London Area, United Kingdom
Climate Shift empowers organizations, schools, and community groups to navigate the emotional complexities of climate change and convert them into meaningful action. We design and deliver reflective programs that help participants shift from anxiety to agency and adopt climate-positive practices as individuals and within organisations and communities. Backed by more than two decades of experience as a Facilitator and Trainer, my collaborations with groups like the British Council, Tate, and Paul Hamlyn Foundation have informed a unique approach to fostering learning and societal transformation. A strong foundation in writing and communication further amplifies this work, bridging arts, education, and climate engagement to inspire collective and impactful change.
Climate Shift helps companies, schools, NGOs, and community groups explore their responses to climate change, aiming to translate complex emotion into valuable action. Through activities designed to surface deep questions - for ourselves and for others - Climate Shift helps us learn how we might 'shift' from anxiety to agency, and ultimately towards living more climate-positive lives.
I design and deliver bespoke training and peer learning programmes for schools, universities and non-profit organisations. Non-profit clients include A New Direction, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, British Council, Clowns Without Borders UK, Creativity Culture and Education, Greater London Authority, Tate, AFTEC (Hong Kong), Oppi Global, the Swedish International Liberal Centre, and Kurybines Jungtys (Lithuania). I am also an Associate with the award-winning creative training consultancy, The Map Consortium, where I worked on projects for Unilever, Royal Opera House, and Investec among other clients.
I began my career as a print journalist in the 1990s, winning more than two dozen feature and investigative awards. In 2004, I published LOST IN SPACE, a narrative non-fiction exploration of human spaceflight that was listed among the Books of the Year by the San Francisco Chronicle and Independent (UK). Feature-length writing has appeared in New Scientist, Aeon, DEMOS, London Evening Standard, Telegraph Magazine, and the New York Times, among others. I also wrote and published the dystopian novel THE EMISSARY, a 2014 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Quarter-Finalist. Connected to my arts and education work, I have written 'impact' pieces for clients including the London School of Economics and Central School of Speech and Drama, as well as learning resources for large-scale arts projects including Steve McQueen's Year 3 project (exhibited at Tate Britain), Brent Borough of Culture, and 14-18 Now (with creative learning expert Bill Lucas).
Co-founded with theatre artist Samantha Holdsworth, Nimble Fish worked in theatre, education and community. Notable projects include the original site-specific production of Clare Bayley's The Container, which won a Scotsman Fringe First and Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and continues to be produced to acclaim worldwide, and the UK tour of Lost In Blue by Debs Newbold, whose performance won the 2016 Summerhall Acting Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Nimble Fish frequently collaborated with other arts organisations, including Emergency Exit Arts, Underbelly, and Punchdrunk.
Hired following a yearlong executive search, I created a comprehensive fundraising, marketing and communications programme for this world-renowned independent research organisation. My work produced nearly $40 million in new private-sector resources. Concurrent achievements included the development of new promotional media (print and electronic); the creation of an international membership programme (drawing more than 5,000 new members in the first year alone); cause-marketing partnerships with Universal Studios, Hewlett Packard, Yahoo!, Amazon.com and dozens of other companies; and national and international media placement of major project announcements. Managing a staff of six, I oversaw an annual operating budget of more than $500,000.
In this senior management position, I pursued major corporate and trust funding as part of a $1.1 billion university fundraising campaign. Given free rein, I wrote the university’s first comprehensive plan for developing and cultivating philanthropic relationships with the burgeoning technology sector based in the Silicon Valley. Working directly with the university chancellor and senior faculty, I helped secure more than $20 million in new support from corporate, foundation and individual funding sources.