I found working with Emma a really rewarding experience. She was highly professional throughout the project, was clear on timelines, expectations and level of detail required, and delivered a high-quality campaign evaluation. This has helped us celebrate and promote the successes of our campaign internally and how we ran it, but also offered considerable learning for our future work. I would gladly recommend her to other organisations.
Drew Lindon, Interim Head of Policy & Campaigns
Prostate Cancer UK
As a mentor Emma provided me with guidance on specific challenges as well as the chance to reflect on my practice and development. Having an external point of view provided a lot of clarity on priority areas of work, and Emma’s knowledge about how to operate as senior manager in a charity was a great help to me. Emma’s structure to the mentoring ensured that every session had a focus and outcomes that we could update on at the next meeting. She also creates a relaxed environment which made the mentoring sessions really interesting and something I looked forward to. A year on from my mentoring sessions with Emma I continue to use the materials and tips she gave me.
Sasha Daly, Head of Policy
Teenage Cancer Trust
Mind worked with Emma to help evaluate our Westminster and Whitehall influencing work. Emma was great to work with from start to finish - from the planning and preparation, through to delivery of a series of qualitative interviews with senior stakeholders, and analysis and reporting. She brings real insight, thoughtfulness and professionalism to her work but at the heart of her approach is that she really 'gets' campaigning and influencing. I would thoroughly recommend Emma to other organisations.
Vicki Nash, Head of Policy and Campaigns
Mind
Emma is incredibly empowering and has a refreshing approach. Due to Emma’s mentoring I’m a far more confident individual. She is extremely knowledgeable and has a broad range of expertise which she can apply to a number of situations. But Emma applies her knowledge in a way that leaves you feeling able to do it yourself. She genuinely helps you to build your public affairs and campaigning capacity.
Importantly, Emma encourages you to question whether what you’re doing is effecting the change you wish for - is this going to get you where you want and have the impact on real people that you hope for? Organisations get an enormous return, both in the short and long term, by working with her.
Matthew Downie, Head of Parliamentary & Public Affairs
Action for Children
Emma has helped The National Autistic Society build a strategic approach to campaigning. She has up-skilled the team and has played a role in helping the charity put itself on the map as a campaigning organisation.
Emma is really thorough, professional and easy to work with. She’s great at coming in when it’s hectic and listens to us talk at her. She then calmly pulls everything together, anticipates what we want and quickly identifies what needs to be done.
Amanda Batten, Director of External Affairs
The National Autistic Society
Emma has made a very important contribution to the effectiveness of Ovarian Cancer Action by helping us put ovarian cancer on the national policy agenda.
Emma delivers exactly what we want and need. I would definitely recommend her to others. Emma goes beyond standard formulaic guidance to provide well thought out, intelligent, high quality advice that is strategic but practical and based around our specific needs.
Peter Reynolds, former Chief Executive
Ovarian Cancer Action
Emma is probably one of the most thoughtful and intelligent people I’ve ever worked with. She spends time researching your organisation so that she can grasp your needs. You never get a sense of a cut and paste; Emma’s approach is specialised to your needs and the aspects of your organisation which are unique. Plus Emma is very sharp. She will quickly grasp your key issues and what’s going on.
Emma has a desire to be as good as can be and this is obvious in her work.
Juliet Hillier, Deputy National Director
Brook
We commissioned Emma to conduct a perceptions audit as she was recommended as someone who would be able to provide something above and beyond a bog standard survey. Emma took time to understand the key questions the organisation wanted to answer and to find ways to elicit the right information from stakeholders. She was able to garner feedback from a number of key people the Charity was working with and provided helpful and insightful analysis of the responses she was given. The evaluation Emma provided was worth far more to the organisation, in terms of giving direction to our influencing work, than any of the standard evaluations offered by the larger operators could ever be.
Kate Jopling, former Head of Public Affairs
Help the Aged (now Age UK)
Working with Emma was positive, constructive and educational. She came in and turned our ideas into a strategic plan. Emma helped the senior management team understand what advocacy is, and gave us a sense of what is relevant to us. She has helped us be realistic in terms of resources. As a result we now have an advocacy strategy, but one that reflects our resources.
