Susan and Patricia

At 9:30 in the morning on 19 November 2013, Susan Olivia Shapcott made her public debut as a transgender person.

Standing beside her was her then-manager and unfailing champion, Patricia Borges. Also surrounding Susan were Barclays colleagues and teammates to support her in this life-changing moment.

Susan and Patricia had been working toward this for months, planning the milestones and engaging the colleagues who would help enable as smooth a transition in the workplace for Susan as possible. They succeeded, and shortly thereafter became co-heads of the transgender agenda of Barclays’ LGBT employee network, Spectrum. Years later they are still telling their story of mutual support and advocacy to not only Barclays colleagues, but also to the broader LGBT and ally communities.