Birmingham's boldest women

Neelam Heera a Tedx Speaker founded Cysters after facing her own battles around diagnosis and care for PCOS, Endometriosis and PMDD. She saw first hand the disparities in health for people of colour and other marginalized groups, thus Cysters was born. Neelam felt that issues around reproductive health can often be trivialised by healthcare professionals and sexualised by racialized communities due to outdated cultural beliefs, male dominated spaces and patriarchy.

The work Cysters do is constantly evolving and changing to reflect the diverse population we service including most recently the organisation have changed their name to become inclusive of trans communities by removing the word woman. Due to this Neelam was faced with weeks of online abuse taking action to create inclusive places. Our charity logo was updated to reflect these changes, adding in the strap line, “Taking up space, together,” as a reflection of the ethos of the organisation.

Whilst we understand everyone has different barriers to healthcare or support, we want everyone to acknowledge that this is a respectful and safe space for everyone. Often marginalised communities are left out of conversations that concern them, they are not reflected in research, and they are never invited to the table to help make changes that will filter down to grassroots communities. Our logo reflects our need to create our own tables, reclaim our narrative and ultimate stand together to make a difference. Neelam’s work has been recognised by the Pride of Britain and Point of Light awards from the Prime Minister.