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Five social leaders that will inspire you to start your venture
Five social leaders that will inspire you to start your venture
Written by
UnLtd employee
UnLtd position
Five social leaders that will inspire you to start your venture
Written by
UnLtd employee
UnLtd position
A local resident who took a fly-tipping problem into her own hands. An enthusiast using music to unite generations. A superhero sharing the creativity and humour of Tourettes.
They are fantastic people transforming society and making the world a better place to live, for everyone. Some create change locally, making their community an even better place to live; others are changing lives across the globe.
Every one of them has had an idea and backed themselves to make it happen. Read their stories and be inspired to start something social in 2017.
Photo by Sam Robinson
Jessica Thom leads a secret double-life. By day she’s an artist, playworker and fundraiser, by night she is Touretteshero — dedicated to sharing the creativity and humour of Tourettes.
She was diagnosed with Tourettes in her twenties and, after some encouragement from friends, decided to turn her tics into a source of inspiration.
She formed Tourettes hero to increase awareness of the condition and run events for children and young people with Tourettes that value play, interaction and social inclusion.
She’s also on a mission to take ownership of the laughter that surrounds Tourettes. She shares some of her verbal tics on the website, encouraging others to create images inspired by them.
Photograph by ChrisA1995
Music is the universal language. It has the power to bring people, who otherwise have nothing in common, together to dance, to sing, to listen.
The Arch-Way Project taps into that power.
They use music to help people living with dementia by creating a 50’s style club, with vinyl on the walls and live music from the 50’s. The music is performed by students, from the local college and Arch-Way’s other programmes, who might also record verbal histories, practice beauty therapy or just socialise.
The Arch-Way Project is bringing different generations of people living Halifax together, united by a love of music.
Lucky Iron Fish is a simple idea that’s solving a big problem. Iron deficiency affects almost 3.5 billion people across the world. It can lead to anemia, weakness, impaired cognitive ability and comprised development in children.
Dr Christopher Charles came up with a solution. The Lucky Iron Fish is exactly what it says on the tin — a fish made out of iron that you put in your dishes when cooking. It’s reusable and spreads the right amount of iron into your food.
They’ve already achieved some fantastic results. Following some intensive work in Cambodia they’ve seen big impacts on people that have used the Lucky Iron Fish every day for at least 9 months. There has been a 50% decrease in the incidence of clinical iron deficiency anemia for users, and an increase in their iron levels.
Sometimes it’s not just about the impact that the social leader has on the people they’re directly helping — it’s about how they empower those people to inspire others.
Sam Delaney runs CREATivE stART to help reduce social isolation. He uses art to help a range of people, from those struggling with mental health issues to people in the process of recovery.
One of the members speaks about how Sam had helped him change his life, and become an inspiration for his daughter.
“My life has changed so much and for the better since I joined the CREATivE stART project. I am 32-years-old and had almost given up hope, now I am motivated and passionate about something other than drugs. My daughter tells everybody that her daddy is an artist and all that has come from the inspiration I got from seeing Sam’s work.â€
Karen Chung got fed up of people fly-tipping on nearby Lamlash Street. It had begun a dumping ground, which she had to pass every day to get the tube.
The self-styled, nosey neighbour decided to do something about it. She turned it into Lamlash Gardens — an unexpected island of green in that has taken over the road. It’s a community garden filled with flowers and vegetables, squeezed between houses and allotments.
Karen describes the process of creating the garden as the “perfect stormâ€. She stepped forward and her community backed her, volunteering time and money to make something special for the area.
Inspired to create something social? UnLtd gives you the cash to make your idea happen, and support to make your venture successful.