Partners

TEAM & ASSOCIATES

Your partners in achieving real change.

Safia Minney, MBE, is an award-winning social entrepreneur and internationally recognised for the company she founded, People Tree, the pioneer of sustainable fashion. She led the business as Global CEO for 20+ years in Japan & UK. Safia is recognised by the World Economic Forum as an Outstanding Social Entrepreneur and is a leading influencer in Sustainability, Anti-Modern Slavery and Fair Trade.
Founder

safia minney mbe

Judy Cooper is an award-winning editor who has worked for daily newspapers and sector magazines in health and social care. More recently she has moved into content marketing and exploring the synergies between journalism and ethical digital marketing - creating communities around sustainable and ethical brands. Having grown up on a farm in Australia she is passionate about finding better ways to reduce our impact on the planet.
director

judy Cooper

Jen has fifteen years’ experience in branding, consumer insight and marketing having worked for several multinational corporations in the UK and Spain. Her expertise includes trend-spotting, cultural insight and quantitative data analysis. Jen is passionate about demystifying sustainability and making it accessible to all. Having obtained a qualification from the University of Cambridge in Business Sustainability Management, she is currently working towards an MSc in Environment and Sustainability with London University. She has written several articles about sustainable fashion and circularity. Her role at REAL includes research, administration and content creation.
researcher and facilitator

jen greggs

Kevin Boon is an environmental activist and campaigner. After graduating, he worked as an environmental consultant. He has 20 years experience working in the water industry as a design engineer and project manager. He has authored a number of technical papers. More recently Kevin moved to the charity sector where he's been employed as a fundraiser in the areas of homelessness and family support. He was involved with Extinction Rebellion in both fundraising and international outreach.
associate

Kevin Boon

associate
Kalkidan is a social entrepreneur looking for enterprising solutions to environmental and social challenges. In 2014 I co-founded Sancho’s Shop, an ethical clothing company that sources organic and fair trade clothing and gifts for the conscious consumer. Then in 2015 I started our first female focused project in Ethiopia, aiming to create sustainable job opportunities through the trade of hand-woven scarves. I am a big believer in introducing moral and ethical objectives into enterprise to see if some of the worlds challenges can be solved through competitive business models.

Kalkidan Legesse

Former fashion editor for Metro, Bel Jacobs is a writer and speaker about ethics and the environment, fashion’s impact on the climate emergency and animal rights. She runs two websites: beljacobs.com and hownowmagazine.com and is one of the co-ordinators of Extinction Rebellion’s Boycott Fashion campaign.
associate

Bel Jacobs

Ben has over 25 years’ experience in the outsourcing industry. He has held a number of senior roles in strategy, business development, organisational design & change and IT transformation as well as managing director roles for large outsource contracts/business divisions. During this time he has worked in a range of sectors including government, energy and utilities, retail, telco and commercial real estate. In 2020, Ben quit his job as UK Managing Director for Property and Asset Management at JLL, one of the world’s largest organisations in the corporate real estate sector, to focus his time purely on working with businesses to accelerate action to tackle the climate, ecological and social crisis.
Associate

Ben tolhurst

Caryn Franklin M.B.E. is a former fashion editor and co-editor of i-D magazine; a BBC prime-time TV fashion presenter and broadcaster, now commentator and activist. Projects have involved international design names and everyday users of fashion as well as refugees in battle zones, garment workers in free-trade-zone slums, mental health and body image experts, MP's and Government. She has written for numerous magazines, newspapers and websites, produced 4 books, authored many TV shows and documentaries on fashion as well as co-created groundbreaking campaigns such Fashion Targets Breast Cancer and multi-award winning All Walks Beyond the Catwalk. In recent years, and with an MSc in applied psychology investigating selfhood, objectification, inclusivity and bias, Caryn has consulted with corporate leadership initiatives and progressive educational institutions and blogs about four decades in fashion on www.franklinonfashion.com. She is a visiting professor of diverse selfhood at Kingston School of Art.
associate

caryn franklin mBE

Khandiz Joni is a multidisciplinary creative and social entrepreneur with a 20 year career in the beauty and advertising industry. She retrained as a sustainability consultant and now divides her time between various projects the support environmental and social regeneration.
Website & creative

khandiz joni

Louisa works alongside Safia Minney on both the design and delivery of REAL's leadership for sustainability programmes. She has worked in professional services as a sustainable business and leadership consultant and has worked with clients from large corporates, through to dynamic startups and change makers. She brings nine years of experience delivering projects designed to drive innovation and sustainability and unlock the potential individuals, collectives and organisations have to do so. She combines her experience with permaculture, creativity facilitation, theory U and systems thinking to her approach to coaching, leadership and change.
associate

Louisa Harris

Walton is the Founder & CEO of Green & Grind, Hong Kong's first sports academy that strives to promote sports in a sustainable manner. Inspired by BBC's "The Blue Planet" documentary at his early age, Walton has devoted his whole life to promote sustainability for our beautiful Planet Earth. Since graduating from University College London, Walton has worked for numerous award-winning environmental and social businesses, NGOs and entrepreneurs, e.g. bio-bean, ETIV do Brasil, Greenpeace & Safia Minney. Join Walton and start adopting an eco-conscious and active lifestyle! Follow his Green & Grind story on www.greengrind.com.hk.
associate

Walton

Joanna began working with Safia at People Tree Tokyo implementing sales development programmes. After gaining her Masters in Environmental Management and Assessment Joanna worked in Local Government rolling out energy efficiency programmes to local business and schools. She developed and delivered workshops to ensure sustainability was built into the curriculum and operations at educational establishments. She has worked with the Carbon Trust, Keep Britain Tidy and Buckinghamshire County Council. She is committed to ensuring sustainable practice is accessible to all members of the community and in business.
ASSOCIATE

joanna coombs

Millie works alongside Safia Minney in the development and production of projects at REAL Sustainability, her role including design, website administration and content creation. Millie has experience in digital media and design, with an appreciation for the importance of visual and verbal storytelling, and promoting environmental and social action vital in her work.
Comms and design

Millie Baker

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REAL is a community interest company that aims to support citizens and organisational leaders to transition to carbon zero and sustainability, founded by Safia Minney & friends.

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