Taia Herasymova

My main areas of professional interest are project management, communications and digital security. I joined Insight as a volunteer back in 2008, worked in digital journalism and helped the organisation set up its processes. I launched update.com.ua, an educational project about feminism and mental health, created the course “How to write about LGBTQI+” for journalists, and a number of other projects that were no less interesting.

I am at Insight because here I have the feeling that I can influence change in the country. For myself and for the people close to me. And I am surrounded by people who are passionate about what they do.

What fuels me:

Varied and unusual tasks. At some points in life it is more interesting to put ideas into practice, at others — to design activities and break them down into details, to be sure the idea will have an impact.

Blitz interview:

What do you do when you’re not saving human rights?
Swimming, walks in nature and visual art.

Your favourite queer icon, and why them?
Vasyl Vyshyvanyi. Because Ukrainian history has its own queer heroes and heroines.

Materials and publications:

• “We try to explain to journalists how not to be homophobic and not to amplify homophobes” — the co-authors of the course “How to write about LGBTQI+”
• “For several years I didn’t give my mother flowers.” How to talk about 8 March with children, parents and colleagues
• Civil society and LGBTQI+ activism in Ukraine — America House Kyiv
• Men earn more and hold more power — the statistics
• Not an illness, not a crime, not propaganda: what to know about LGBTQI+ people and why there is nothing to fear
• How Ukrainian feminist and LGBTQI+ organisations work during the war
• Taisiia Herasymova — editor-in-chief and owner of Update.com.ua
• Sex scandals, myths, radicals and human rights: how Ukrainian online media cover LGBTQI+ topics
• Gender and equality in Ukraine: Europe must help and set requirements (KVINFO)
• Lessons From a Donation Campaign in Ukraine — SOGI Campaigns
• Insight’s Insights: “Words Hurt” in Ukraine, Too — SOGI Campaigns
• Meet the women leading the way in Europe — Euronews
• War Survival — GCN Magazine
• 20–22 September — lecture series and networking “How to write about vulnerable groups in an engaging and professional way”
• How to write about the LGBTQI+ community: a guide for journalists
• “Not like us” people. A lesbian, a gay man, a bisexual woman and a transgender person on their life in Ukraine