I am often asked how I became a Social Entrepreneur?

Here is the short version –

In 2003, I’d already been a careers advisor for 10 years and involved in community groups outside of day-to-day work.

I was the lead careers advisor on the Learning Wards Initiative and the Stockton YIP50 project. An initiative to re-engage the hardest to reach young people in the local area.

I came up with the idea of running an over 14’s event at a nightclub. Tickets were free but only available from a Youth club. The effect of this would be an increase in youth club attendance across Tees Valley. I got my old friend BBC Radio 1 DJ Spoony to perform (at a greatly reduced rate). I organised free transport from Youth clubs to the venue. The best up-and-coming young DJs were booked as the warm-up acts.

The project was more successful than anticipated, and the uptake of tickets surpassed expectations. At the last minute, more staff (Careers Advisors) were drafted in. We spent an extra £100 on soft drinks for the additional staff.

The event was a roaring success and was profiled in the local papers.

So what went wrong in the aftermath? Why did I end up leaving a job and a project I loved?

The new Careers Service CEO was convinced there was alcohol served, despite it being an alcohol free bar (as stipulated in the contract I wrote and the nightclub owners signed) and the bar manager, all the careers advisors who worked, saying there was no alcohol served.

I had put my heart and soul into the initiative, worked through holidays, hardly saw my kids. I felt my skills were unappreciated, then when the glowing reviews of the event appeared locally, and in the Careers service bulletins, my name was absent.

So, I left the careers service –

It was a big risk. No secure employment and my kids were 5 and 2 at the time.

Doing my own thing would mean seeing them less.

But I was excited by the idea of making a difference to people’s lives on a bigger scale. I was ready for the challenge.

In 2004, I founded an Award-winning Social Enterprise called Solzaf (named after my children) to give disadvantaged people employability skills via creative arts as well as initiated and developed accredited qualifications in creative arts.

Solzaf music and creative arts, was a Tees Valley based social enterprise that worked with disadvantaged and disengaged people in the community and in schools. Its purpose was to use innovative ways to give participants transferrable skills needed in employment.

Solzaf used music and creative arts to raise aspirations, increase self-confidence, interpersonal skills and creativity as well as other key skills needed for increasing employability and life opportunities.

We were the first organisation in the area to create Nationally Accredited qualifications in non-traditional creative arts such as DJ-ing and graffiti art.

Solzaf won the Best New Business Award (community) 2005 for its innovative work.

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Solzaf ceased in 2010 after working with thousands of people across over 100 schools and community groups.

I continue to work in the sector with other local and national and international organisations. See my LinkedIn profile if you want more details.

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