Hi, I’m Stephen but I like to be called Steve. I am 31 going on 67!

I’m a born Londoner, raised in the south-east, currently living in west.

My mother is Guyanese and my father is Bajan, and I haven’t perfected either one of the accents !
I am the youngest of four. I have one brother and two sisters. I’m the creative, rebellious one.

For the past three years, I have been involved in the London based charity, GMFA, which through a variety of ways promotes mental and physical health for gay men.

BIG-UP is a project under the GMFA umbrella which is specifically aimed at black men in the UK. We have just finished a mass media advertising project which will be hitting the gay press in the next few weeks.

I started volunteering for GMFA at a time in my life when I was looking to fill my time productively for a cause I believed in. I want to look in the mirror and know that I’m doing what I can to help me and guys who look like me.

Outside of the LGBT scene I spend way too much time on Facebook !
I’m also a  vocalist in a gospel house band called Eternal Sunshine. We’re currently rehearsing to perform in front of 10,000 youngsters in eastern Europe in the summer.

I also love to travel, which work affords me to do, and I have a soft spot for photography, which is a perfect hobby for me when I need ‘Stephen’ time. You can check my shots out at www.sunshine-photography-london.co.uk.

I also like to keep in shape by going to the gym and I keep the mind fresh by going to the theatre and reading inspirational material. May I recommend The Key, by Joe Vitale. It’s a great motivator.

I also love catching up with old friends, making new ones, going out dancing, and shopping.
I have a few friends from past workplaces and I have started to make some straight friends through my current work, but it’s a challenge because my life is a bit of a pink bubble.

I’m fortunate to have made a small network of friends who have supported me and stuck around over the last few years. I had a very strict religious upbringing, so when I came out five years ago, naturally I was rejected by friends at church I had grown up with. I had to create a new support system around me, which I am eternally thankful for. At last I can be myself, with my people!

Before that, I did a few years of recruitment in the city, which sapped the life out of me.

I always think to myself, if I had to do my job for free for one week would I stay? If the answer is no, it’s time to leave and pursue something better suited.

When you consider the fact that most of what constitutes popular culture derives from the black and/or gay community, how blessed are we to have the best of both worlds in our genetic make up. So I’d like to encourage everybody to work towards a unified black LGBT community.

The reality is that a black gay man or girl is out there in media and in the everyday London community, so we are being watched.
Let’s show them how fabulous and lovely we are. We are fortunate that we have laws and organizations out there to support us as a minority within a minority. So let’s come together and fuse amazing things for ourselves.

I’d like to leave my ten commandments with you, provided by the mother of success, Oprah:

1.    Don’t live your life to please others.
2.    Don’t depend on forces outside of yourself to get ahead.
3.    Seek harmony and compassion in your business and personal life.
4.    Get rid of the backstabbers - surround yourself only with people who will lift you higher.
5.    Be nice.
6.    Rid yourself of your addictions - whether they are food, alcohol, drugs or behaviour habits.
7.    Surround yourself with people who are as smart as or smarter than you.
8.    If money is your motivation, forget   it.
9.    Never hand over your power to someone else.
10.  Be persistent in pursuing your dreams.

Gay Black London is my newest venture, containing:

Interesting views, news & reviews of stimulating gay and straight events happening in London that may be of interest to the Black, Gay & Lesbian community.

www.gayblacklondon.co.uk