Our people

Natasha has extensive leadership, policy and communications experience in the charity sector, having originally trained and worked as a journalist. 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 on several inquiries into the criminalisation of young people in care and on government taskforces.

Helen has 16 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.

Katy has extensive experience both as a recruitment consultant and in the charity sector, and specific expertise around supporting women with convictions into sustainable employment.

Ruth is a qualified accountant who has worked in a range of finance roles in charities including The Prince's Trust and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. She completed her accountancy training at KPMG in the not for profit sector.

Lizzy has led on communications and marketing for a range of not-for-profits and social justice causes. Before joining Working Chance, she was Head of Strategic Communications at STOP THE TRAFFIK, a charity disrupting global human trafficking.

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.

Vanisha has a degree in criminology and has worked on national projects for care leavers. She acts as an initial point of contact for the women who come to us, making sure that we understand their aspirations, skills and any challenges they face, so that we can give them the right support.

Before joining us, Gemma specialised in theatrical interventions for people in prison. Now she designs and delivers our employability workshops and works with our clients to make sure they have all the skills they need to prepare for successful employment.

Helen has a background in sales and business development and has worked across a wide range of sectors. As well as supporting clients to find employment, Helen helps to bring on board new employers.

Jo focuses on finding opportunities for women to undertake volunteering, work experience, internships and apprenticeships. She links with organisations to find out what they have on offer and then matches women with these opportunities. She is also developing support and resources for women who want to start their own business.

Before joining Working Chance, Julia worked for the Royal Bank of Canada specialising in project and client management. She joined Working Chance in 2017 and works directly with clients and with employers.

Olivia advocates for changes to policy and practice that will improve rehabilitation and employment outcomes for women with convictions. Before joining Working Chance she worked in human rights in Cambodia, where she scrutinised prison conditions and women's rights.

Leila looks after our relationships with a range of stakeholders, in particular grant-making trusts. She also works on our external communications.

Mita is a storyteller and activist passionate about transformative justice. She previously worked as a journalist for international publications including Al Jazeera, Foreign Policy, and The Cambodia Daily, and as a public affairs and communications consultant for governments, IGOs, and non-profit organisations.

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'.

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.

Ciara trained as a chartered accountant with PwC and has 30 years’ experience working and volunteering in finance roles in the UK, Europe, Africa and Australia. After PwC, Ciara worked at Lloyd’s Banking Group, latterly leading the Group Tax Reporting function and had a two-year secondment as Chief Financial and Operating Officer at The Lloyd’s Bank Foundation for England & Wales.

Erica is an executive coach and a non-executive on the board of the Government Legal Department. Her other criminal justice governance roles are as Chair of Trustees at Spark Inside and trustee of St. Giles. Previously Erica was Managing Director and General Counsel for Europe, the Middle East and Africa for the investment management company BlackRock.

Emma founded and took public an online financial information service covering all the quoted companies in Europe that was acquired by Bloomberg in 1991. She followed this with 15 years' running a London restaurant and working with young offenders. During this time she completed several high altitude treks and in 1993 she was one of the organisers behind the 40th Anniversary British Expedition to Everest.

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.