Elliott Rae
Speaker, Author,
Social changemaker
I specialise in helping organisations support working fathers, improve men’s mental health and engage men in conversations around gender equality
Parenting Out Loud: supporting working fathers for wellbeing and gender equality
The truth about men’s mental health and what we can all do to help
What it means to be a man in 2024: allyship, equality & masculinity
Redefining male allyship: the role of men in gender equality
Empowering parents to navigate online misogyny with their children
Who am I?
Hello and thanks for your interest in working with me. I am looking forward to talking to you and seeing how I can help to support your goals and aspirations. I am hugely passionate about diversity, equality and inclusion and I enjoy using my voice to connect with people, increase understanding of some important issues and inspire behaviour and culture change.
As well as being one of the UK’s most prominent speakers on fatherhood, masculinity and men’s mental health, I am also the founder of the parenting platform MusicFootballFatherhood, called the ‘Mumsnet for Dads’ by the BBC. MusicFootballFatherhood is all about open conversations around fatherhood and we work with dads through content and community events to discuss topics such as loss, masculinity and mental health. I founded the platform after being diagnosed with PTSD as a new dad after the traumatic birth of my daughter.
I wrote about my PTSD, and bought other dads together to share their stories, in my new book DAD which is an Amazon Top 10 bestseller. DAD is a deeply moving collection of 20 stories that represent the diversity of modern fatherhood and challenges the traditional ideas of masculinity.
I presented the seminal BBC One documentary ‘Becoming Dad’ in January 2022. The documentary was one of the 20 most watched documentaries across the whole BBC network in 2022. I am a regular media commentator on issues around fatherhood and mental health, having written for The Independent and The Telegraph and featured live on Loose Women, BBC News, Channel 4 and Radio 5 Live.
My work was recognised by the United Nations and I was awarded the #HeForShe award by UN Women UK for my work in engaging men in conversations around gender equality.
I am also the co-founder of the Working Dads Employer Awards which celebrates employers that are supporting working dads. And I am the curator of the Parenting Out Loud campaign and culture change programme which support employers to build cultures where dads can be loud, proud and transparent about their parenting responsibilities at work.
I have had a long career in Diversity, Equality and Inclusion and have held senior roles, including as Head of DEI Delivery at HM Treasury.
You can read more about me and my story here.
How can I help you?
Are you aiming to create a workplace culture where dads are proud to ‘parent out loud’? Are you looking at doing more to support the mental health of your male colleagues? Are you trying to encourage more open conversations about masculinity and allyship and engage more men in your DEI activities?
I’m guessing the answer is ‘yes’ to at least one of those questions! I think I can help.
My work is all about presenting new ideas, creating inclusive environments for open conversations and being a catalyst for culture change. I love to challenge internalised beliefs and highlight how we can take action to create change.
I frequently work with people like you; DEI teams, HR leads, staff parenting networks, gender networks, leadership teams and passionate changemakers through workshops, webinars, keynotes, men’s listening sessions and senior leader roundtables.
All my sessions are emotive, raw, interactive and powerful. They are grounded in personal stories while incorporating the latest research, data and best practise.
I love to learn about your organisation’s challenges and tailor my work to help you to achieve your objectives. I’m here to support, whether by helping to break down ideas about gendered parenting roles, supporting your colleague’s mental health and wellbeing, engaging more men in your DEI and gender equality work, building an inclusive culture with allyship at the core or helping senior leaders to foster more inclusive relationships.
10+
150+
SOME OF THE ORGANISATIONS I’VE
WORKED WITH
What our clients say
How I can help your organisation: Workshops, Webinars and Keynotes
Parenting out loud: supporting working fathers for wellbeing and gender equality
This interactive session looks at how to support working dads through leadership and culture change
The truth about men’s mental health and what we can all do to help
This powerful and emotive session explores how we can all create a culture where men can talk openly
What it means to be a man in 2024: allyship, equality & masculinity
This ground-breaking session explores the challenges men face and how gender equality is beneficial to everyone; men, women and children
Redefining male allyship: the role of men in gender equality
This interactive webinar explores gender inequalities, privilege and highlights practical examples of how men and women can be allies to each other
Dads Do Hair: a haircare workshop for dads
These workshops are an opportunity for colleagues to learn new haircare techniques while having some conversations about connecting with their children.
Empowering parents to navigate online misogyny with their children
This interactive workshop explores the rise of online misogynistic influencers and how parents can navigate this with their children.
Parenting Out Loud: the workplace culture change programme to empower working dads
When dads parent loudly, they help normalise male caring in the workplace and role model this behaviour for others. They remove the stigma around male caring and help change the narrative around fatherhood in the workplace.
However, currently, 1 in 3 working dads don’t feel comfortable talking to their employer about family commitments.
Although many dads want to Parent Out Loud, we can’t ask dads to do so when they exist in cultures that don’t support it.
The Parenting Out Loud culture change programme supports organisations to build a workplace culture where dads can parent loudly.
The programme includes a full suite of activities aimed to support behaviour change. We combine a top-down and bottom-up approach and work with key people across your organisation: senior leaders, managers, new dads and staff network chairs to ensure all levels are enabled and supported in this culture change.
The programme includes roundtables with senior leadership teams, organisation-wide workshops, resources to support the formation and running of a staff dad’s network and coaching for new dads, including pocket-sized Parenting Out Loud handouts for dads.
