Community Advisory Board
Living in the small, rural market town of Diss in South Norfolk, Esmee belongs to communities in both Suffolk and Norfolk. She is involved in her community by engaging in arts events, festivals, and heritage days, and talking to people about political and community issues. She was also carer for a neighbour who had no family in this country, and was reaching the end of her life.
Esmee was Chair of Trustees for Suffolk Artlink, a participatory arts charity, for a three-year term. This connected her to disabled artists with learning difficulties and the realities of engaging with non-disabled communities. She co-led a project to bring young people’s voices into education policy, when Suffolk was near the bottom of the school league tables. And she is a member of the University of Suffolk Court, engaged in community outreach as an informal ambassador.
She works in strategic innovation across and within social purpose organisations, helping people uncover knotty issues and make changes in practice. She has her own company – Socially Adept – and previously led complex change initiatives within the public sector for 11 years, working with charities and social enterprises. She’s also worked across central government, including on the 2005 cross-government disability strategy.
Esmee is driven to amplify the voices of people outside of powerful institutions, and wants to gain new insights into what other places and people are doing, in a thoughtful setting.