Emma had a real willingness to understand the perspective of our senior management team; to develop a strategy that was bespoke and had a very different angle from what other agencies offer. She has made a huge difference to us.
Mark Harrod, former Director of Policy & Public Affairs
Central YMCA
Working with Emma as a mentor was very helpful – I was acting up at the time and she gave me really practical advice that helped me step up. We had just launched a new campaign and Emma helped us to maintain momentum after the initial burst of activity. Emma also helped me think more methodically about campaigning strategies in a way that made it easier to monitor success. She also improved my confidence. I would definitely recommend her to others.
Tom Madders, Head of Campaigns
The National Autistic Society
Emma coached one of our competition winners. Emma is professional and friendly, followed the brief well, delivered on time and effectively. The coaching sessions covered an extensive range of issues and were delivered to a high standard. Our award winner really benefited from Emma’s coaching, receiving good support to help with her campaign.
Clare Parry, former Campaigner Support Manager
The Sheila McKechnie Foundation
Emma was invited to present to a group of Queen’s Nurses on the topic of effective campaigning. The overwhelming response from participants to her presentation was very positive. They found Emma an enthusiastic speaker with a wealth of experience and valued the practical advice she was able to offer. Emma made the concept of campaigning seem a reality for many in the room – with hopefully one or two being inspired to go the extra step.
Alessandra Peck, Policy and Development Officer
The Queen's Nursing Institute
Emma provided us with expert knowledge and helped hone our campaigns strategy for a specialist and complex campaign. Her experience and expertise were invaluable, as were her skills in supporting and working with us, within our ethos and objectives. Emma enabled us to sharpen our strategy and prioritise our ideas. She was extremely trustworthy and I would not hesitate in recommending her to others.
Olivia Marks-Woldman, former Head of Policy & Campaigns
Breast Cancer Care
Working with Emma was great; she gave us exactly what we were looking for – an insightful, informed strategy to involve our supporters in campaigning. Emma makes sure she has a good understanding of your organisation and keeps you updated so progress is very smooth. Emma is very good and I would recommend her to others.
Sarah Cant, Head of Policy and Campaigns
Prostate Cancer UK
We worked with Emma to organise a high level seminar between social entrepreneurs and key Labour figures, aiming to influence the manifesto ahead of the election. Emma gave us clear, relevant and influential insight into Labour policy and people. She secured participation by the lead manifesto writer and a Cabinet Minister, and an excellent venue within Parliament. Her calm, expert and personable approach made our event highly successful and influential. Thoroughly recommended!
Cliff Prior, Chief Executive
UnLtd
Emma is an excellent mentor. By working with her I gained more confidence in campaigning and improved my knowledge base. Emma has a lot of knowledge and skills in the campaigning field and was willing to share that knowledge. I gained a lot from her mentoring and found it very motivating. Emma was able to bring out things in me I wasn't particularly aware of, which boosted my confidence.
Lara Fashola, Local Campaigner Award Winner
The Sheila McKechnie Foundation
Working with Emma was interesting and useful. She showed me a different route – how to link the skills I already have in press and communications with new ones in public affairs. She has given me confidence by helping me to understand what public affairs is and how I can be proactive.
I’ve valued Emma’s ability to tailor her consulting to the way I learn. She provided a questionnaire regarding my learning type and built how I learn into the way she advised me. Emma puts you at ease and I felt very comfortable talking through issues with her that I was unsure about.
Natalie Collyer, Corporate Communications Officer
Brook
I have worked with Emma as a colleague and a client for a number of years. In addition to bringing a great deal of expertise to any project we have worked on together, Emma's straightforward, no-nonsense approach always impresses me. She has never failed to deliver what was asked of her - often bringing a great deal more than was originally briefed. I can thoroughly recommend her.
Samantha Gibson, former Head of Communications
Ovarian Cancer Action