How I can help your organisation: Men’s Listening Circles
Many organisations find it difficult to engage men in inclusion work. Men often feel that DEI work is not for them and that their voice is not necessary in the conversation. However, it’s essential that men are called in to inclusion conversations and that they understand the benefits of doing so for themselves and others.
These men’s listening sessions provide the opportunity for men at your organisation to share their perspectives and experiences in a safe, informal space.
These facilitated listening sessions seek to understand the workplace experiences and challenges of men across the business. The aim is to engage men, create a space for men to speak openly and honestly and build support for inclusion strategies while creating new male allies.
Topics discussed during the sessions will include: barriers to men engaging in DEI work, male allyship, fatherhood and equal parenting and men’s mental and physical health.
How I can help your organisation: Senior leader roundtables
The roundtable consultancy sessions aim to create a safe space for leaders to learn, be challenged and supported. I work with the senior leadership, using coaching techniques, to help them become the forward-thinking visionaries the organisation needs in regards to supporting working parents, creating effective allies, redefining masculinity and success and supporting mental health and wellbeing.
These sessions are particularly powerful when you are looking for an external expert to add another voice to the conversation, one that can share industry best practise and help leaders see the bigger picture.
As Featured In
Media
BBC One documentary – Becoming Dad
Loose Women – Katie Piper praises Dad who suffered from PTSD after traumatic birth of daughter for raising awareness
BBC News – I got PTSD after witnessing my daughter’s birth
The Guardian – Dad’s the word : how the pandemic got men talking about fatherhood
– read here
The Guardian – The struggle of fatherhood is real – so why are new dads often invisible in NHS advice
Grazia – All dads really want this this Father’s Day is Equal Parental Leave – And to be included in conversations about parenting
The Telegraph – How childbirth trauma and PTSD led me to start an honest conversation about fatherhood
Channel 4 Steph’s Packed Lunch – The dads encouraging men to talk about fatherhood –
The Independent – This is why The Rock’s message about fatherhood is s important to dads like me
BBC Documentary
On Wednesday 26th January 2022, the BBC aired Becoming Dad – the first TV documentary of its kind to bring issues around dads’ mental health, equal parenting, work-life balance and masculinity to the mainstream.
Becoming Dad is a primetime show that was broadcast on BBC One.
The documentary follows Elliott Rae as he makes his TV presenter debut. The show highlights the experiences and statistics around dads’ mental health and shines a light on how we can all play a part to recognise the importance of dads, de-gender parenting, challenge outdated stereotypes and support dads to be involved parents in the home.
Becoming Dad aims to raise awareness around the changing expectations that modern dads face. This emotional, raw and moving documentary invites viewers to follow Elliott as he relives his daughter’s traumatic birth with his wife, talks to his own dad about their relationship, and meets with expectant dads to talk about their anxieties and concerns.
Awards & Recognition
Blogs and Podcasts
The 74 uk employers offering Equal Parental Leave
The work on men’s issues is happening, but who’s been listening?
What does it mean for dads to ‘parent out loud’ at work?
How the Working Dads Employer Awards champions equal parenting
Elliott Rae – My story and career so far
How to support men’s mental health in the workplace
How to engage men in gender equality conversations
Read Elliott’s bestselling book DAD.
DAD is a deeply moving and inspiring collection of stories that represent the diversity of modern fatherhood and seeks to start a conversation that challenges the traditions associated with masculinity.
DAD includes 20 powerful and defiant stories about postnatal depression, becoming a new dad during the pandemic, miscarriage, widowhood, stillbirth, co-parenting, childbirth trauma, work-life balance, new dads at work, shared parental leave, being a stay-at-home dad, gay fatherhood and surrogacy, being a stepdad, black fatherhood, raising a child of dual heritage, being a single dad, faith and fatherhood, raising a child with autism, gender stereotypes and more.
DAD is an Amazon Top 10 and a Hive Top 20 bestseller. The book has been key to informing Government and NHS policy around supporting dad’s mental health and engaging men through the maternity process.
Music Football Fatherhood
musicfootballfatherhood.com is home to the online community of fathers, and men looking to be fathers in the future, from the UK and beyond. We are a resource and a space where dads can be free to talk, listen and read about things that are important to us; stuff like work-life balance, mental health, raising healthy and well rounded children, money management, relationships and of course music and football. We have content for fathers at all stages of your parenting journey, whether you are an expectant dad, working dad or even a grandad!
The modern father is a new breed. We are way more involved and present than ever before. But every father is different. Whether you are a single parent, father of a blended family, a stay-at-home dad or a father of quadruplets, we are here to inspire, inform and support you on your journey.
Working Dads Employer Awards
The Working Dads Employer Awards were launched in 2022 by Music Football Fatherhood and the University of Birmingham’s Equal Parenting Project. The awards were setup to celebrate and recognise employers that are doing great work to support working dads.
The inaugural launch event was held in Parliament in May 2022 at an amazing ceremony which was attended by some of the key journalists, campaigners and advocates for supporting parents in the workplace. The awards include four categories; flexible working, parental leave policies, supporting returning fathers and leadership and culture. Winners included Aon, John Lewis, Vodafone and Waltham Forest Council.
The awards also encourage employers to think more about what they do in this space and how they can better support fathers in the future to help working families, attract and retain top talent, close the gender pay gap and promote gender equality in the workplace. Partner organisations who have been instrumental in bringing these awards together include CBI, Business in the Community, Working Families, Global Equality Collective, Pregnant and Screwed, Fatherhood Institute and Future Men.
Find out more about the Working Dads Employer Awards here.
