How did you develop a 'social' view of society?

I grew up in Gloucestershire in a working class family. The expected career path for me and many of my peers was to work in the local supermarket, or if we were any good at typing, to get a job as a secretary. I was always passionate about theatre, having been lucky enough to get taken to the theatre once a year for my birthday. But I quickly realised that drama classes and voice or singing lessons were the prerogative of another class.

When I worked on a youth opportunities scheme, I got the chance to work with a local theatre company and with their help and a lot of appeals, I was finally accepted at a drama college. When I finished my degree, I became determined to use theatre as a way of supporting people regardless of their background and to discover ways of empowering them to access the curriculum through creative approaches.

I believe that having access to high quality drama experiences is vital in a child’s development, to help them develop their confidence or enable them to access a subject in a way that was previously denied to them. I also think that the transferable skills acquired during drama sessions offer the potential to open up a whole new path for the future to people who have been denied these opportunities.

How did that lead into the position you're in now?

MakeBelieve Arts was created out of my need to work more directly with children and young people in my neighbourhood and beyond. I left a secure job with a well-known theatre company because I wanted the work that I had been dreaming about doing to have the chance to fly.

It was a scary move, but as the saying goes, every time you close a door, many more open and MakeBelieve Arts has been a series of open doors from the moment the company was conceived.

My lack of experience in creating a company has meant that the last six years have been a huge learning curve, going through the various incorporation stages, from a trading name, to unofficial partnership, to not-for-profit company, to a charity. This has given me a wealth of experience in discovering how to support and respond creatively to an organisation’s growth.

I also believe that my lack of training in this field is one of my greatest assets. During the first few years I so often felt like I was re-inventing the wheel, but as time went by it got easier to ask people who knew how the wheel worked to come and advise me, and then one day I realise that I understood the wheel. That’s when I needed to start re-inventing the motor car.

How does your enterprise work?

MakeBelieve Arts is a leading provider of theatre and education programmes in the London Borough of Lewisham and the neighbouring area. Our small team of staff is based in Deptford and offers theatre and education workshops and performance projects for three to thirteen year olds.

The company is also beginning to develop a strong reputation for excellence in the London boroughs of Southwark, Greenwich, Tower Hamlets, Westminster and Lambeth.

What kind of person makes a good social entrepreneur?

If you really believe in what you are doing and have the tenacity to keep going, and to keep looking for new ways to thrive and not just survive, then I think you can move mountains.

I was not trained in creating my own business, I had to work it all out myself. Sometimes I was frightened that it would all go wrong, and sometimes I had to take risks and just hope that they would pay off. It’s not about what you know, it’s about knowing where to look to find the answers.

What advice would you give to budding social entrepreneurs?

For me, social enterprise is allowing people to live their dreams and to use their skills to benefit others. For so many of us, things that we are passionate about are at best a hobby and at worst something we used to do, or always wanted to do but never quite had the opportunity.

But what if these skills or passions were things we could turn into businesses that were not only exciting and fun, but inspired and supported other people, opening up opportunities for people who previously didn’t have them? That’s what social enterprise is. It is also about allowing us to find creative solutions to problems and think outside the box.