Meet Cynthia Fortlage
I’m Cynthia, a London-based speaker, writer, mentor and former Chief Information Officer. I’m also the founder of The FORTLAGE Collective and the creator of Acceptance without Understanding™.
My work draws on more than three decades in business, leadership within the women’s movement, international human rights advocacy and my own experience of change.
People come to me for different reasons. Some want to open a conversation within their organisation. Others are exploring something through my writing, or looking for someone to think alongside them. What connects those encounters is my interest in how we live, work and treat one another, especially when the answers are difficult to find.
The experiences I bring with me
I was born in Belfast, grew up in Canada, spent a year in South America, and now make my home in London. Each place has shaped my sense of belonging, and what it means to build a life through change.
For more than 30 years, my professional world was technology and business. I spent over 25 of those years as a Chief Information Officer, carrying responsibility for people, budgets and decisions that affected an organisation beyond my own team. That experience still informs how I work with leaders. I understand the pressures of making decisions when the consequences matter and the information is incomplete.
The women’s movement was where I first became involved in advocacy. After two and a half years on the board of Women’s March Canada, other women appointed me as their national leader. That remains a meaningful part of my story. It taught me about collective leadership, listening and the responsibility that comes with being trusted to represent others.
My governance experience has also included serving as President of Rainbow Resource Centre and on the board of Outright International, supporting LGBTQ+ human rights internationally.
These environments asked different things of me. They also showed me how much depends on who has power, whose experience is heard and whether people feel able to participate.
Why this work is personal
I am a queer woman with a trans+ history, and a parent to two adult children.
Coming out while serving in the C-suite brought questions of identity, credibility and belonging into my own working life. Some things I had understood intellectually became much more immediate. I experienced how differently the same person could be seen, and how much that could change the way people responded to her.
That experience is part of what I bring to my work, alongside everything I had learnt before it and have continued to learn since.
I care about creating spaces where people can speak honestly and be treated with dignity. I also know that difficult conversations can be uncomfortable, that good intentions do not always prevent harm, and that we sometimes discover we have more to learn than we expected.
I bring my own experience into those conversations while leaving room for other people’s experiences to be different.
Acceptance without Understanding™
Acceptance without Understanding™ began during a difficult period in my own life in 2016. I was trying to understand what acceptance meant within relationships, and why love alone did not always seem to be enough.
Over time, it became central to my work: we can recognise another person’s dignity without first understanding their experience or agreeing with them.
Acceptance does not mean accepting harassment, deliberate harm or exclusion. It means that another person’s humanity is not something they must earn by making sense to us.
My thinking has continued to develop. I now explore what acceptance can mean when life itself does not give us the explanation we want, through loss, change, uncertainty or an ending we did not choose.
These questions run through my speaking and writing because they are questions I have lived with, too.
How we might work together
Speaking
I bring storytelling, executive experience and thoughtful challenge to conversations about leadership, gender, belonging and acceptance. Whether we are in a conference hall or a smaller conversation, I want people to have space to reflect, question an assumption and consider what they might do differently.
Writing
Writing gives me room to stay with questions that deserve more time. My books and essays explore leadership, women’s experiences, mentoring and how we live with one another and with the things we may never fully understand.
Explore my writing and books →
Mentoring
Sometimes you need space to think with someone who brings experience, care and a different perspective. As a certified mentor, I work alongside people navigating leadership, career decisions and personal change, helping them explore their choices and decide how they want to move forward.
For organisational leadership development and advisory work, visit The FORTLAGE Collective.
Experience and recognition
I have worked with more than 500 organisations across over 30 countries, bringing together executive leadership experience, mentoring and advocacy.
My work has received recognition across technology, leadership and LGBTQ+ inclusion, including the Financial Times/INvolve LGBT+ Executives lists and the DIVA Power List 2026.
I remain involved in advisory and community work because these relationships keep me learning, listening and connected to the lives and decisions behind the subjects I speak and write about.
Selected Awards
.png)
How I try to show up
I do not need to fully understand another person before recognising their dignity.
Start with acceptance
Stay curious about what I think I know
Some of my most important learning has begun by discovering that an assumption I carried was incomplete.
Say the difficult thing with humanity
Disagreement does not require disrespect, and kindness does not require avoiding difficult conversations.
Use what I have to create space for others
Experience, access and visibility matter most when some of them are used to make the path easier for someone else.
Selected Collaborations and Affiliations
Cynthia collaborates with organisations, networks, and advisory groups across sectors, contributing to leadership, inclusion, and organisational conversations at both strategic and practical levels.These relationships reflect ongoing engagement with global leadership, human rights, and organisational development communities.
International Contributions
Regular digital participant with UN Women UK at the Commission on the Status of Women, contributing to global dialogue on gender and leadership (participating annually since 2023).
What could we explore together?
You may have an event in mind, a question prompted by something I have written, or a decision you would like to think through with someone.
For mentoring, writing, interviews and other collaborations, you are welcome to contact me directly at cynthiafortlage@cynthiafortlage.com.
Speaking enquiries, including keynotes and panels, are managed by my representatives at Chartwell Speakers.