Our staff

Jo Hobbs MBE

Chief Executive

Jo joined the British Youth Council as Chief Executive in 2016. Jo leads the staff team and works with the Trustee Board ensure that we deliver for young people. Prior to joining the British Youth Council, Jo was the Operations Director at Girlguiding, leading on service delivery to girls and woman and membership growth across the UK. Jo is passionate about youth participation and advocacy, having found her own voice as a Brownie and a Guide and then as the coordinator of a peer education sexual health project whilst at University. to contact Jo call 020 4529 5927

Rosie Milsom

Head of Fundraising

Rosie joined the British Youth Council in July 2021. With 9 years’ experience in the non-profit sector, she has worked in fundraising for the arts and medical research charities before joining us as a youth organisation. Rosie is responsible for building relationships with individual donors, fundraisers, corporate organisations and Trusts and Foundations to help increase the British Youth Council’s fundraised income. She’s extremely passionate about young people from all backgrounds having the opportunity to make social and political change. Getting to know our supporters and seeing the impact they enable us to have on the young people we work with is her favourite part of her role. To get in touch with Rosie call: 07375 119412

Sophie Richardson

Interim Head of Programmes

Sophie grew up in Blackpool, moving to London to study French and Linguistics at Queen Mary, University of London. Since graduating, Sophie has held numerous positions in the private, public and not-for-profit organisations but all had the common theme of education and supporting young people’s development, something which Sophie is passionate about. Previously, she worked at WE as the Director of WE Schools, leading a team of 22 staff and growing the social action programme from 2000 to 6000 schools across the UK. As well as supporting the British Youth Council on an interim basis, Sophie is a freelance consultant, supporting organisations to develop their growth strategies for youth-facing programmes. In her spare time, Sophie volunteers as a school governor and is co-founder of an organisation delivering doorstep experiences and gifts in Lancashire.

Samayya Afzal

Policy & Public Affairs Coordinator

Samayya Afzal is the Policy and Public Affairs Coordinator. She has a background in diversity development, anti-racism campaigns and community engagement. At the British Youth Council, she leads on all things to do with our manifesto, internal policy debates and mechanisms for our membership organisations, and the UK Youth Parliament programme’s policy processes. Samayya is responsible for progressing a number of campaigns, including the UK Youth Parliament’s priority campaigns, and core campaigns such as Votes at 16. She also manages the APPG for Votes at 16, and shares management of the APPG for Youth Affairs, leading on Parliamentary and external stakeholder engagement for the British Youth Council. To contact Samayya call 07809 507 358

Rhammel Afflick BEM

Head of Advocacy & Communications

Rhammel has been working for the British Youth Council since 2011 as a consultant and later joined the team full time in February 2015. Rhammel is currently Trustee and Director of the charity, Police Now and Director of Communications for Pride in London. He is now responsible for the planning, production and curation of digital and social content, the development of our brands and the coordination of our media enquiries. To get in touch with Rhammel call 078 0950 7356

Brendan McGowan

Programme Manager, Youth Voice inc UK Youth Parliament

Brendan manages the Youth Voice Programme including the UK Youth Parliament; working with over 120 councils and partner organisations to support 300 elected young leaders across the UK. To get in touch with Brendan call: 07852 190880

Danny Brown

Youth Voice Regional Coordinator, London, South East, East of England

Danny joined the British Youth Council as a coordinator in November 2020 and before this he supported the BYC as an associate trainer while working as a cover supervisor for an educational organisation. An experienced youth worker, Danny has worked with young people age 3-25 in various different settings including classrooms, local authorities and residential care for children with complex needs. The recipient of a number of awards and recognitions for youth voice, education and working across cultures, Danny is also a school Governor and District Representative with Rotary. To get in touch with Danny call: 07956 681150

Alicia Thompson

Programme Officer, Youth Voice Programme including the UK Youth Parliament

Alicia is the Programme Officer for the UK Youth Parliament, working alongside regional co-ordinators and partner organisations to support over 300 young people within the programme. Alicia holds an MA in International Development from the University of Sheffield, and has previous experience co-ordinating a variety of sporting and fundraising events. to contact Alicia call 07375119356

