Melba

When did you join ASM?
2025.
Tell us about your experience, lived and/or working?
My career has been about turning good intentions into good business, and making it last. I co-founded my first organisation at twelve, a venture led by teenagers in South London that grew over fifteen years to support more than five thousand young people a year. Since then I have led teams and programmes across auditing, banking, consulting, education and social enterprise, in the UK and internationally across Africa and Europe. I also grew up in a neurodiverse family, where many ways of thinking and processing were simply part of everyday life. That shaped how I listen, and how I build places where people can do their best thinking.
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What do you value most about your work?
Seeing what actually improves a person's life. Fewer misunderstandings, clearer expectations, being able to wake up and feel better about the day ahead. I would rather change something real than use language that sounds good and changes nothing. I also care about joy, and I make room for it in every part of my life, especially at work.
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What are your areas of interest or expertise?
Leadership, and building organisations that hold their standards as they grow. I am drawn to where work quietly breaks down, which is usually a gap between what is expected, why it matters, and what actually gets done. Much of the unlock is translation rather than motivation. At ASM I work across the whole picture: the people we support, our own team, and the employers shaping the environments people walk into.
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When you’re not working, how do you relax, have fun etc?
Plenty of ways. I spend time in nature, outdoors, gardening and swimming. Music matters to me, so I dance and play instruments whenever I can. I am a lover of learning and often pick up a new skill just to see what it teaches me. I like being in community: time across generations, playing games, singing karaoke, and volunteering with family and friends.
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