Cynthia Fortlage

Born in Ireland, Cynthia is a global nomad and entrepreneur currently living in London, UK.

Cynthia identifies as a white, queer woman with a transgender history and is an international award-winning LGBT+ executive, entrepreneur, and board leader.

In recent years, Cynthia served as President of the Rainbow Resource Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and was the national chair for Women’s March Canada a feminist organisation. Currently, she is serving on the boards of Stonewall Housing in the UK, as well as OutRight Action International based in New York City, a global LGBTIQ+ human rights organisation and the United Nations Secretariat on LGBTIQ issues.

Cynthia grew up in Canada, and for 30 years, Cynthia was an information technology executive. She worked in technology, process simplification, and strategy, then grew into developing intentional corporate cultures, leaders, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

Cynthia founded CAF Services in 2017 and dedicates herself to helping corporations, organizations, and individuals navigate gender-related issues to create safe spaces where people feel they belong. Cynthia brings one leader with two genders of experience to every engagement and has coined the important term #AcceptancewithoutUnderstanding™.

A prolific public speaker, Cynthia has spoken at 300+ events in 30+ countries. Cynthia used to take her coffee black, but since moving to the UK has taken up tea drinking again, and she likes it neat.