked in Turkey and Argentina. She has a degree in Communication (Ghent), Tourism- and recreation (Brussels) and Professional Bartending (Dublin).

Ijeoma is a 23 year old Brit in Brussels working for public affairs consultancy Burson Cohn & Wolfe (BCW). She also worked in public affairs in England, including temporarily serving as the secretary for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Sickle Cell and Thalassemia. In her free time she enjoys going to dance classes and occasionally writing poetry. She can usually be found laughing quite loudly or dancing with abandon.

Lawrence is a digital political campaigner from Australia. He's worked on national, state and local elections, including Australia's same-sex survey, which successfully legalised equal marriage. In Brussels, Lawrence works for public affairs consultancy Burson Cohn & Wolfe (BCW) on EU and international communications campaigns. Lawrence is an enthusiastic dancer and a member of the Brussels gay waterpolo team.

Let Margaux take you on a musical journey. With her music she tells stories inspired by her own life and drifts you off into imagination. Melodic stories that brought her from Belgium to Berlin's underground, even participating at Pride in Brussels and Antwerp. Having recent success in different continents by playing in Egypt, Colombia to even obtaining a residency in Mexico as well as playing on the local radio, Margaux shows she and her music speak universally.

For two decades Jessica worked as a news correspondent (radio, print and television) in Turkey and surrounding countries. Nowadays she assists organisations and companies in bringing out the best in both women and men, becoming aware of how they can best support the women on their team, and making the most of our differences. Jessica organises workshops, talks and is a passionate personal coach.

Emilia is the founder & director of Eco Tours Mixua. She believes in an urban lifestyle that embraces fun, comfort and respect to nature. Emila was born in Argentina and grew up in Ghent. She studied Economics in Ghent. During that period, she discovered her passion for zero-waste and circular economy. Emilia enjoys strolling down the city streets discovering sustainable products, shops, ateliers, projects and passionate changemakers. She’s always searching for inspiring stories, which she loves to share through the Eco Tours and social media (@mixua.eco). The goal of the Eco Tours Mixua is to inspire people and companies interested in an eco-friendly lifestyle. Emilia is your guide for private tours (teambuilding, bachelor party, birthday party) and public tours (all dates online).

DJ ABENA Growing up in a musical family, DJ Abena fell in love with African music, dancehall and hip hop instantly. Since 2016, Abena makes people dance and enjoy the best Afro Beats, dancehall and hip hop tunes. In 2018, her career has gone international, being a resident DJ in Germany by Afroflame. This rising star is known for her energetic sets in Belgian clubs. She drives the crowd wild in the Carré, La Gare, Ikons, Roxy, Mango, La Rocca, Nice, Gatsby and Cafe Au Lait. She also played at several Belgian festivals such as Afro- Latino Festival, Bomboclat Festival, Grinta, Docklands, Laundry Day, Radiostad, Sfinks and Ubuntu. She is currently nominated as one of the best male Dj's in Belgium.

PhD scholarship recipient and a doctoral student at the department of Economics of Ghent University. She recently published a paper about transgenders descrmination at work.

Margot (22) is a a student in European and international law, with a passion for human rights and equality, non-discrimination and of course the right to love whoever we want. She works as an associate and spokesperson at Out For The Win, an organisation that aims to increase the visibility of LGBTQI people, transgender people, queers and intersex in sport. To achieve this, the organisation gives workshops and trainings to sports clubs and federations. Out For The Win also collects stories from LGBT athletes all over the world. In her spare time you can find Margot writing poems about love without revealing gender. This way she tries to contribute, in a playful way, to a society that accepts everyone for who we are, without prejudice and discrimination.

Gilhean Slater is Product Manager for an international media company covering EU policy and politics. Prior to this, Gilhean has worked for a range of different organizations including the UK Government representation to the EU, a Trade Association representing the accountancy profession at EU level and Friends of Europe, an international Think Tank working on political and social issues. Gilhean studied Modern European Languages at The University of Edinburgh, which included an Erasmus year in Grenoble, France, and a stint working in Italy. Originally from Scotland, Gilhean moved to Belgium for the excellent beer and of course, the great weather.

For almost 20 years, Alan has been a passionate facilitator, speaker and coach all over the globe. As diversity is part of his DNA, Alan has been involved in varied projects throughout his life with all kind of minority groups (culture, social class, age, gender, etc.) to organizing the Belgian Pride with his team. He has also facilitated senior management, middle management and employees towards an inclusive work environment for major global companies like Nestlé, Philip Morris International, L'Oréal, Solvay, Allianz, Sodexo, Hilti, Arkea, Heineken, Microsoft etc. This jack-of-all-trades is the director of Diversito, Project Officer at Curieus Brussel, Manager of upcoming artist LA Leonardo Alan and independent candidate on the One.

Nyiragasigwa, aka Nyira, is an actress, director, voice coach and art teacher. For ten years, she has been guiding youngsters in the art scene through poetry and performing arts. She appears in several TVshows and movies, including Los Zand, Quiz me Quick, Ademloos and Het Geslacht De Pauw. Nyira also created a monologue for children about her own life story and she was the director for Jaouad Alloul's first theatre monologue 'Zeemeermin'. Together with Jaouad, she founded vzw BeHuman, an organisation that wants to amplify the voice of people and their multi-layered identity. Only one month ago, Nyira co-organized the first POC Pride in Belgium. She received the award "Community Builder" for her efforts and outstanding work for 'Rwanda en zo veel meer', an organisation that represents the interest of people adopted from Rwanda living in Flanders. Nyira was a student at Studio Herman Teirlinck (Antwerp) and Conservatorium (Ghent). She was born in Rwanda and raised in Belgium.

DJ SAHRA Playing everything from dancehall and hip hop to afrobeats, kuduro and afrohouse, DJ SAI-ISA is infusing the night scene with stirring desert vibes and taking it to startling new heights. Her tunes make you move in ways you either forgot you could, or never knew you would. Turn up if you're in for a soulful night out on the town... She has been playing at Cafe Au Lait, Sfinks Mixed and many other events in Antwerp, Ghent and Brussels.

An & Sandy are the directors of C'est T-Afric. This duo from Antwerp produces fashion with a touch of 'pagne'. They upgrade comfy sweaters, T-shirts and accesoires with colourful African fabrics, in collaboration with their partners in Togo. Pagne is the French word for African fabrics.

This strong woman grew up in Tanzania, where she studied Political Science and Philosophy at the University of Dar es Salaam. In 2016 she fled her home country, as Tanzania is one of the 70 countries in the world where they criminalize same-sex relations. Today Lucy works as a freelancer for çavaria on projects related to LGBTQI migration. She is also an activist and active volunteer for several initiatives and organisations. You can find her at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, 11.11.11, Het Roze Huis in Antwerp and Groen on projects related to HIV, asylum, refugees and human rights for sexual minorities.