Booking.com’s Isobel Heikkinen on travel, trans visibility and workplace equality

Isobel Heikkinen isn’t just making travel easier for Booking.com customers; she’s building bridges of understanding and acceptance within the company and beyond. As a trans woman and advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, Isobel is using her platform to share her story, challenge assumptions, and inspire others to live authentically. She spoke to myGwork about how her role as Innovation Lab Specialist at Booking.com is more than a career; it’s a mission fuelled by personal experience and a genuine commitment to inspiring a more inclusive world.

Growing up in Finland, Isobel always felt a connection to the arts. “I was always drawing, painting, whatever I could, not really good, but I just like doing it,” she recalls. Her love for horror movies, a genre often associated with outsiders and taboo subjects, also played a formative role. “It’s a genre that kind of has outsiders, and it has a few more taboo things going on, which I think it’s something that people, especially in LGBTQ+ communities, can relate to.”

Isobel moved to the UK to study art history and eventually found her way to Booking.com in 2019. What drew her to the company was the opportunity to use her native Finnish language to assist customers. “It was nice to think that I could speak Finnish to a customer in England,” she says. But Booking.com offered more than just a chance to use her multilingual skills – Isobel also found a welcoming and inclusive environment where she could truly be herself.

“When I joined Booking, everybody was from different countries, and there were a lot of Finnish people,” she explains. “In addition to being an immigrant, being a trans person and being a part of the LGBTQ community, there were people also in Booking who were part of that community. So, I thought ‘okay, this feels more homely’.”

Booking.com’s commitment to diversity extends beyond mere representation, though. The company encourages an incredibly accepting environment and provides consistent resources for LGBTQ+ employees and their allies. “There’s no shame. Freely be yourself. Freely wear your rainbows, everything,” Isobel says. The Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) offer a space for community building, education, and advocacy, with events like book clubs, movie nights, and volunteering opportunities.

Isobel’s personal journey as a trans woman has been a lifelong process. “I represent the T in LGBTQIA+. I’m a trans woman, and to be honest, that has been my identity in a way since I was a child,” she shares. Growing up in the 90s and early 2000s, a less informative time for trans issues and representation, Isobel waited until she felt secure before coming out at 19. It was, as she describes, like waking up from a long sleep, finally free to live as her true self. “It feels like you’re hibernating, and then you finally wake up. That’s how I like to think about it. I’ve been just hibernating those first 19 years, just watching the world go by around, and you’re frozen in place.”

Despite her trepidation, Isobel’s coming out experience was surprisingly positive, with her family and even her grandparents embracing her identity. “It was the best day. With my grandparents, I was so sure that they are not going to be in my life. I had already accepted that because they’re an older generation. they live in farmland. But even they had no problems when I came out,” she recounts.

This positive experience highlights the importance of sharing such stories, especially in a media landscape often dominated by negative narratives surrounding the trans community. “It’s important to hear that not just for trans people, but everybody. There are parents around and it’s important for them to hear that they can love their child,” Isobel emphasises. “It doesn’t require a huge sacrifice to accept them.”

In her current role in innovation, Isobel has found a space to develop her skills and contribute to making processes better for customers. She appreciates the autonomy and freedom to explore new approaches, a stark contrast to the more rigid environments she experienced in retail earlier in life. “I can freely develop myself and it’s encouraged,” she says. “I can kind of seek my own paths. It gives a bit of more freedom.”

A standout moment in Isobel’s career was participating in a Pride month panel discussion about activism and life experiences. “It was my first one I ever did, and feedback was really good. So, I thought ‘okay, maybe this is something I should think about for my career’,” she says. This experience helped her overcome her shyness and realise her potential as a speaker and advocate.

Looking at the broader landscape of diversity and inclusion, Isobel has observed positive developments in the corporate world. She notes the increased emphasis on diversity in learning and development programs, as well as the growing visibility of trans issues in workplace policies. “Obviously as a trans person, I love seeing when we talk about preferred pronouns and when the company allows you to put them out on your emails and your profiles and not hush it out. We’ll see that and know it’s a sign they want to allow you to be yourself,” she emphasises.

However, Isobel acknowledges the challenges that remain, particularly the recent backlash against trans rights in the UK and the decline in Pride celebrations among companies. She urges businesses to reaffirm their support for the LGBTQ+ community and advocates for a future where identity doesn’t matter and everyone is treated equally. “I think I would love to encourage and challenge these companies to get back in there. Companies can shift the attitudes of people, so it’s very important that they show their support – not just in Pride month, but throughout the year.”

Despite the current political climate, Isobel remains optimistic about the future, drawing hope from the younger generation’s open-mindedness and acceptance. She recounts a volunteering experience at a local school where the students were respectful, asking about and respecting pronouns. “I would like to believe that there’s some hope in the future generations,” she says. “Though right now, it’s maybe pulling a bit backwards, I can’t wait for the pendulum to swing the other way again.”

Booking.com is a proud partner of myGwork, the LGBTQ+ business community. Find out more about LGBTQ+-friendly job opportunities at Booking.com.