Yasmin Benoit

Yasmin Benoit is an award-winning asexual activist, writer, speaker, researcher, British model and project consultant. She began modelling as a student with the aim of providing more diverse representation for Black women, and continued to appear in campaigns for brands like Mercedes and Ann Summers after graduating from UCL in 2019.

She was soon dubbed the “unlikely face of asexuality” by Cosmopolitan Magazine after publicly coming out as aromantic-asexual in 2017. Soon after, Yasmin created the popular #ThisIsWhatAsexualLooksLike movement to show that there is no asexual way to look or dress, which has been embraced by asexual people worldwide. She later became a board member of the Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) and co-founded International Asexuality Day.

Her unconventional approach to activism has attracted the attention of international press, including British Vogue, Glamour Magazine, Buzzfeed, Paper Magazine, i-D Magazine and Sky News. She became the first asexual person to appear on the cover of Attitude Magazine, has presented for BBC Sounds and BBC 3, and even opened the world’s first asexual pop-up bar in partnership with Budweiser.

In 2021, Yasmin won an Attitude Pride Award for her activism, making her the first openly aromantic-asexual activist to win an LGBTQ+ award. She was also featured on the Attitude101 Influential Figures List as a ‘trailblazer’ in ‘The Future: Under 25’ category and made the Visible100 List as a Community Campaigner.

Last year, Yasmin launched the UK’s first asexual rights initiative – the Stonewall x Yasmin Benoit Ace Project – in partnership with Stonewall. They are producing a groundbreaking report into asexual discrimination in the UK. Afterwards, Yasmin won ‘Campaigner/Influencer of the Year’ at the Rainbow Honours and became a celebrity ambassador for The Prince’s Trust.

Suggested talks:

An Introduction to Asexuality: Yasmin regularly provides talks to businesses looking to improve EDI in the workplace. She has an insider’s understanding of the issues which face the asexual community, and provides professional advice on how to tackle the misconceptions that surround it. Her talks also include an introduction to the definitions and terminology around asexuality, such as aromanticism, amatonormativity and the Split Attraction Model, an exploration of intersectionality within Blackness and Feminism, and a comprehensive overview of recent asexual history.

Image credit above: Jack Alexander (@jackalexanderuk).