Sasha Saville | CEO/Founder | The Executive Solutions Agency
Before I had my son I was working in communications in a fast paced role in the construction industry.
I worked in a different city each day with multiple delivery and client/stakeholder teams and at the time I loved it. However, after having my son things changed. I initially returned to work 3 days per week, but within 8 weeks of returning there was pressure for me to increase those my days and travel. As a result in March 2020 I took the decision to leave employment and set up The Executive Solutions Agency to provide outsourcing solutions for small businesses needing support in various areas of administration, delivery and marketing.
Over 3 years later we are a team of seven who about support neurodiverse business owners, enabling them to maximise their time and feel empowered to run the amazing businesses they have.
I am extremely passionate about what we do and I am often asked what drives and inspires me to work in this field?
I grew up with a loving and supportive family with my mom, dad and younger brother. School for me was great, I had a large friendship group, loved learning and breezed through my exams. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for my brother. He often struggled making and keeping friends, had lots of hobbies which he spent most of his time doing alone including Lego, war hammer, gaming and was in his own head a lot of the time. His journey through school was tough, he didn’t enjoy it, he had minimal friends for short spells of time, he struggled academically and he was bullied for most of his school years, it was awful but I’ll leave that there.
It wasn’t until he was in his final years at school, studying for his GCSE’s that it was suggested that my brother may have dyslexia which he later got a diagnosis for. I was amazed that after 12 years in education no one had even thought about this, even us his family.
After his diagnosis my brother understood himself much better, we were able to research tools and coping strategies to assist him through the remainder of his education and into the workplace. He is now a team leader and electrical maintenance engineer for an international machine manufacture, and travels alone internationally to learn and train about world leading technology and engineering, he is super clever and I’m incredibly proud of what he has achieved.
When I first launched my own virtual assistant business in 2020, a client of mine disclosed that they had ADHD. I had been working with him for almost 6 months and knew that from that point on, I could understand and support him so much better.
I knew the impact that support and understanding had made to my brother’s career so I went down the rabbit hole of researching and learning everything I needed to know about supporting neurodivergent business owners.
Every week I have conversations with people who aren’t aware that a service like ours exists and I am passionate to promote the support available and change many more lives in the future.
Samantha Hiew | Founder | ADHD Girls
Dr Samantha Hiew is the Founder of ADHD Girls, a social impact company with a dual mission to empower girls and women with ADHD to thrive in society and improve societal understanding of neurodiversity via intersectional lens.
Sam is a storyteller with a background in communications and medical science PhD, specialising in demystifying ADHD & neurodiversity. Sam's work bridges two worlds - those with lived experiences of neurodivergence & those who don't - so we work towards integration within society.
Sam delivers neurodiversity trainings built on the foundation of lived experience research through surveys, event-based learning, and stories of other neurodivergents.
To fulfil her wider advocacy mission, Sam delivers talks around “Science of ADHD” to the public at large and “Girls and Women with ADHD” to schools, colleges and universities to catalyse a change in minds and hearts, renewing understanding of what life as a neurodivergent truly look like.
With Sam's own insights from living on the cusps of two cultures, ethnicity and class, balancing motherhood and career, working across 16 different sectors, she works to empower other female neurodivergents and champion gender equity at work.
Morag Ofili | Founder, Director | Kiltered
Barrister Morag Ofili launched Kiltered in 2021, a forward-thinking consultancy with a mission to demystify the process of building inclusive workspaces.
Kiltered works with companies ready to move from "why" to "how" in their efforts to make work work for everyone.
Morag's career journey has allowed her to examine a vast range of organisational structures and leadership styles. Her first Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) role was reporting on institutional racism within the prison system over 15 years ago. Using data analytics and organisational psychology, Kiltered helps business leaders develop cohesive and achievable strategies for change and empowers businesses to put plans into action in a meaningful way.
Molly Taylor | Co-Founder | Famn
I’ve always been a hard worker and from 15, I was working in hospitality.
I’ve always had a business mind, and even at a young age, I would ‘borrow’ my cousins' socks and then sell them back to them for £1, this was my first business. I’m determined and love a challenge and when I was 18, I ran the London Marathon and raised almost £3,000 for Samaritans.
I’m a 26 year old woman who left a corporate career at the beginning of lockdown, to start a business with one of my biggest role models, my father. I’m Co-Founder & Director at Famn, a collective of psychologists, coaches, and facilitators, working with major organisations in financial services and beyond. In particular, supporting gender equity through our Group Coaching Programme and partnership with ISC Group.
Prior to forming Famn and F*ck Off Russell, I worked in sales & marketing across the hospitality industry and have a background in Law. I’m also a yoga teacher and have trained in Yoga Therapy for PTSD and Trauma.
I studied law and the foundation of my degree lent itself to the fact that I care deeply about people. I think there is so much power in equipping people with the knowledge to support themselves. That’s why at Famn, our coaching programmes are all psychologically grounded, in order to deepen emotional intelligence & self-awareness. In the last two years , Famn has gone from strength to strength, growing both our team and our client base, and retaining repeat business.
Laura Jardine Paterson | CEO & Founder | CONCAT Tech LTD
Laura is on a mission to code a more inclusive tech sector, one that encourages more refugees and women to join the sector to find long-term, sustainable employment.
