West London Zone has seen significant growth since it started in 2015. In year 1 the charity supported 132 young people. Now, we have 85 people on the team supporting 1,338 young people and the headcount is only set to continue growing, making this a really exciting time for me to join the charity.

My role as People and Culture Director is to support West London Zone’s ambitious growth and impact strategy while ensuring that it remains a great place to work, where everyone feels included and engaged with the values and culture of the charity. For me, ensuring that we have a diverse workforce that represents the communities we support is a key focus of this work.

My passion for working with children and young people stemmed from teaching English Literature to secondary school students in Nigeria for a year, fresh after graduating from university. I went into it without expectations and found it extremely rewarding. I have since worked in schools and universities for over 10 years as a Human Resources professional.

As with everyone who has worked with children and young people, I am very aware that many children in the UK are not given the same opportunities, and do not get the support they need, at the right time. This is why I was attracted to this role at West London Zone. I was keen to join a charity whose purpose is to work collaboratively in its community to reach the children who will most benefit from support, with the aim of enabling their social, emotional and academic progress so that they thrive in adulthood. And importantly, a charity with a commitment to fostering Equality and Diversity at the heart of its operations.

My role at West London Zone will also be to ensure we attract, retain and develop the key talents we need to deliver our aim of making a positive impact for the children and communities we support.

I am extremely excited to be joining at this pivotal moment and look forward to adding value.

Esiri Lawrence, People and Culture Director