Naomi Bennett
Entrepreneur • Strategist • Speaker • Problem Solver
Founder, Lesflicks | Founder, Safflicks | Founder, SapphicIFF | Steering Committee Member, InterMediaUK
Naomi understands how people, systems and communities work, notices where they aren't working, and builds practical solutions.
I'm Naomi Bennett, an entrepreneur, strategist, community builder and independent film specialist.
For more than 20 years I've worked across corporate environments, start-ups, LGBTQ+ organisations, media and independent film. The industries have changed, but the thing I'm good at hasn't.
I look at something that isn't working, work out why, and find a practical way to make it better.
Sometimes that's a process. Sometimes it's a business. Sometimes it's helping someone turn a big idea into something achievable. And sometimes it's asking why an entire industry has accepted a problem for years and deciding to do something about it.
What I know about
Efficiency & Organisation
Making complicated things simpler.
Processes, workflows, project management, systems and problem solving. I love finding the unnecessary steps, joining up disconnected information and turning chaos into something people can actually work with.
LGBTQ+ Community & Engagement
More than 15 years of building, listening to and working with community.
I started Planet London in 2011 and have since built businesses, events, platforms and projects designed around LGBTQ+ people, particularly queer women. Today I also sit on the Steering Committee of InterMediaUK.
Independent Film & Distribution
Understanding what happens after someone makes the film.
Through Lesflicks, Safflicks and SapphicIFF I work across exhibition, festivals, audience development, streaming, distribution and filmmaker education.
I am particularly interested in the gap between independent films and the audiences actively looking for them.
Mentoring & Empowerment
Sometimes you don't need someone to tell you what to do. You need someone to help you work out what comes next.
I work particularly well with entrepreneurs, creatives and people with big ideas who need structure, clarity, accountability or simply another brain in the room.
I also speak.
I am available for panels, conferences, podcasts, workshops, corporate events and academic or industry discussions.
Topics include LGBTQ+ audiences and engagement, independent film, niche distribution, entrepreneurship, community building, neurodiversity, representation and turning ideas into action.
Available in the UK, Europe, US, Canada and Australia, in person or virtually.
Building things that make a difference
I've spent much of my career creating things because what I wanted, or what my community needed, didn't exist.
That started with Planet London and Planet Nation, continued through Lesflicks and Safflicks, and now includes SapphicIFF.
Different projects. Same instinct.
Find the gap. Understand the problem. Build something useful.
Awards
