From black tie to a red lip.

ACCA member Pavlo Cherednychenko gives insight into his successful career but also his success in finding himself. 

Pavlo Cherednychenko Audit Director at Mazars discusses growing up in Ukraine, his journey finding himself, and how he is inspiring the next generation of queers in and out of the workplace. 

After moving from Ukraine to London over 10 years ago, Pavlo finally re-opened the door to finding out who he was - moving away from a conservative country allowing him to break from societal norms and explore his life as a gay man. 

He said “ Back in the mid-90s when I was growing up and finishing school, culture was very much cisgender - a very straight normative environment. I didn't explore myself as a queer gay man. 

“I almost shut myself down for maybe 10, 15 years. My relocation to London was a milestone and created a space and opportunity for me to be myself.” 

Pavlos’ role, at one of the U.K.’s largest accountancy firms Mazars, is about bringing people together and educating them on topics that often we forget to discuss, learn, and grow within the workplace. 

Pavlo said, “Creating a long-lasting impact on the community and on the people who identify as LGBTQ plus within a corporate environment, whether in the Ukraine or the U.K. can be too conservative or rigid for queer people like myself.”

Pavlo is also a passionate coach, mentor, and facilitator who works with people on their unique journeys to help them build sustainable futures.  

He added “It’s important to me to support the development of young people and upskill them, coaching them and develop their uniqueness and their unique skill set. 

With his work helping individuals and his successful career, Pavlo is passionate about speaking up for the LGBTQ+ community in all areas of his life. As well as working at Mazars, he is also a trustee at the LGBT consortium, a charity that supports over 400 organizations such as  Stonewall. 

“The charity supports these organizations from the grassroots, a one man or one woman shop somewhere, to organizations like Stonewall, with a wide range of resources, tools, and guidance on how to implement their charitable purpose and mission. 

“We have an intersectionally rich board and a passionate chairman. Every time we meet and debate, I love that there are a lot of actionable points for us to use to support the LGBT teams that we work with” Pavlo added. 

With opening doors to many businesses, peers in his workplace and individuals, it is clear Pavlo has a rich passion for helping others on their journey of self-discovery. But the door to his own self-discovery was one that took him a while to fully open and enter, it wasn’t until he added red lipstick to his black tie suit that he started to become who he always wanted to be. 

Pavlo said “I had a call with an amazing photographer, Fiona. She was doing an exhibition to raise awareness of the visibility of queers in the corporate world. I said I want to wear my suit. But I want to be suited and booted and I want to wear very bright makeup and lipstick. She loved the idea. She said I could see this happening. It's going to be so transformational.

 “So I put on the very bright red lipstick, and walked at nine o'clock in the morning for about 25 minutes from my friend’s flat to the Tate.

I embraced all the looks, all the confusion, all the guessing games that people were playing when they saw me.

This experience served a huge part of my transformational journey to becoming even more open about who I am and putting my picture in the open world, embracing a part of my personality and my identity as somewhat more feminine, which I didn't have enough time or patience or courage to express earlier.”

From individual transformation to his help transforming the workplace and individuals, Pavlo has done a lot for his community, now in his 40s Pavlo wants to remind queer people to “Ask for support, reach out and find somebody who is passionate to help you grow.”

LISTEN TO THE FULL CONVERSATION WITH PAVLO ON THE PROUD TO BE QUEER PODCAST:

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