Meet the team
Creative Access is made up of passionate individuals united in the aim to make the creative industries more representative of society.
Team
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Creative Access’ new CEO as of September 2024, Mel boasts a 20-year career in the screen and digital sectors. Mel also critically brings a non-London-centric perspective that will be invaluable as we focus on increasing our reach, impact and partnerships across the UK.
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Ella crafts and amplifies Creative Access’ public profile to reach underrepresented creative talent. Formerly of Publicis Groupe, Ketchum and The Wall Street Journal.
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Laura supports people from under-represented backgrounds into employment; to access creative careers and secure both jobs and paid training opportunities in creative companies.
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Emma leads our finance department and is critical to ensuring we have the funding we need in place to achieve everything we want to.
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Vanessa supports our listing and recruitment services in writing inclusive job adverts, performance analysis and promoting exciting opportunities on social media.
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Richard oversees our Creative Access mentoring programme with alumni and employer partners. Richard is passionate about developing young people’s potential in the creative arts.
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Josie leads on strategy and innovation, seeking new and disruptive ways to challenge the status quo, working with our partners to forge an inclusive sector.
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Sara helps the Programmes team to deliver our career support programmes. She is passionate about building diverse and inclusive spaces in the creative industries.
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Bil-Marjiyah supports the growth of our community of individuals from groups under-represented in the creative economy by building partnerships with relevant organisations, as well as supporting our intern and entry-level career support programme.
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Sophie brings her passion of sustainability and equity to her role supporting the Thrive team at Creative Access, with a focus on our employer training workshops and mentoring programmes.
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Becky manages our Salesforce CRM database and designs systems to collect and analyse data on social impact. She has previous experience working within non-profits.
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Yasmin oversees our support programmes for individuals from under-represented backgrounds looking to progress their creative careers, including mentoring, bursaries, leadership training and university partnerships.
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Jasmine supports the recruitment and listenings teams in Access, playing a vital role in diversifying the creative industries at all levels. They are passionate about storytelling and amplifying under-represented narratives in the creative industries.
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Rochelle amplifies our mission across communications and social media, coming up with new ways for our content to reach and resonate with our existing and new audiences.
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Sab promotes our Opportunities, helping employers and individuals connect and engage across opportunities through creative content. Sab has experience with job boards across various industries.
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Lucy works with our trainers organising training sessions for our employer partners, ranging from mental health and wellbeing to race and inclusion in the workplace.
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Asha supports across the CRM database, allowing us to harness data to measure impact and best support individuals and partners.
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Mags oversees all of our day to day finance activity and brings a finance perspective when supporting other areas of the business.
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Tinu leads our career support programmes and is passionate about helping people from under-represented backgrounds thrive in their careers, championing diversity and success at every stage.
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Theo populates our opportunities page with the hundreds of internships and jobs that we advertise through our networks.
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Poppy supports the growth of our community through social media, comms and outreach; bringing lived experience and immense passion to break barriers of entry to the creative industries.
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Megan manages our Access team, handling recruitment campaigns. She supports candidates & employer partners through the entire inclusive hiring process.
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Simon is a disability and diversity consultant and brings his knowledge and lived experience to training teams on disability within the workplace.
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Colleen was producer and reporter for the BBC for over 16 years and brings her lived experience and expertise to our employer training workshops.
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April is a cultural producer, D&I specialist and a creative career coach committed to supporting diverse talent to flourish.
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Wendy is a clinical psychologist trained in a number of disciplines including CBT, Systemic Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment therapy and other mindfulness-based therapies.
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Fabienne brings her knowledge and experience of mental health and emotional wellbeing to promote safe and containing work practices and cultures for partners and individuals.
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Antoinette is an experienced DE&I practitioner, and has worked with employers across a range of industries including PR & creative, education, law and finance. She has a background in crisis and reputation management and is able to advise employers across all elements of their DE&I strategy.
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An award-winning network journalist and elite executive coach with expertise in leadership and communication, Lynn is determined to improve representation from entry-level to CEO.
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Consultant clinical psychologist, Victoria, supports adults to be their best selves and asks employers to consider the unique skills people with different thinking styles bring.
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Sam is an experienced Executive Producer, Welfare and Cast Liaison plus a BBC Duty of Care Executive. She runs mentor training for Creative Access.
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Sarah is an organisational psychologist who specialises in leadership development and executive coaching. Coming from a background as a senior account director in marketing, she now offers EDI consultancy and training.
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Suky is an experienced facilitator, trainer, coach, mediator, and conflict resolution professional. Suky has worked with individuals, teams, and whole organisations to grow their understanding of race and inclusion, alongside developing their individual and institutional responsibilities for change.