Eleanor Marsea

Youth Engagement Coordinator

Eleanor joined the British Youth Council at the start of 2021, having worked in youth engagement roles for many years. From teaching ESOL to disadvantaged young people in Barcelona, to managing schools programmes for The Diana Award’s Anti-Bullying Ambassador Programme. Most recently Eleanor project managed the design and implementation of digital wellbeing courses for young people living in refugee camps across Africa and the Middle East with UNHCR. Eleanor is particularly passionate about working with marginalised communities of young people and aims to ensure that all British Youth Council programmes are ever-evolving in their inclusivity and accessibility. Eleanor currently sits on the steering board for the Brighton & Hove LGBT Switchboard and is also a community volunteer at Allsorts Youth Project, supporting LGBTQ+ young people. Eleanor leads on the British Youth Council programmes: the Youth Futures Foundation’s Future Voices Group and The Careers and Enterprise Company’s Youth Advisory Group. To contact Eleanor call 07809 507 359

Cat Jamieson

Youth Engagement Manager

Cat joined the British Youth Council in 2021 and is now the Youth Engagement Manager leading the Youth Engagement Team who run various youth forums and advisory groups with and for our partner organisations. She is passionate about empowering young people from all backgrounds to have a voice and to make positive changes both as individuals and within society. Cat started her career working directly with young people and has nearly 10 years’ experience working as a senior manager running programmes and services for young people, including, international social action, study programmes, careers services and the National Citizen Service.

Lucy Plummer

Youth Engagement Coordinator

Hi, I’m Lucy and I support the NHS and Bank of England Youth Forums. My role as Youth Engagement Coordinator for the British Youth Council fulfils my desire to support young people to have a voice and direct influence on the things that matter to them. Through this role I will work hard to strengthen and improve existing mechanisms for youth participation and work to identify new opportunities for young people’s participation across society, guided by the perspectives and aspirations of young people. As a Youth Advocate, I am committed to championing young people and the inclusion of young people at every opportunity. My passions and interests include youth advocacy and youth empowerment (particularly championing the inclusion of under-represented groups), sustainability, and climate action. I have an MSc in Sustainable Development from the University of Sussex and a BSc in Youth Studies from London Metropolitan University. To contact Lucy call 07496 406235

Jamie Walls

Membership Officer

Jamie is responsible for communicating directly with member organisations, growing the BYC network through recruitment, producing newsletters, delivering digital and in-person events for members, and co-designing the BYC’s new flagship programme: the Young Leaders Collective. His primary focus before joining was completing his MA in Legal and Political Theory. This is where his commitment to social and economic equality developed further into an appreciation of the vital importance of an active, participatory democracy. This grounds Jamie’s commitment to meaningfully empower young people’s voices by offering young people learning experiences in campaigning for their needs and rights, as well as offering tangible opportunities for young people and member organisations to get involved in campaigns for young people. To get in touch with Jamie call: 07809 507 357

Jack Stowell

Business Development Manager

Jack joined BYC as the Consultancy and Training Manager in January 2023. He previously worked in the Students’ Union and Higher Education sectors, before becoming a facilitator and trainer working with youth organisations. Jack has managed numerous social action campaigns in areas such as Hate Crime Research, Mental Health Support, and Substance Misuse whilst working with organisations such as Participation People and UK Youth. Jack is responsible for overseeing the Consultancy and Training work of BYC. This includes supporting organisations and providing them with guidance relating to working with young people to benefit their business, as well as providing young people with skills training, and coordinating the projects of BYC's pool of consultants.

Reem Ismail

Youth Engagement Officer

Reem started working for the British Youth Council in August 2021. Her passion for mentoring, minority representation and youth empowerment lead her to the role of Youth Engagement Officer with us. From her time studying International Relations at university, Reem is motivated about empowering and advocating the rights of marginalised young people. Before joining us, Reem has worked in various charity roles, most recently in supporting the facilitation of FGM training courses for professionals in youth roles. Reem facilitates the British Youth Council programmes; the NHS Youth Forum, the Youth Futures Foundation’s Future Voices Group and the Bank of England Youth Group. To get in touch with Reem call 07985 106 042

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