About.
I am a charity leader, social entrepreneur and serious youth violence specialist with more than 15 years’ experience building community-rooted organisations that create safer, more equitable futures for young people.
I combine lived experience, entrepreneurship, innovation, frontline practice and strategic leadership to turn complex challenges into financially sustainable organisations, strong partnerships and lasting social impact.
My experience spans youth culture, community development, education, children’s services, social care and youth justice. I understand how these systems intersect in young people’s lives, and how community-rooted organisations can work alongside statutory partners to create more responsive, equitable support.
I’m proud to lead Art Against Knives [AAK], a prominent London charity working to reduce the root causes of youth violence through safe, creative spaces and community-led support. As co-founder, I played a central role in building the organisation from a grassroots initiative into an award-winning charity with 15 years of impact. My leadership has helped shape AAK’s strategy, culture, creative youth spaces, direct support and major partnerships. I have led growth and change across programmes, fundraising and organisational development—building the relationships, resources and foundations needed for the charity to thrive.
Alongside my charity leadership, I founded and led Community Souls, a social enterprise that created employment and development opportunities for people facing barriers to work for more than a decade. As Founder and CEO, I led its growth, trading, operations, finances, workforce and client relationships across private, corporate, local-authority and voluntary and community sector markets—building a financially sustainable business with social value at its core.
My leadership is grounded in more than 15 years of frontline youth work in some of London’s most deprived communities, supporting young people and adults affected by violence, exploitation, exclusion and inequality. In 2018, I was named London Youth’s Youth Professional of the Year.
I am also a Trustee of Aspire Academies Trust, bringing experience in children and young people’s services, equity and safeguarding to education governance.
My route into leadership has not been conventional. I have built my career through purpose, persistence and a practical ability to move between strategy and frontline delivery—bringing people, ideas and resources together to create change.
What shapes my leadership. The people, places, music and ideas that continue to shape how I see the world and lead within it.
My leadership and approach to practice are shaped by more than boardrooms and strategy documents. They are grounded in youth culture, music, art, community spaces, lived experience and the people who have challenged, supported and inspired me.
These foundations keep me connected to what matters: people’s dignity, creativity, belonging, economic justice and power. They remind me that change is not only about responding to problems. It is about creating the conditions for people to feel safe, connected and valued—and able to imagine and build more for themselves and their communities.
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