An experienced Communications and Partnerships expert and having worked at WPP in the UK, in 2020, Laura founded CONCAT - the first web development agency to be led by marginalised communities. CONCAT works with international corporates and SME's looking for high quality yet affordable websites, and connects them to the talented CONCAT team from the Middle East who need employment.
Dr Laura David | CEO and founder Smart About Health | Smart About Health
I am an NHS GP by background, previously a surgeon, channeling all my clinical expertise and that of my now team of over 100 doctors in Smart About Health, into providing bespoke, evidence-backed, professionally-led workplace wellbeing programmes and trainings.
I am also an NHS England Clinical Entrepreneur.
I am also a mother of two young girls (now aged 8 and 5) and am bringing them up to be strong young women, knowing there are no limitations to their paths in life.
I suffered with post-natal depression after the birth of my second daughter and channeled my loss of identity, and need for discovery into creating Smart About Health - a purpose driven business enabling companies to truly support good health and wellbeing of it's staff, in a non-one size fits all approach. We focus on prevention, being proactive and understanding intersectional aspects of health, to empower people to prioritise their health and wellbeing.
I feel fortunate that we can connect clinical experts to workplaces to help everyone to be smarter about health.
Georgina Robinson | Director - Estate Agency | G.R. Estates
After previously working at one of the regions larger firms in 2019 I took the plunge to open my own estate agency, initially as a one-woman band focusing on house sales.
After previously working at one of the regions larger firms in 2019 I took the plunge to open my own estate agency, initially as a one-woman band focusing on house sales.Shortly after launching in Dec 2019 the nation was faced with the Coronavirus outbreak forcing the housing market to close. Not only did I emerge from the pandemic, but I feel I came back stronger than many of my local competitors. In August 2020 I employed my first staff member, a month later launched my lettings department, employing my second staff member. During 2021 I employed a further three staff members and moved my team into our first office space. By the end of 2022 I had a competitive sales department and a rapidly growing lettings department and a team of eight behind me. So far in 2023 I have employed another team member and will receive the keys to my second office on April 1st 2023.
Dr Pearl Jarrett | CEO | Veranda Connect Ltd
Dr Pearl Jarrett is a multi-award winning Disruptive Changemaker who is devoted to impacting the world.
Consequently, as the Founder and CEO of The Jarrett Foundation and Veranda Connect Ltd, she is at the forefront of philanthropy and sustainable innovation. Pearl is also a “serial reinventor” of herself so her career has not been a straight path in tech. She is multi-talented, consequently she is an entrepreneur, doctor, actor, singer, public speaker for conferences and podcasts, musical theatre producer, playwright, and mentor as “Aunty Pearl” to numerous young people around the world. Her biggest achievement however, is that she is a wife and mother of 3 phenomenal kids and has been married for 33 years to her best friend and hero, Dr Errord Jarrett.
Donna Fisher | Founder and Director | Smile Box
Donna Fisher is a entrepreneur based in Worcestershire and launched Smile Box, a corporate wellbeing solution in 2021.
As the founder and CEO of ‘Smile Box’, she understands the importance of building a strong people culture and supporting our people in the workplace. Donna and her team can create fully branded wellbeing gift boxes, packed full of products to build emotional resilience and support mental health.
Our lives have got much more stressful in the last decade as the world we now live in is far more hectic than ever before. We are working longer hours, juggling social media pressures and using other technological advancements, meaning that we now have less ‘down-time’ for our busy minds. This has taken its toll on our mental health and it’s thought at least 1 in 4 of us now experience poor mental health with anxiety and depression being the most common conditions.
Donna has used her experience from the corporate sector in senior management roles, as well as her coaching expertise to address some of these issues through Smile Boxes unique offering. She was also recently diagnosed with ADHD so has been managing the challenges of Neuro-diversity while scaling up her fledgling business.
From a personal point of view, Donna lives at home in Worcestershire with her teenage son and crazy border collie dog. In her spare time, she enjoys photography, road trips, music and spending time with friends and family.
Sabrina Au | Partnerships Lead | Dot Dot Fire
Championing social impact and creative education through empathy-led partnerships has been at the forefront of my mission throughout my career, which has spanned the arts, non-profit, and tech industries.
As a History of Art graduate, I started my career seeking to integrate arts and education, with the Victoria and Albert Museum and Camden Art Center, curating material into educational events for young people. At the same time, I founded Exotero, a creator’s collective with a core concept of non-monetary art exchange, which hosted a successful online art auction during the height of the pandemic in 2020.
In the non-profit sector, I worked to raise awareness for migrant rights at Migrateful, a cookery initiative supporting asylum seekers and refugees. At Migrateful, I headed their outreach both online and offline, from strategy to execution. I also worked in events, with highlights including my tenure at CogX, an annual event that brings in over 1,000 experts with over 90,000 attendees. At CogX, I coordinated over 80 speakers and worked closely with them to deliver unique, curated sessions from start to finish.
I am currently the Partnerships Lead at Dot Dot Fire, an educational video game developer, where I lead the outreaching for schools and teachers, as well as partnerships with councils, politicians, and corporate entities. In a volunteering capacity, I am a Citizens Leader at Newham Citizens UK, where I spearhead community organising initiatives such as shaping asks for mayoral campaigns and events to bring the local community together.