Colt's Raquel Gabaldà Fernández shares why pride matters

Colt values the different perspectives brought by its diverse global teams.

The company's LGBTQ+ and Allies network, Pride Matters, aims to create a safe space for all LGBTQ+ employees and allies, raise awareness of issues that impact LGBT+ employees and encourages diversity and inclusion.

Meet Raquel Gabaldà Fernández, Colt's Lead Voice Engineer, based in Barcelona, Spain. She shares her experiences as a LGBTQ+ parent here.

Pride matters at Colt

Raquel didn't see herself becoming a mother for a long time, but since having a child, she feels natural as a parent.

"It all happened so quickly. For a long time, I didn’t want to be a mother. My partner, Vicky, had a child with a previous partner, and she always talked about having more children, but I didn’t think that it was for me," says Raquel.

"Things changed, we started talking seriously about it and imagining what it would be like. We had our first doctor’s appointment in April 2018. By September, Vicky was pregnant and in June 2019, Gaël was born."

"Having a child is a really good feeling. They really need you: you can’t just say that you don’t have time, you have to be there. Even though I wasn’t the one who gave birth, being a mother felt very natural to me, which I wasn’t expecting. During the first few months, he would wake up every hour at night: I would be the one to get up and check on him. Suddenly, I didn’t feel tired, I just didn’t have the need for sleep," she comments.

Employer with inclusive family leave

As a mother, Raquel has benefited from the Colt's inclusive family leave. The company has re-branded its family leave policy and moved away from gendered leave policy to offer primary caregiver and secondary caregiver entitlements.

"When Gaël was born, the law had just changed in Spain to allow co-parents to have 12 weeks parental leave. Colt HR helped me with the paperwork for this as well as other things, like childcare vouchers, and I felt really supported. Colt has now made parental leave more inclusive for all globally," explains Raquel.

Colt promotes LGBTQ+ awareness

Colt is committed to creating an open and inclusive environment where everyone can thrive. Raquel knows that she is supported by the company when sharing her LGBTQ+ experiences.

"It’s fine to not want to talk openly about being LGBTQ+ if you’re shy, but don’t not do it because you’re afraid of others’ reactions. I’m naturally quite shy, but the Pride Matters network at Colt has made it really easy to raise awareness, it’s fantastic," says Raquel.

"This year for Pride month, I’m making a video as part of Colt’s internal e-Pride, to talk about my experiences as an LGBTQ+ parent. We want to get to a point where two women being married and having a child together is normalised," she adds.