Representing the Women’s Equality Party has been one of my most rewarding and life-affirming experiences. It’s fun, hard work, a huge honour.

I’ve done it three times: as 2016 GLA list candidate, as WEP’s first-ever local council candidate getting 7% of the vote, and in 2018 in Ladywell getting 26.1% of the vote. I’ve been a WEP member since the beginning, and I’m one of our most active activists in my branch, Lewisham, and also as Spokesperson for Equal Health and as a member of the Policy Committee.

My professional background is writing, directing and producing theatre; my work has been cited by Arts Council England as a model of good practice for inclusion and diversity. I’ve worked in major theatres and made socially-engaged touring productions with grass roots communities. I’m comfortable engaging with stakeholders ranging from politicians, to business, to local interest and disenfranchised groups, in convening discussions, making policy and negotiating. Despite contracting Covid and living with it still, I spent 2020 advocating and making work for freelances and supporting people living with dementias and learning disabled people. "We never closed."

I’ve lived in London for over 20 years and worked in half its boroughs. I've been a school governor as safeguarding link and daily I see the intersectional inequalities that women encounter. I want to be part of making London the first gender-equal city, and will work with our GLA list to progress towards that for 2021.