Olena Shevchenko is a human rights defender and educator from Ukraine whose focuses are LGBT rights and women’s rights. She is chairperson of Insight, a public organization she and two of her friends founded and officially registered in 2008. Insight is unique among other LGBTQI organizations because of its inclusiveness and feminist approach. Before founding Insight, Olena volunteered for 3 years in a feminist-lesbian organization and was a senior teacher for 4 years at the National Pedagological University in Kiev. Today Insight, under her leadership, has become a visible and significant player for advocacy both nationally and internationally. In 2018 Olena fiunded a civic initiative “Womens march”, which brings together womens rights organizations and individuals, working on womens rights in Ukraine. More than 5000 people take part in 8 of march public assembly in Kyiv. In 2012 Olena was elected as a Co-chair of LGBT Council of Ukraine – a new all-Ukrainian umbrella association, where she is also the head of the advocacy and PR committees. In 2010 Olena was elected as a Board member of IGLYO (International LGBT youth organization) for a one-year term. This experience brings an international integration and globalization perspectives in to her local work.
