Ally Owen is an inclusion activist, digital leader and founder of the award winning Social Enterprise Brixton Finishing School, an accelerator that finds, trains and places ‘under-represented’ talent into roles within the Media, Creative and Digital Industries.

With 30 years experience in the media and advertising industries; Ally amassed her early experience working with the likes of the Guardian, MailOnline, Yahoo and Unruly.

Brixton Finishing School's award winning family of courses she founded include the flagship ‘Summer School’ in London, ‘ADcademy’, the virtual program, which gives over 2500 students a year across the UK a fairer chance to succeed, ‘ADventure’, the schools programme, which aims to introduce 100k diverse 14-18 year olds to the industry, and ‘Visible Start’ for women over 45.

Ally is on a mission to disrupt the elite media and advertising industry so it includes all voices and gives them the opportunity to thrive. She says talent is distributed equally but opportunities are not.

Ally is a force of nature and force for change and we loved talking to her.

Our sound and mix engineer is Matteo Magariello and our producer is Peter Kerwood.

About Elevate

Elevate is a pioneering free mentoring programme that has been designed with a specific goal in mind – to inspire, inform and empower people within the event industry.

Elevate operates thanks to the generosity of our partners and supporters; We Are Collider, PSP, Jack Morton, Smyle, Powwow, Special Sauce, TIMES x10, Nic Neal, The Hoxton, tvg hospitality, ABPCO, CastleBell, event:decision, TRO and Live Union. Together, we're changing lives, careers and the events industry for the better.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest on this episode is Nic Neal, who is a freelance people and culture strategy consultant but, until very recently, she was head of people and operations at the brand experience agency, Owl Live which is where she has worked for over 16 years. That’s quite a jump for a self-confessed control freak that likes to play it safe! 

She has built her career on her innate people skills, starting as an intern while at Uni and worked her way up the business as it grew from just three people to over 55. She found her flow in the people space, falling in love with thinking about how people work and behave. 

Nic says clarity always comes from engagement, not thought. You just need to dive in, take chances and go and grab what the world has to offer. 

Welcome to the podcast Nic Neal.

Our sound and mix engineer is Matteo Magariello and our producer is Peter Kerwood.

About Elevate

Elevate is a pioneering free mentoring programme that has been designed with a specific goal in mind – to inspire, inform and empower people within the event industry.

Elevate operates thanks to the generosity of our partners and supporters; We Are Collider, PSP, Jack Morton, Smyle, Powwow, Special Sauce, TIMES x10, Nic Neal, The Hoxton, tvg hospitality, ABPCO, CastleBell, event:decision, TRO and Live Union. Together, we're changing lives, careers and the events industry for the better.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest on this episode is Jen Bonassera, Global Events Director at Charlotte Tilbury Beauty where she leads a global team creating aspirational events around the world.

Formerly Global Head of Experiences at Soho House and Global Director of Events for Burberry, Jen has 15 years experience in luxury fashion and lifestyle.

She has honed her skills delivering an enormous variety of events from red carpet parties, world-class runway shows, in-store events and VIP brand experiences on the global stage.

Jen makes her own luck by working hard and having fun and says there is so much beauty and so much learning in all the small moments of life.

Our sound and mix engineer is Matteo Magariello and our producer is Peter Kerwood.

About Elevate

Elevate is a pioneering free mentoring programme that has been designed with a specific goal in mind – to inspire, inform and empower people within the event industry.

Elevate operates thanks to the generosity of our partners and supporters; We Are Collider, PSP, Jack Morton, Smyle, Powwow, Special Sauce, TIMES x10, Nic Neal, The Hoxton, tvg hospitality, ABPCO, CastleBell, event:decision, TRO and Live Union. Together, we're changing lives, careers and the events industry for the better.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.