Amy Stanning will announce up-coming programmes on Channel 4 as well as speaking about her experiences as a trans woman in a bid to raise awareness and visibility around trans issues.

“I’m delighted that Channel 4 are celebrating the International Transgender Day of Visibility during primetime TV,” said Stanning, who works for Barclays Mortgages and is co-chair of their LGBT employee network.

“Transgender people contribute to all walks of British life and it’s time to recognise their contribution and help people be positive and open about themselves,” she added.

“We are always looking for new ways to celebrate diversity on Channel 4. I’m proud to bring Amy on board she’s the perfect way to mark International Transgender Day of Visibility and build on our work with the Alternative Voices campaign,” Dan Brooke, Channel 4’s chief marketing and communications officer told The Guardian.

The Alternative Voices campaign began three years ago, when Channel 4 brought on five people with communication difficulties – including writer and artist Jess Thom, who has Tourette syndrome – to join the channel’s continuity team for 10 days.

International Transgender Day of Visibility was started in 2009 as a reaction to the lack of LGBT holidays celebrating transgender people. Its founding was partly in response to frustrations around the fact that the only well-known transgender-centered holiday was the Transgender Day of Remembrance which mourns the loss of transgender people to hate crimes, but does not acknowledge or celebrate living members of the transgender community.

Stanning will take over continuity duties on the station at 5 pm today, and her voice will be heard around shows including Eight Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and Alan Carr: Chatty Man.