In September this year, I joined the Private Client team as a Private Client Stylist. I was with my previous company for over six years, and during that time I had colleagues leave and join FARFETCH—so it’s fantastic to be reunited with them once again.

Last year, a friend of mine who had left the company to join FARFETCH, had posted on their social media pictures of them wearing a specially designed ‘FARFETCH’ logo T-shirt to celebrate Pride, as well as other fun stuff in the office on the run up to the London Pride weekend. But the one thing that has always stuck in mind, was seeing Farfetchers walk in the Pride parade. I remember turning to another friend who I worked with at the time and saying: ‘Could you imagine us doing something like this?’

The answer was, of course, no. My prior company was quite conservative and, in my past position, I used to 'power dress' a lot to fit in with that particular company's image. But now I realise how stifling that can be when work becomes a significant part of your life. That’s another thing that I really love about FARFETCH: I can truly be me and am able to express my true self, including through how I wish to dress.

Fast-forward to this year, and my first week at FARFETCH ended with a ‘FARFETCH Live!’ (the fortnightly global update with our Exec team) - this ‘Live!’ showcased all of our different and diverse employee resource groups. I’ve always wanted to work somewhere that offers their teams a chance to come together and build communities that can support outside causes, so hearing about all the fantastic groups already set up has made me feel like I had come to the right place. And in a ‘full-circle’ sort of way, straight after that ‘Live!’ episode, I received a message from my friend at FARFETCH inviting me to join FarOut, our LGBTQ+ employee resource group. Obviously, I did so in a heartbeat.

And it’s that same welcoming spirit I received from my team members in Private Client. On day one, I logged onto our messenger app and was immediately overwhelmed with wonderful messages from people I didn't even know! Although I am yet to meet them in person, everyone has devoted time to video call, message, help out and train me - and I can already tell that there’s a wide mix of personalities, interests, talents and backgrounds, which I can’t wait to get to know. And I can’t wait for them to get to know me too—the real me. And that's what's truly great about FARFETCH—you are welcome. It feels like we have been hired for ‘us’ as humans, as much as we have for our expertise.

For those that have been at FARFETCH for some time, I can understand that at times it could be easy to forget some of the amazing things we have available to us here. The multitude of diverse colleagues and communities is just one of those. It may seem obvious, but it’s the simple things that matter the most: the fact we are working for a company that is willing to publicly support its diverse LGBTQ+ employees by participating in the Pride parade is huge. And while all of that's fun for us to be a part of internally, it’s also great for those outside of FARFETCH—visibility is important because that's what makes a long-term difference. If it made an impact on me, then I’m sure it could also have made an impact on the hundreds of thousands of people who attended or just happened to just pass by the parade last year: those people are potentially our customers. I’m sure that’s not why FARFETCH does it, but it's a reminder that if we create a space for us all to be amazing, then it’s only natural for us to 'Amaze our Customers' as a by-product of that.

I am proud to be a Farfetcher, and I am also proud to be a part of FarOut!

Written by Andrew Capocci