Change Makers: Leadership, Good Business, Ideas and Innovation

We are excited to bring you the second episode of Journeys of Discovery – Change Makers’ collaborative series with the Royal Philharmonic Orchesta. Over the course of these interviews, Michael explores fundamental questions about what it means to be human that accompany nine incredible concerts.
This week, the themes are Freedom and Redemption, and our guest Katy Emck OBE, knows a thing or two about both of those.
As Founding Director of Fine Cell Work, Katy speaks to Michael about how she is helping to transform the lives of prisoners and ex-prisoners through needlework. Prisons can be “places of soul, spirit and connection”, says Katy. Rather than carrying out their sentences “full of rage and self hate”, prisoners should be permitted to embark on a journey of “self understanding and self acceptance”.
Craftwork in prisons is common, but Katy feels there is something about the intense focus of needlework that provides a much needed “release from the here and now”. Whilst momentarily being transported out of their cell’s confinement, prisoners are also developing a skill, creating something they can be proud of, and generating income. This positions them with the self belief to rebuild meaningful, independent, crime free lives once they have finished their sentences.
There is no better depiction of Katy’s belief in the power of freedom and redemption than her favourite song by Nina Simone, ‘I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free’, which she describes as the ultimate song about freedom, release and the longing we all have to break free of inhibition and to be connected.
Through needlework, Fine Cell Work is opening one of the few doors of opportunity available to prisoners – allowing them both a glimpse of freedom, and a chance for redemption.

In this Change Makers series in collaboration with Mr & Mrs Smith, we explore the travel industry’s role in delivering a more sustainable future in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic and the growing climate emergency.
This week Michael Hayman is joined by Wilbert Das and Bob Shevlin, Founders of Uxua Casa. The hotel and spa is set right on the Unesco-protected Quadrado, making it an easy stroll to the artisans’ workshops and restaurants lining the grassy town square. But the Unesco site isn’t the only one under protection: the clutch of casas were born in 2006, carved out of a collection of original fishermen’s houses and inspired by authentic craftsmanship which the founders strive to preserve.

Joining Michael Hayman on Change Makers is Gina Badenoch, the social entrepreneur with a dream to enable social and economic mobility, to build a more inclusive society.
With a primary focus on fostering equality for the visually impaired, through the companies she has founded – Capaxia and Ojos Que Sienten (Sight of Emotion – she creates experiences that change mindsets, to overcome the prejudices that exist between talent, potential and companies.
It is an approach that has seen Gina recognised as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and an Ashoka Fellow, with a changemaking ethic inspired by her quote for life: “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”

Gavin Esler is an award-winning television and radio broadcaster, journalist and author. His 40-year career at the BBC included a decade as one of the anchors of its flagship news and current affairs programme Newsnight, prompting the Financial Times to note that Gavin “understands the political beast better than anyone.” It is an understanding that has focused his thinking on the power of storytelling in public life: the who we are and the where are we going. And it is his ability to tell these stories and provide answers to these questions that has seen him interview the likes of Margaret Thatcher and Bill Clinton, address challenges of Brexit and the USA’s political discontent, and more recently turn his abilities to a successful collection of novels, focusing on world leaders’ tips for getting to the top.

Founding editor of Country & Town House, Lucy Cleland has been in the glossy magazine business for around 20 years, and divides her time between the glamour of Acton and the mud and wellies of the New Forest with her husband and two children. She founded Country & Town House with her husband back in 2007, a year before the huge financial crash – originally launched as Country House, before rebranding. Sustainability is also a passion of Lucy's and this summer, she pledged that 25% of the magazine's content would reflect the ways we should learn to live – whether that's the brands we buy, how we consume things or the way we travel.