Join us on January 20th at 7.30pm, when we host the launch of She Leads for Legacy – a brand-new organisation focused on black female leadership, founded by a visionary mother-and-daughter combo – Sharon and Afiya Amesu. 

Register to attend existing or aspiring Black female leaders and allies.

The launch will feature special guest speakers:

Abigail Irozuru, a track and field athlete, specialising in long jump, who has competed at Olympic and World Championship level.

Dion Johnson, multi-award-winning Women’s champion with the re-powerment of women at the heart of her work


Diversity journeys

New Year is always jam-packed with intention setting and resolutions.  Letting go of the things that are working against you.  Holding on to the things that are working well to ensure they continue.    

One of Charity People’s proudest achievements of 2020 is continuing its commitment to racial diversity in recruitment. It’s become one of the most important priorities on our agenda and we are continuing to learn and be part of real and lasting change in the charity sector and beyond. You can read more about our journey here and there’s more to update you on soon.  
An exciting new development is our partnership with She Leads For Legacy to support their launch later this month.  She Leads For Legacy is a brand-new organisation focused on black female leadership, founded by a visionary mother-and-daughter combo – Sharon and Afiya Amesu.  Both are legal professionals; Sharon a former criminal barrister turned leadership coach and equality and diversity consultant and Afiya an aspiring barrister currently studying for her Masters.  Propelled into action by the realisation that, on racial diversity, not enough progress has been made generationally from Sharon’s early career to Afiya’s current experience.  They don’t believe in waiting for change to happen; they believe in accelerating it together.  And so, She Leads For Legacy was born. 

She Leads For Legacy is a community of individuals and organisations – both Black women and allies – working together to reduce the barriers faced by Black female professionals aspiring for and currently working in senior leadership and executive Board positions.  It’s a membership organisation that will amplify Black female voices and create opportunities for Black females to develop their leadership skills.  She Leads For Legacy will connect Black women with each other and with allies, as well as providing learning opportunities, training and a peer support forum. 

Black female leadership and the recruitment process

As a specialist recruiter in the charity sector, I’ve seen a shift in awareness around Black, Asian and ethnic minority representation and the need to increase racial diversity in leadership positions, largely thanks to the Black Lives Matter movement and organisations like CharitySoWhite.  That’s not to say there isn’t still a huge amount of work to be done turning that awareness into action.  In 2020, Charity People supported a number of organisations to increase racial diversity on their trustee boards and staff teams.  

I have noticed that recruitment processes with a focus on racial diversity often attract more Asian candidates than Black candidates.  I have no doubt this is a Charity People and wider charity sector issue.  Having not connected with those communities and candidates the way we should have in the past, we find it challenging to reach them now.  We’re tackling this in a number of ways, including collaboration with Black organisations and individuals who can support us to increase our reach.  We recently signed up Malcolm John’s brilliant Action For Trustee Racial Diversity campaign as part of our on-going action plan to widen our reach and networks.  

This was the conversation I had with Sharon Amesu late last year.  We discussed how important it is that Black women don’t get left behind when it comes to representation.  That’s how Charity People came to be involved in the launch of She Leads For Legacy.  We would love to see more Black women represented in leadership and Board positions in the charity sector.   


This is your invitation to join us for She Leads For Legacy’s launch event – whether you’re a Black female or an ally – 7.30pm on Wednesday 20th January, 2021.  Expect awesome speakers and a virtual room full of current and future change-makers.