Naimuri employee wins 'Role Model of the Year' at LGBTQ+Defence Awards

We are delighted to announce that Ruth Mills won 'Role Model of the Year' at the LGBTQ+Defence awards.

All of the team at Naimuri are really proud of Ruth and the work she delivers and what she has accomplished and how she is a voice for the LGBTQ+ community. Congratulations!

Here are a few words from Ruth, about the event:

"I was honoured to represent Naimuri at the prestigious LGBTQ+ Defence awards at the Connaught Rooms in Covent Garden, London, with colleagues from QinetiQ's JustLike-Q group Lotts Garcia, who was nominated for the Advocate of the Year Award, her husband and Lana Chapman).

I also represented Naimuri's other nominations (Alice Spreckley for Team Leader of the Year, Rose Carney for Ally of the Year, and Naimuri's DE&I Power Group as LGBTQ+ Network or Initiative of the Year).It was a very glitzy black Tie event, with many people wearing military uniforms, often bedecked with several medals.

The event opened with impassioned speeches from Deborah Mills-Burns and Colonel Grace Sangster-Wall (the latter who is the highest ranking transgender officer in the British Army, and who gave a frank and personal account of how the current transphobic rhetoric in the UK had affected her and others).

After a delicious three-course meal, we were treated to three songs from Chelsea Pensioner Colin Thackery (who won Britain's Got Talent in 2019 back when he was 89 years old).As the first few categories of the awards were announced, I was in awe at the amazing work done by military personnel and others working in Defence towards LGBTQ+ inclusion and acceptance.

When my category (Role Model of the Year) was announced, I was absolutely gobsmacked to be announced as the winner; in hindsight, I think that's because a lot of what I do just feels normal, even "business as usual".

But it's a real testament to Naimuri and the wonderful inclusive culture that we have here (which was also a key factor in me choosing to join Naimuri back in 2023).After collecting my award on stage (and feeling incredibly star struck), I was led down to the lobby, where I gave a short interview on camera about what it meant to me to win my award, where I mentioned about the issues faced by the trans community today in 2025 - both in the US and here in the UK.

I also got to talk about Naimuri and the amazing work we do, and finally honoured my father's and my wife's grandparents military service in the Signals in World War II in support of the Allied war effort fighting fascism, and being proud to continue in their footsteps today.

I feel a strong sense of mission to continue with the LGBTQ+ advocacy work that I do, and am looking forward to more public speaking opportunities over the coming months, where I hope to build on the talks I've previously given at Reframe and at Manchester Tech Festival in being a role model for the LGBTQ+ community in our mission space".