Meet our candidates
We have some amazing women who are competing for your vote to represent WEP as the GLA Super Constitency Candidate for Lambeth and Southwark.
Every single one of these women would make a fantastic representative for the party. Our hustings on the 22nd June is your chance to meet them and cast your vote.
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Kirsty Allen I’ve been a member of the Lambeth branch for the past three years and, in that time, have become an enthusiastic canvasser! I did, however, have experience of knocking on many a front door from working at Doorstep Library. We organised a team of over 100 volunteers to deliver reading sessions direct into the homes of families living in some of London’s most disadvantaged areas. I worked as a Project Coordinator, doubled our volunteer numbers as Volunteer Recruitment Coordinator and raised our profile as Marketing Manager. The visits I made to families each week, however, remain the highlight of my career. Listening to parents, often mothers, has taught me about the reality of raising a family in London. Representing WEP at the GLA feels like the next step in using my voice to represent the women, children and families I’ve had the privilege to know. |
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Janet Baker I’m not, generally speaking, an angry woman, I am more a person of action. I’m positive, and usually cheerful. There are, however, increasingly more things that are starting to really p me off. So I’m standing as a candidate in order to focus that annoyance into doing something. I’ll speak to anyone who doesn’t want to listen. I’ll remind those who think that they know it all and have this ‘equality thing covered’ that perhaps if they speak those who aren’t male or white or able- bodied or non-parents, they might get a more rounded picture of what’s really needed in this city or ours.
I will do it proud in the knowledge that I am part of a team contains brilliant, well informed, imaginative and determined people called The Women’s Equality Party. WE do this together, I’m just happy to be the loud one at the front.
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Claire Empson
I'm a founding member, co-branch leader of Southwark WEP for two years and ran as the WEP councillor candidate in 2018 in Goose Green, gaining over 1 in 5 (1075!) votes.
I started my company in this ward 12 years ago from my house, raising pre-school children whilst claiming tax credits. I built it up to two local, high profile, offices with 8 staff, successfully selling the business on recently.
I support mothers in business with my local networking group and I’ve been inspiring young women towards entrepreneurship and self reliance since 2016 with my community project in schools.
I believe we can win a seat by building on our existing support. With me as a recognisable local candidate we can retain those votes and gain more, and I now have more time to dedicate to our campaign. We need 5% of the vote across London, in Goose Green we gained 22.5% - WE CAN do this!
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Joanna Hamer I’m a social entrepreneur, and co-founder and Director of a mission-driven company that supports women in London who face barriers to work through sustainable craft workshops. I've previously worked in communications, public health, and community journalism in London and the US. I was a Year Here fellow in social innovation and I have a Master’s degree in Medical Anthropology. |
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Korina Holmes I was born in Chester to a Barbadian father and English mother, both hardworking NHS nurses with a combined service of 80 years before retirement. I studied Politics and American Studies at Nottingham University. I volunteered in Haiti in the after effects of the 2010 earthquake before moving to Brixton, where I have now lived for 10 years, to attend law school. I have worked as a commercial disputes lawyer in London for 8 years, where I benefit from a flexible working schedule in order to raise my son as a single mother. I am a CityParents influencer and a mentor for students from backgrounds that are traditionally underexposed to the City. In my free time I volunteer at a legal advice clinic where I offer free legal advice on housing as well as family law issues, including domestic violence. I joined the women’s equality party in 2015 and am currently a member of the newly established BAME caucus. |
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Georgia Ladbury My profound desire for social justice drives both my work as a public health specialist, and my campaigning and volunteering to secure a better deal for my local community, particularly women. I was born in Lambeth and have spent many years living in different parts of the borough: it’s an area I know well and care deeply about. Highlights include kickstarting a residents’ campaign for a Public Spaces Protection Order around Lambeth abortion clinics; chairing the Lambeth and Southwark Maternity Voices Partnership to assure improved, women-centred maternity services are made available; and co-founding #StreathamStandsTogether, a post-referendum grassroots project celebrating diversity and rejecting racism. Seeing inequalities deepen over recent years has hugely politicised me. I want to ensure that women’s voices are no longer left unheard and that WE are central to shaping our capital’s future. Vote for me and I will work tirelessly to make that happen. |
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Freya Papworth 5 years ago I was a jobbing actor working in a call-centre. 10 years ago I broke my back. 15 years ago I was homeless and flipping burgers in a van. Today I run global IT transformation projects. My next aim is to take a leap into the unknown by running as your candidate. Joining WEP has felt like coming home: your openness to new members, passion for our community, and commitment to changing how politics is done has been truly eye-opening. I want to be your candidate for the GLA because I can no longer watch and do nothing as our country and our communities are divided and demoralised by the onslaught of austerity and Brexit. I grew up in Surrey, but London has been my home for the past 8 years. I hope to make our home a better and more equal place for all those who follow.
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