Darren Styles
Darren Styles OBE is an award-winning writer, publisher and event organiser who, for 30 years, has been running his own publishing companies producing magazines either for third-party clients or for sale on the news-stand.
He is the Managing Director, founder and owner of Stream Publishing, which has previously produced customer magazines and online content for Vauxhall, Cunard, Liberty of London, P&O Cruises, CityJet, Flybe, SPAR.
Perhaps most significantly, however, he is the owner of Attitude, the UK and Europe’s biggest-selling LGBTQ lifestyle magazine, which – across print, digital, online, social and live events – is now the world’s biggest LGBTQ+ media brand. Attitude sells in print in 31 countries, is available for download worldwide while online and across multiple social channels has a monthly reach that extends to millions.
Through Attitude, he has become a high-profile figure within the LGTBQ+ community, and was been named by the Financial Times as one of the UK’s Top 100 LGBTQ+ business executives for three successive years.
Darren also created the Attitude Awards in 2012, which just marked its fourteenth year, which honours key figures from, or allied to, the international LGBTQ+ community. Those who have attended to collect or present awards have included His Royal Highness Prince Harry, Sirs Elton John and Ian McKellen, Dames Shirley bassey, Joan Collins and Elaine Paige, Cher, Sam Smith, Kylie and Dannii Minogue, Yoko Ono, Laverne Cox, Jess Glynne and Whoopi Goldberg.
“It’s not to be taken lightly,” he says, “that this magazine – over more than 30 years – has inspired countless people to come out, be proud of who they are, and love and celebrate what makes them them different.
“It was Attitude that carried George Michael’s first interview as an out, gay man, that Sir Elton John and David Furnish spoke exclusively to about getting married on the first day it was legally possible to do so and that became the first and only LGBTQ+ title to interview a future British sovereign, when His Royal Highness Prince William, Prince of Wales, graced the cover in summer 2016.
“This visibility changes people’s lives – they tell us so every day.”
Having raised more than ÂŁ250,000 for the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Darren established the Attitude Magazine Foundation in June 2018 and has since raised close to ÂŁ600,000 for LGBTQ+ causes. He is also an Ambassador for Downing Street's GREAT Britain Campaign, promoting the UK as a place to invest, get an education or simply visit.
Darren was awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in June 2018, for services to the economy, diversity and charity, presented to him by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace later that year.
The following summer he was granted an honorary Doctorate of Business by Solent University, where he has linked his work as a publisher and founder of Stream Publishing to embed employability within the journalism degree courses.
He won a licence to publish the iconic Rolling Stone magazine in the UK, which launched here in September 2021, where he feels the iconic popular culture magazine dedicated to music, film and current affairs has a natural second home. The Rolling Stone UK Awards launched in 2023 and now runs annually.
He has sat on the LGBTQ+ Advisory Board for Belmond, the luxury hotel arm of LVMH, for a decade, and married his partner of 10 years, Tom Tillmon, in Botswana in April 2025, en route to Cape Town for the annual Board Meeting.