Our people
Our staff team and board have a wide range of skills and life experiences, but what brings us together is an absolute dedication to our mission, and a belief in the potential of the women we seek to support. Here's where you can meet our people

Chief Executive
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Chief Executive
Natasha Finlayson OBE
Natasha has extensive leadership, policy influencing and communications experience in the charity sector. She spent 11 years as Chief Executive of Become, the national charity for children in care and care leavers. She has served as an advisor to two Children's Commissioners and has sat on the advisory boards of two national inquiries into the criminalisation of young people in care and on several government taskforces. She was awarded an OBE for services to children and families in 2019 and has been a Fellow of the RSA since 2007. She is a trustee at Catch22, a not for profit business with a social mission.
Employability
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Head of Employability
Helen Sweet
Helen has 17 years’ teaching, training and programme management experience in the education and charity sectors. Before joining Working Chance she managed wellbeing programmes for care leavers and other vulnerable groups and has worked in youth offending and prison settings.
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Employability Coach
Romy Schmetzer
Before joining Working Chance, Romy was an English as a Second or Other Language (ESOL) teacher for 30 years both in London and abroad. She has extensive experience working with people from all walks of life, including refugees and asylum seekers, children and adults.
Employment Services
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Head of Strategic Partnerships
Richard Rowley
Richard has 24 years’ experience working in criminal justice for voluntary, public and private sector organisations, including prisons and probation. As well as his extensive knowledge of the criminal justice system, Richard has an extensive and well-established network of UK and international professional contacts. His career has always been driven by a desire to support people to become the very best they can be. Richard is a Trustee of POPS (Partners of Prisoners and Families Support Group).
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Employment Advisor
Alex Clarke
Alex has over 4 years' experience in providing employability and careers advice in both the education and charity sectors. Before Working Chance, she worked as an advisor and delivered employability workshops to young adults - specialising in supporting students with additional needs and disabilities. She is passionate about politics and supporting women who have experience of the criminal justice system.
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Employment Advisor
Katherine Lear
Before joining Working Chance, Katherine was a teacher of English and has a Master’s degree in education. She has worked across the criminal justice sector in various roles and is also studying for a research PhD on education in women's prisons, exploring how gender-responsive and trauma-informed practice could improve the experience of accessing education for women in prison, and how this could lead to a reduction in offending.
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Employment Advisor
Rachael Pegram
Before joining Working Chance, Rachael worked for a number of years supporting survivors of domestic abuse. She has a wealth of experience in supporting women from a myriad of backgrounds. She has also previously worked in the legal sector and for the civil service.
Communications and Engagement
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Communications Specialist
Mo Farrell
Mo has several years of communications experience working for various not-for-profits including Amnesty International while living in New Zealand. She’s a 'sleeves up and get stuck in' type of person who loves a good story and is fiercely passionate about punctuation.
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Communications Officer
Vanisha Smith
Vanisha has a degree in criminology and has worked on national projects for care leavers. She spent just under four years on our frontline team, and has taken her insights from this and joined the communications team, helping us to ensure that we consider women’s aspirations, skills and any challenges they face in our communications work.
Impact and Strategy
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Impact and Evaluation Manager
Eloise Rahman
Eloise's background is in education, having trained as a maths teacher through Teach First, and working at rapidly growing education start-up Multiverse. Before joining Working Chance, she completed the On Purpose Associate Programme, a year-long alternative to an MBA, focusing on the social impact sector.
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Strategy and Governance Manager
Mandy Mahil
Mandy ensures that we are measuring our impact and communicating it effectively, and that we are making consistent progress on achieving our strategic goals. Her personal experience of the criminal justice system convinced her of the need for women with convictions to have greater support and opportunities. She is a trustee of Unlock, Prisoners’ Advice Service and Prisoners’ Education Trust.
