All my friends were doing just dumb stuff that kids do, like making out with people at parties and starting to date... I didn't know any gay people growing up or any queer people growing up, and so I just really felt alone and kind of lost, and I just wasn't experiencing life.

I watched pretty much every coming out video on YouTube that has ever been posted; I watched it in between 14 and a half and 15. Those coming out videos, and those people on YouTube, those brave, brave, brave people on YouTube, without them, I don't know where I'd be.

Before I came out, the thought of someone calling me gay, even when I knew very well that I was, was petrifying.

Someone actually asked me once if I used coming out as a publicity stunt. It's cool that we live in a time when being gay could be seen as helping your career.

I think it's nice to work and then have success.

As long as I have ambition, maybe I can achieve something for my country.

In 2003, Travelex acquired Thomas Cook Financial Services. We only had use of the Thomas Cook name for five years, so I had to increase public awareness of Travelex to migrate all Cook operations over to it. It was a success.

Getting to the point where a cause goes from being a terribly daunting task with a handful of adherents to an acknowledged success with momentum and many allies is a rarity.