The campaign for real role models

the campaign - associates

We work with a group of professional volunteers who give us their time, energy and support. They are:

May Carolan
May first decided she was a feminist at the age of six.  Unhappy with being told she had to do sewing, rather than wood work at school, she refused to join in at all and sat in the corner reading a book. And so began a life of book reading and feeling distinctly hard done by.  

Growing out of her sulking, she quickly realised making a fuss was far more satisfying than feeling sorry for yourself.  After travelling in her gap year to India, the US and Eastern Europe, she headed off to the University of East Anglia, where she met lots of lovely like minded people. A  year spent studying at Occidental College, Los Angeles (Barrack Obama went there you know...) specialising in film and gender studies, she also interned at The Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women, a non-profit, feminist, multicultural organization whose goal is the elimination of violence against women and children. 
 
Distinctly bitten by the non-profit and NGO bug and armed with a Film Studies BA and an MA in Film Studies and Film Archiving she was very lucky to be able to combine the two passions with an actual real life job, much to everyone's surprise, including her own.  A long-time active member of Amnesty International, she interned in their film archive, leading to a job conducting historic photograph research.  

Moving to the Audio-Visual Production/Media team two years ago she has been working on the development, production and distribution of targeted audiovisual products which raise awareness of Amnesty's work to promote and protect Human Rights. At Amnesty she met Abi and so their mutual enjoyment of making a fuss (and much love of eating cake) led to friendship and May joining the PinkStinks campaign!

Helen Donohoe
Helen grew up wanting to a) play for Arsenal or failing that b) play for Arsenal reserves or if all else failed c) at least be allowed to go and watch Arsenal. In the end she played for West Ham Utd but she does, almost daily, watch Arsenal teams of both gender play.  Her career history has spanned twenty years of working for major charities on a paid and voluntary basis.  Her proudest campaigns have resulted in a big improvement in the coverage of women’s sport on the BBC, and the ban on smoking in public houses. She, along with her partner were also the faces of the Stonewall civil partnership campaign. She studied politics in Manchester and at the LSE, stand up comedy atCity University and breakdancing for beginners at Farnborough recreation centre. Currently she heads up the Campaigning Effectiveness programme at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations while she is also a trustee of the YWCA.  Her written work includes fiction and non-fiction including World Issues Today: Terrorism. She lives with her partner and her two daughters in north London.

Lucy Lawrence
Lucy’s role model growing up was the indomitable Kate Adie. How ironic Kate herself ended up a victim of the media’s obsession with youth and beauty! Sidelined after 35 years of service at the age of 57, Kate stepped down attacking the BBC for hiring female journalists with 'cute faces and cute bottoms and nothing else in between'. (It’s worth noting snowy-haired John Simpson, 67, continues his frontline career unchecked).

Lucy chose writing over broadcasting and over the past 16 years has worked on national newspapers including the Times, Sunday Times, Mail, Telegraph, News of the World, Sunday Mirror and Evening Standard. More recently, as a freelance, she has worked for various women’s magazines and witnesses first hand the public’s extraordinary appetite for ‘news’ about celebrity love lives, beauty regimes and diets. Lucy says: “The line between them (celebrities) and us has been blurred. Girls not only think a celebrity lifestyle is attainable for all, but believe it is the only acceptable way to live. The difficulty is - in a world where you can become rich and famous beyond your wildest dreams simply by marring a footballer - persuading our children that hard work and dedication provide their own reward.”

Cara Lavan
Cara is a documentary film-maker, originally from the West Country.  Though possibly brainwashed by a feminist mother into ardent support for gender equality, Cara has her own clear memories of being infuriated at fellow primary school pupils asserting with 100% certainty that 'boys were better then girls' - and recalls setting out to prove otherwise wherever possible.   This created something of a rod for her own back - but one that spurred her onto many achievements.

She read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the then hotbed of feminism, Somerville College, Oxford and went on to a career in broadcasting.   One of her early jobs was on Newsround during which time she often worked with 8-14 year old girls who wanted to become news reporters.  In 1999 she was selected as a National Children's Champion.  She went on to spent the next ten years making documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4 on subjects like gender, class, race, religion, parenting and dance music.

Cara feels lucky to have grown up in a pre-celebrity culture age and to have been encouraged to climb trees, play and explore rather than worry about how she looked or what she ate.  She thinks this has lead her to a life of fun and adventure without fear of technology, maths or science and with a healthy attitude to food being a great source of energy. 

She now runs her own production company, Futureproof Productions and is a driving force behind the London Hula Hoopers collective.

Katy Wingrove
Katy Wingrove is a freelance researcher for TV and film. Relatively new to the industry, since graduating from Warwick University with a degree in Film&Literature last year, she has worked on two series of The Paul O’Grady Show, for the VT team, developing, researching and filming 2-minute short films.

Katy has interviewed film director Ken Loach and MotoGP and World Superbike champion James Toseland. She also has work experience at the BBC, CNN International and on Richard&Judy, as well as several programmes by smaller independent production companies. Katy was Press&Publicity Officer, Event Manager and Director for university station, Warwick TV and she wrote a feature for the newspaper, Warwick Boar. She has worked in collaboration with the manager of Glastonbury Festival to create a range of posters. Katy has also spent time in a primary school teaching animation to groups of junior pupils. Katy is a keen skier and photographer, and plays the saxophone. A fan of adventure travel, she plans to add more countries to her list in the near future. Katy was brought up in Gloucestershire, has lived in Warwickshire, and is now based in South West London.