Our Team
Mission statement
We strive to ensure young people within our communities feel valued, seen and heard.
We do this by providing the space to explore identity and instil confidence and resilience as we endeavour to empower the marginalised voices of our young people.
Our Ethics
Transparency
Collaboration
Advocacy
Objectivity
Chanette Barnard
Director and Services Manager
Hi, I am Chanette. I am a History Teacher by profession and I have worked in a large MAT for the last 6 years. I love working with children and young adults and I am passionate about my classroom being a place for exploration and discussion, not just about History but the world as it is today.
I am excited about my role with Empower My Voice because I am passionate about educating others and helping to seed change. I want to encourage open dialogue around the race and identity issues faced daily across our communities; and this project offers the opportunity to open up debate and promote long term change for adults and young people alike.
My passion for education and self growth is something I promote in my personal life too, and so I am also pursuing my Masters in Race, Education and Decolonial thought, to better understand these issues in their contemporary context.
Flavia Ojok
Executive Director
Hi, my name is Flavia, I have been working within the education sector and more specifically within widening participation and career guidance and development for a number of years. I am wholly passionate about advocating and channelling the aspirations of our children and young people by producing opportunities that open doors and ignites drive and passion.
To date I have supported organisations within the education and third sector to establish strategic approaches to equality, diversity & inclusion. Strategies that work towards empowering all and producing thriving organisations through ensuring equity and inclusion are the 'norm'. Leveraging and authentically valuing and celebrating diversity in all its forms.
Empower My Voice’s mission resonates with me, my journey, and all the values and morals I subscribe to. It is a chance to give and produce something that I never had as a young black girl growing up and even as an adult today. I know the positive impact Empower My Voice’s work will have for current and future generations to come. The drive, mission and the team is what makes me even more confident is saying “much needed change is coming”.
Dani Bello
Wellbeing and workshop lead
Hi I'm Dani. I am the artistic director of Bello Mind and Soul, a creative and wellbeing service which helps you create to express and de-stress. I graduated in 2018 with a BA (Hons) in Creative and therapeutic arts and since then I have been facilitating my own creative and wellbeing sessions; which have been delivered in schools, for mental health charities, and I am a regular feature on the BBC Radio Derby panel.
I am passionate about helping young people feel valued and empowered, from a very young age, and still today, I have been treated differently because of the colour of my skin; it affected my mental health so badly I didn’t feel like I was enough. What helped me was getting creative and expressing myself and just knowing that no matter what anyone says, I am still going to be proud to be me. This is why I have created a series of workshops as part of Empower my Voice, to help enable young black people to be proud of who they are, and to learn how they can love themselves - regardless of what people say. I believe that when we stand together the true magic happens. I am proud to be a part of Empower my Voice!
Website: www.bellomindandsoul.com
Baasit Siddiqui
Training Development Consultant
Hi. I'm Baasit Siddiqui. I am the director of Siddiqui Education Limited. Over the last three years I have combined my passion and decades of experience in education with my profile and connections in the television industry to deliver workshops and competitions to disadvantaged children across the country.
My experiences in education, business and working with disadvantaged children has allowed me to also run a variety of teacher training sessions around strategies that build the aspirations and confidence of disadvantaged children. My core aim is to support bridging the attainment gap and supporting social mobility.
I am proud to be associated with the Empower My Voice project as I am passionate about building the confidence and aspirations of children who have to deal with any form of disadvantage. To be able to share my experiences and expertise to inform educators to empower their black and ethnic minority students is something I am very honoured to be a part of.
To find out more about me, please visit www.siddiqui-education.co.uk
The Knowledge Room (KRD)
Resource and support team
KRD is a non-profit organisation which has been created to provide and source access to information on black history, black culture and to enlighten and educate.
Our primary objective is to instil self believe in the black community via various educational programmes and courses. We believe that self-identity is imperative and paves the way for success.
KRD was initially created in a direct response to the lack of representation of Black History in the current education curricula.
Our Page consists of a variety of DIFFERENT issues, topics and historic information giving our audience an incite of black origins heritage and culture.
At present we have an Instagram social media page touching upon topics such as:
· Black History
· Colourism
· Natural hair
· Systematic Racism
· Self-belief and positive thinking
The combination of topics provides our audience with a holistic view of black history and its heritage from past to present.
We are currently working alongside Bridge the Gap, child mental health support and Empower My Voice.
Clare Francis-Slater,
Training Development Consultant
Hi, my name is Clare. I am an experienced Primary school teacher who specialises in EYFS and KS1. Over the past twenty years, I have taught in a wide variety of educational settings; Nursery, Infant, Primary, FE colleges and HE institutions - always focusing on helping others to reach for and achieve their fullest potential in a warm, caring and supportive environment.
Growing up as a dual-heritage child (white British and Black Caribbean) in a white-majority culture (predominately in Derby, but also internationally), I have had to work hard to find my identity, my voice, develop my own sense of self-esteem and create a feeling of belonging in the place I call ‘home’. The educational system that I experienced in the 80s and 90s sadly didn’t acknowledge or embrace the richness of a more global perspective of history or culture or the inter-connected nature of British and world history. The teaching of these connections are crucial to all children growing up in our modern multi-cultural society.
I feel very excited and immensely proud of being given the opportunity to work with Empower My Voice as their core values and aims align perfectly with my own. As a result of my own personal journey and global events that have highlighted issues of race recently, I established my own organisation to be a part of the movement to help create change. I am the Founder and Director of Diversity Days Everyday, an educational consultancy organisation, that aims to empower teachers to diversify their settings. My vision is to enable teachers to embed diversity into the heart of what they do everyday, not tag it on once a year. I aim to champion diversity and support schools to develop more inclusive content and materials so that all children can see themselves represented in their learning.... for a brighter future for us all.
_edited.jpg)
Philippa Michael, Volunteer
Bridge the Gap
Child Mental Health
Hi, my name is Philippa. I have been a social worker for 20 years, working with diverse teenagers across the Midlands and I currently manage a supported accommodation service. I love to see young people reaching their true potential and dreaming BIG.
As soon as I heard about Empower My Voice, I knew that this type of project is well needed and wanted to be involved as a volunteer.
Racism, ignorance, and the lack of mainstream Black History have always concerned me, it is time to change the narrative! Information and support to strengthen identities is vital. As a woman of mixed heritage, I wish that this type of service had been around when I was growing up. I fully support Empower My Voice as they provide hope and inspiration to future generations.
Bridge the Gap Child Mental Health, a CIC based in Derby.
Since 2017 we have grown to be a valued presence in the community, offering vital support in both a preventive and reactive way.
Our experience developing programmes and workshops, that educate and empower children have allowed us to build a community; a community where we see every day the disadvantages faced by black and ethnic minority children and young people.
We are proud to be part of such a humanist and relationship focused project that will be helping to raise so many children's self-esteem, and help them to feel their worth and value to this world.
You can find out more about us at www.jwbridgethegap.com