All about Andrea King
The person in those photos is
the same person.
Yes, the person in those photos you just saw on my home page is the same person writing this. I know. I get that reaction a lot.
The photo and video on the right here are of Andy the Viking. Tattooed, braided, 17 stone, spent his weekends throwing people out of nightclubs and his weekdays teaching soldiers how to fight without weapons and going to the gym. Not, on the face of it, someone you'd expect to end up here.
I grew up in Sutton Coldfield, a pleasant middle-class suburb of Birmingham. Close friends, a happy childhood, the kind of upbringing most people would consider pretty normal. And in many ways it was. But Andrea was always there, quietly, underneath all of it - even when I didn't have the words for what that meant.
I worked for the British Army as a civilian for nineteen years, in a number of roles including unarmed combat instruction - surrounded by people for whom toughness wasn't a personality trait, it was a job requirement. I earned a black belt in karate. I worked the doors as a bouncer. I was also a matchday steward at Aston Villa, where I led the Sierra Squad snatch team. I was, by every external measure, about as far from vulnerable as it's possible to get.
Then came the corporate world.
Over twenty years in senior leadership roles, managing teams across the Philippines, India, Bulgaria, Brazil, the United Kingdom and Gibraltar. I was good at it. I genuinely loved it.
And the whole time, I still knew.
At 55, I made the decision to transition. Looking out across the marina from the Gibraltar apartment I shared with my then fiancée Mandy. I broke her heart that night but there was no going back, no reverse gear, no choice. Released from a life-sentence of pain, the relief was overwhelming.
Mandy stayed. Not unchanged - she described it later as a living bereavement, losing someone while they were still standing right in front of her. She's remained here as my best friend and support, and actually runs this business with me, which tells you everything you need to know about her.
I didn't leave the corporate world behind – I used it. While living as Andrea, I became heavily involved in building the LGBTQIA+ employee network at Entain. In 2025, that network was named Outstanding LGBTQIA Network of the Year at the Employee Network Awards, held at the London Hilton on Park Lane. I know what it takes to build something that genuinely works - because I've done it from the inside.
Which is exactly why I think I might be the right person to help your organisation.
I built my career inside corporate culture - I know how it works, how it thinks and where it falls short. I paid the price of hiding who I am for fifty years. And the transgender experience isn't something I've researched - it's a life I'm actually living.
Nobody else brings that combination to the table. That's not arrogance - it's just true.
I do this work because my unique story brings an understanding that others simply haven't experienced. I want to use that to build something that lasts - organisations where inclusion is genuinely embedded in culture, leadership and everyday behaviour, not just written into a policy that nobody reads.
If any of that resonates with you, I'd love to talk.
