Leading Lights Podcast
Unfiltered conversations with the women leading change in the charity and purpose-led sector.
Hosted by our Managing Director, Abi Mellor, Leading Lights shines a light on female leadership, amplifying the voices of inspiring women who are making a difference through purpose-driven work.
In each episode, we speak to purpose-led chief executives about how they lead, what they’ve learned, and what keeps them going. Expect honest conversations, bold ideas and practical insight for women navigating leadership in the charity sector and beyond.
It's the perfect listen for anyone passionate about the third-sector, purpose-led work or leadership.
Our latest episode…
Karen Dobres never liked football until she got invited to watch her local women's team. She was amazed by the women she saw playing. Then she discovered that women had been banned from playing for 50 years and were still paid 10 times less than men. As a volunteer (and eventually director) at Lewes FC, she helped create the world's first pro/semi-pro club to pay men and women equally. Through suffragette flash mobs, chanting workshops, and the "Call Him Out" campaign, she proved football could challenge toxic masculinity and empower women. Her book "Pitch Invasion" offers a practical blueprint for how to keep moving forward despite setbacks.
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Recent episodes of Leading Lights
In this episode of Leading Lights, Abi Mellor speaks with Eleanor Harrison OBE, CEO of the Fairtrade Foundation. From early volunteering and her mother’s fearless advocacy, to leading one of the UK’s most trusted ethical brands, Eleanor shares how she built her leadership toolbox, why the right organisational fit matters, and why our food system must change if farmers are to thrive.
Louise Griew, Chief Executive of Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity, shares her unconventional journey to leadership - starting from being the “shyest girl in school” to heading a national organisation supporting over 40,000 seriously ill children.
In this episode, she reflects on working with major brands, navigating her various roles, and leading with heart in the charity sector. Louise discusses her core belief that “kindness is free,” how confidence is learned, and the setbacks that shaped her values-driven leadership style.
From a challenging childhood to leadership of a ground breaking charity, Danielle Bridge has built her successful career out of being open to the range of opportunities that have come her way.
In this episode of Leading Lights, MOREVER Managing Director, Abi Mellor talks with the Chief Executive of Black Minds Matter UK about her role as the leader of a charity helping the Black community to access the mental health resources they need for better mental health, or to recover from mental illness.
In this episode, Areeba Hamid, the first woman and person of colour to lead Greenpeace UK, shares her remarkable journey from grassroots activism in India to co-leadership at a global environmental organisation.
In her conversation with Abi Mellor, she reflects on identity, leadership, and bold action – from her personal experiences of activism (including hanging off a bridge in Bombay!), to beating Shell in court, to championing a “high-trust, low-ego” co-leadership model. Areeba’s story is one of purpose and quiet power, showing what’s possible when values, resilience and fearless leadership combine.
From losing both parents as a teenager and growing up in poverty in Taiwan, to founding a charity driving systemic change across Asia - Pei Su’s journey is nothing short of remarkable.
She’s a pioneer in animal welfare, a trailblazer in charity leadership AND a published author. As CEO of ACTAsia, Pei is leading efforts to shift attitudes around animal welfare through education and advocacy. This inspiring and deeply personal conversation ranges from why cultural attitudes to animals vary so widely, some of the shocking sights she's seen (trigger warning) and her journey from a hand-to-mouth childhood in Taiwan to leadership. Pei also describes how she now sees her breast cancer diagnosis as a positive and why she believes re-education is the key to lasting change.
Our guest for Episode 7 is Helen Rowbotham. Helen is the chief executive of Access Sport, a national charity dedicated to making inclusion the norm in community sport. With over 25 years of sports industry and non-profit leadership experience, Helen has overseen significant growth across Access Sport’s programmes, reaching over 20,000 disadvantaged and disabled children and young people in 2024.
Helen describes how an inspiring secondary school PE teacher put her on the path to leadership, her goals for the charity, where she gets her energy for every role and how she 'flicks the switch' on a less than perfect day.
In Episode 6, Abi’s guest is Angela McConville, the Chief Executive of the NCT, the parents national charity for pregnancy, birth and early parenthood. Angela shows how, after only a few weeks in the role, the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic forced Angela and her team to make changes to the fundamental operating strategy of the organisation overnight.
She also describes how her mother inspired her understanding of how communities can come together and how she plans to tackle the challenges that face the NCT in 2025.
Abi’s guest is Michelle Thew, long-standing CEO of Cruelty Free International, one of the world’s most respected animal protection organisations.
Michelle discusses her journey to leadership, why the job isn't at all as she expected, and how she spots a talent for leadership in others.
She also shares how she maintains her staying power and her secret sauce for managing stress in such an important, high profile role.
Our guest in episode 4 is Jayne Taylor, CEO of The Elephant Group, a headteacher-led charity dedicated to improving fair access to top universities.
Jayne shares how the impact of her older brother having a serious illness defined her childhood, and sparked a keen desire to help young people derailed by difficult circumstances to achieve their academic potential.
She also shares her thoughts on what she's learned about leadership from playing Roller Derby and obsessively reading about mountaineering.
Dr Sarah Hughes, the inspirational CEO of Mind, the mental health charity, brought so much to this conversation.
Sarah has worked in mental health and social justice for 35 years. She has held a number of CEO roles in the voluntary sector. She holds a professional doctorate on the topic of women and leadership and an honorary doctorate from Hull University.
Sarah shared what it’s like to challenge the perceptions of how a CEO ‘should’ look, speak and carry themselves. And, her coping strategies of finding levity at difficult moments, her 'CEO squad', and time with family.
Episode 2 features the newly appointed CEO of Ben, the charity dedicated to supporting the people of the automotive industry, providing support for life for them and their family dependents. At the time of recording Rachel was just about to step into her role at the helm of the charity.
Rachel’s background as an international hockey player, combined with a career in the health and wellbeing industry, before becoming Health & Wellbeing Director at Ben have been pivotal in the development of her leadership style. She aims to provide the freedom for people to do their best work, while knowing you are there if they need you.
Episode 1 features April Baker, the wonderful CEO of Together Co, the loneliness charity based in our hometown, Brighton.
April shares how her earliest memories of going out on her bicycle as a young child to make friends with her neighbours may have been the spark for the inspiring work that she does now. And, how she’s committed to bringing ‘social health’ up the agenda in the UK, how her ‘why’ is what keeps her going, and how she protects her reading time and her resilience.