Collecting fresh perspectives
Susanna, Sophie & Sarah
of Birdsong
Ethical fashion label Birdsong employs local women’s groups to produce their garments. Whether it’s an Age UK knitting group, or a migrant mothers embroidery class, all are paid the London Living Wage for their services.
Fi O’Brien & Casey Lalonde
of Girls Who Grind Coffee
Combining great taste and great design through their brand Girls Who Grind Coffee, Fi & Casey are on a mission to empower women in the coffee industry.
Matt Fountain of Freedom Bakery
Matt founded his artisan Freedom Bakery within the grounds of a Glaswegian prison, as a means to reintroduce ex-convicts and those still in custody to employment. The venture offers his workforce new technical skills and often a new passion for the craft of bread making.
Professor Tim Jackson –
Prosperity without growth
What if the idea of growth, one of the central tenets of our economy, was no longer working for us? Tim Jackson, Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of Surrey has spent the larger part of his career asking that question…even if people didn’t always want to hear it.
Selina Hales of Refuweegee
Selina formed Refuweegee in 2015, an organisation which creates welcome packs with a twist for refugees arriving in Glasgow. Not only do they provide the usual necessary donated items such as clothes and toiletries, they encourage the local community to write handwritten welcome letters.
Tony Wood of Outcast Foundation
Living on the streets for over twelve months would be challenging for anyone, but Tony has turned his difficult situation into a chance to gain a valuable insight into the mechanisms of poverty and the needs of the people he seeks to help through his charity, Outcast Foundation.
Rachel Oliver of Positive Money
Rachel Oliver is the Lead Organiser at Positive Money, a campaign organisation fighting for a money and banking system that supports a fair, sustainable and democratic economy.
Sarah Corbett of Craftivist Collective
Sarah began Craftivist Collective to teach what she calls ‘the art of gentle protest’, a form of activism that uses creativity, understanding and empathy to effect positive change through less combative means.
Max & Ian of Demand Energy Equality
Through their projects and workshops Demand Energy Equality are on a mission to get people engaging with the topic of renewable energy and the vital part it must play in our future. We sat down with directors Max and Ian to discuss all things solar.
Camilla Marcus-Dew of The Soap Co.
The Soap Co. is an ethical luxury brand that employs people who are visually impaired or otherwise disabled or disadvantaged. Co founder Camilla Marcus-Dew talked us through the challenges and highlights of a social enterprise operating in a commercial space.
Bex Trevalyan of Library of Things
Bex is one co-founder of Library of Things, a vibrant space, that lends out useful items in a bid to reduce consumption whilst providing a valuable service to the community it serves.
Jatinder Verma MBE of Tara Theatre
Awarded an MBE for ‘Tara Arts and services to diversity in the arts’ in 2017, Jatinder is one of the co-founders of Tara, the UK’s first designated multicultural theatre.
Helena Norberg-Hodge of Local Futures
Author and filmmaker Helena is the founder of Local Futures and a pioneer of the ‘new economy’ movement, which promotes a systemic shift away from the destructive practices of economic globalisation towards localisation.
Kemi Akinola of Be Enriched
CEO and founder of Be Enriched, Kemi develops networks and opportunities for youth friendly ventures. One such project is a trio of community canteens that utilise surplus and reclaimed food, providing free meals to the local community whilst simultaneously offering volunteers access to training and skill development.
Angela Ireland of Milk Cafe
Started by best friends Angela Ireland and Gabby Cluness, Milk is a social enterprise cafe which offers valuable employment and skills-learning opportunities to asylum seeking and ethnic minority women in the Glasgow area.
Chris Parsons of LandWorks
Through work-based training Chris and the rest of the LandWorks team provide a supported route back into employment and the community for those in prison or at risk of going to prison.
