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We built bobu because we needed it. Turns out, so do you.
Safety that's lived,
not laminated.
bobu exists because we got tired of calculating.
Of living life under constant risk assessment. Feeling safe shouldn't be a privilege, but we know that it often is. Whether it's the news, the streets, or just scrolling online, it's hard to shake that constant hypervigilance.
For many of us, the real question isn't just "Am I safe?" It's "Who's got my back if I'm not?" Reaching out for help is a gamble.
If you're already feeling marginalised, asking for help can feel like putting a target on your back. So we built something different..
what bobu teaches
Read the room
Spot what’s happening. Notice signals in yourself and others. Speak up when someone crosses a line.
Intervene safely
Set clear boundaries without over-explaining. Choose words that keep you and others safe.
Defuse tension
Use calm body language and short phrases to reduce heat. Move a situation from reactive to responsive.
Support each other
Check in, follow up, and repair. Turn conflict into care and connection.
I know what it costs when your body knows and your voice won't work.
I grew up in Malta at a time when homosexuality was criminalised and lesbians were legally invisible.
I learned to read danger before I had language for it. Freeze, smile, calculate. Don't run. Don't speak. Don't exist too loudly.Fear followed me through childhood. Years later, I left an emotionally abusive relationship and found myself alone on the frontline. No backup. The places that said they were safe weren't. Staff hid behind smiles. Customers went quiet. That silence breaks everything.So I built something different. I opened a venue where safety wasn't a poster on the wall. It was lived, practised, sometimes messy.
bobu grew from that place and from the hard knowledge that people should never have to disappear to survive.
— Luciana Cousin, co-founder
I learned early how to disappear in plain sight.
For most of my life I felt like a human Excel spreadsheet. Constantly calculating what to wear, how to speak, how to hold myself, scanning exits, running safety scenarios in my head. All just to exist in public.Eventually I realised that waiting for a policy to protect me was a losing game.
Policies protect organisations. They don't help you when things get messy in the moment. So I stopped calculating and started shifting.
When a friend was attacked and had nowhere safe to turn, bobu was born. Because all the safety calculations in the world don't matter if your brain and your body freeze.
Safety is a right, not a luxury. And it shouldn't be hidden in a manual or outsourced to a distant HR department. Stop calculating. Start shifting.
— Nicholas Cousin, co-founder
Who we work with
We work with individuals, organisations, and anyone who serves LGBTQ+ communities.
From businesses and venues to corporate DE&I teams.
Anyone who wants safety to be more than a lanyard.
Businesses and venues
Hard moments are a given.
Make sure your team is ready.
Get bobu Certified and make safety visible.
Individuals
Learn to read the room, trust your instincts, and own your response.
Tools you carry everywhere..
Better together
We believe that people working together create something extraordinary. So we deliberately seek out collaborations with organisations and individuals who share our values and vision. Pride Community Foundation Brighton works with bobu to bring training and certification to Brighton venues and businesses through the Pride City Angels. bobu is also partnering with UCL to explore how practical safety training can reduce the constant calculation that LGBTQ+ people carry every day.
We say the things others won't.
Policies matter. But they don't help you when things get messy in the moment.
We've built and run our own venue, worked with communities, and trained organisations. We talk about what others are still tiptoeing around: what safety actually costs, what it takes, and what happens when you get it wrong.
Available for keynotes, panels, podcasts, and live Q&A.
You can't outsource safety. You have to own it.
Get started today with simple tools you can put into practice straight away.