Support
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HR Manager
Nicola Gilbert
Nicola is a Chartered MCIPD human resources professional with over 13 years' experience in all aspects of HR including equity, diversity and inclusion, wellbeing, and people strategy. Nicola is a mentor within the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, as well as a trustee for Peer Power Youth. As a values-led human resources professional, she strongly believes in equal access to life’s opportunities for all.
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Patrons and Board of Trustees
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Patron
Vicky Pryce
Vicky has been a Patron of Working Chance since 2014. She is an economist and former Joint Head of the UK's Government Economic Service. She is passionate about how the criminal justice system impacts women's lives and the economy, and has written books including 'Prisonomics: Behind Bars in Britain's Failing Prisons' and 'Women vs. Capitalism'.
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Chair
Lin Hinnigan
After spending her early career working as a teacher and social worker, Lin trained as an educational psychologist and was principal educational psychologist at Coventry City Council. Since then, she has held many senior roles in government and public bodies including at the Ministry of Justice and as Chief Executive of the Youth Justice Board. Lin is also Chair of Make-A-Wish UK and Home-Start UK.
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Treasurer
Joanna Dennis
Joanna is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and won a national award, Finance Director of the Year, Growing Business in 2005. She is a highly experienced and versatile finance director with extensive board experience in both the private and charity sectors.
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Trustee
Caroline Bald
Caroline is a social worker and lecturer at the University of Essex where she researches critical approaches to framing social work education in public policy. An experienced criminal justice social worker, she is passionate about addressing social exclusion of women with lived experience of the criminal justice system.
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Trustee
Ami Jenick
With nearly 20 years' experience working in recruitment, Ami has in-depth experience of delivering talent solutions for a wide range purpose-led commercial businesses, social enterprises and charities across the UK and globally. As Director of People Beyond Profit, Ami finds the right people for the right roles, alongside a social mission to support leadership development of underrepresented groups.
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Trustee
Clare Laxton
Clare is currently a charity consultant focusing on campaigning, communication and coaching. She has worked in policy and campaigning in the charity sector for over 15 years including at charities such as Pause, Young Lives Vs Cancer and the Family Planning Association. Clare also managed campaigning at Women’s Aid where she worked on campaigns such as making coercive control a criminal offence. Clare has over a decade of trustee experience. Outside work Clare enjoys walking her dog Alan, running, cooking and listening to podcasts. She can be found chatting charities, dog walking, what’s in the news, running and tea on Twitter at @ladylaxton.
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Trustee
Kat Liapis
Kat has worked in the charity sector for 13 years delivering services in early years education, children's literacy, and criminal justice. She is currently a mental health advocate at the charity Women in Prison, supporting prison leavers. She is passionate about prison reform and user-led services that provide women with lived experience of the criminal justice system the opportunity to thrive.
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Trustee
Kate Millward
Kate spent her early career as a lawyer. She has worked for more than 15 years within HR in professional services, initially as an HR business partner. Since 2013 she has specialised in diversity, equity and inclusion and is currently Head of Diversity & Inclusion for the UK, Ireland and Israel at McKinsey & Company. Kate is passionate about creating environments that support people to thrive and reach their potential.
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Trustee
Andrea Rowe
Andrea has extensive experience of leading HR and change within mission-driven charities. She is currently Global People Director at the Sunrise Project, a global climate justice organisation. She is also a school governor and deputy chair of the HR Committee at Kings Cross Academy.
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Trustee
Alex Talcer
Alex has worked in the charity sector for 12 years across a number of areas including data, compliance, innovation, events and individual giving and is currently the Deputy Director of Supporter Experience and Engagement at Teenage Cancer Trust. She has previously been on the board of directors for Pride in London, where she helped introduce and grow a sustainable fundraising stream. Alex is also Chair of the National Autistic Society, Sutton Branch which supports families and individuals. She is passionate about EDI, recently setting up a Pride network at Teenage Cancer Trust, and is dedicated to creating and elevating women's voices within the workplace.