Alleyn’s alumnae among the WISE women of 2022

February 25th 2022

Laura North (Brading's 1997) and Alice Moxley (Roper's 2009) have been recognised as Women of Inspiration for their work in social enterprise.

Laura North (Brading's 1997) is Founder and CEO of We Speak

We Speak is a social enterprise which works with young people from under-represented backgrounds who lack speaking confidence. They train corporate employees in communications and mentoring skills, which they put into action during a 4-week online programme to help school and university students improve their confidence. Laura says;

"We Speak works with young people from under-represented backgrounds who lack speaking confidence. We support our students to find their authentic voice and use it for life opportunities. We Speak trains Mentors from corporate organisations to develop their listening, questioning and feedback skills. Our Mentors support the We Speak students on their journey to greater confidence and career opportunities. We run an online and face-to-face programmes for schools, sixth form colleges and universities and we also offer one-to-one coaching for professionals wanting to develop their authentic voice and speaking confidence and workshops for organisations."

We Speak has run programmes with companies including Investec, Just Eat, Wavemaker, General Electric and Google; with Sixth Forms including King’s Maths School, Central Foundation Boys School, Oasis Academy South Bank, Mossbourne Community Academy and City and Islington College; and with universities including UCL, University of Sussex, University of Liverpool, Goldsmith's University of London and University of East London.

One participant said: "I can now present without having a panic attack. Thank you so much, you have no idea how much this helped and is preparing me for my future." (Student, University of East London)

“It was magical to see those who labelled themselves as 'shy' suddenly sparkle, all because they were encouraged to talk about what they loved. The change in the students over such a short time was fantastic to see.” (Mentor, Investec)

We Speak is a winner of Investec Beyond Business programme and an UnLtd Award. It was also selected for Cambridge Social Ventures accelerator at Cambridge Judge Business School, and the Lloyd’s Bank Social Entrepreneurs programme.

Alice Moxley (Roper's 2009) is Founder and CEO of Pivot

Pivot was founded in November 2019 by former architectural student Alice Moxley and currently works with makers across London and Somerset. Alice came up with the idea for Pivot while taking part in the post-graduate social innovation programme Year Here.

Over the past two years Alice has helped to build innovative solutions to tackle homelessness in the UK, with organisations such as the YMCA, the catering social enterprise Fat Macy’s and UK national homelessness charity Crisis. She explains:

“We believe that by bringing purpose into hostels, we can engender self-worth and self-esteem in people living in them by empowering them to change their lives and break a vicious cycle. It is our ambition to re-frame hostels from dead-end situations to places of momentum, creativity and opportunity which create positive outcomes for residents. At the moment, we specialise in making handcrafted jewellery - all of which can be made at a desk with minimal tools and training.”

Alice was listed as a Woman of Inspiration: 100 social enterprise leaders showing Covid who’s boss by Pioneers Post and is a Shackleton Leader: Since February 2020, Pivot has provided over 120 hours of coaching and support, delivered over 1500 hours of work-based training and worked with 68 people across 10 services, in London, Somerset and Norfolk. The impact is clear;

“I was homeless and hopeless. I didn’t imagine I would be making jewellery and selling it in shops. Being part of Pivot has helped me mentally and has given me self confidence in working with a team and being part of a social enterprise. I now have something to look forward to in 2020 and can rewrite my life again.”

“I now have a different perspective for the future. I feel much more creative and have found that I am able to things I never thought I could do. I absolutely love working with the team and the positive energy we all get from one another. The whole concept has been inspirational.”

You can learn how to make your own jewellery at exclusive workshops taught by Makers that have been through Pivot programmes. The sales from the workshops go towards providing more support in hostels.

Find out how to book workshops and buy Pivot products

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