Hello people of LinkedIn!
After encouragement from friends I am going to start properly using this - sharing updates about my work and engaging with all of your amazing work. Speaking about myself doesn't come naturally. Thank you pals for pushing me.
I guess a good place to start is a little intro on what I've gotten up to so far...
Hi, I'm Frances, a 23 year old intersectional youth climate justice activist. I have worked in the intersection of music and climate advocacy for 5 years as Founder and UK Director of Climate Live: a global youth-led charity, with teams in over 40 countries, who organise concerts and festival campaigns to engage a new audience in the climate movement.
Some recent acomplishments include coordinating Climate Live's inaugural pavillion at the UN COP28 Conference, running the Climate Live Bus Stage at major festivals in the UK and helping coordinate simultaneous concerts in over 30 countries. Whilst working with Climate Live I have assumed a wide range of roles including Operations Manager, Team Coordinator (team sizes ranging from 5-80, managing paid staff and volunteers), Stage Manager, Artist & Speaker Booker, Fundraising Lead, Partnerships Lead, Marketing Lead, Campaign Lead, Spokesperson, Treasurer, Photographer, Videographer, Video Editor and Sound Engineer.
I am passionate about harnessing the power of music for climate justice, the importance of youth-led organising, platforming those most affected by the climate crisis whose voices are often underrepresented, and climate advocacy being intersectional. Places I have spoken about this include TED, BBC News, Sky News, The Independent, NME, Glastonbury Festival, Reading & Leeds Festivals, Vision 2025's Sustainable Events Summit, Solutions House and at the 2020 Bristol Climate Strike Greta Thunberg came to in front of 30,000 people speaking on behalf of the UK Youth Strike 4 Climate movement.
I am also an activist with Fridays For Future International. I helped coordinate the youth climate strikes locally in Bath and Bristol, nationally in England and internationally. As the UK Student Climate Network's Celebrity Outreach Coordinator, alongside Greenpeace UK, I rallied support for the 2019 global climate strikes from influential figures including Billie Eilish, David Beckham, Mick Jagger and many more.
I am currently taking a year out of University to focus on developing Climate Live. I am studying Environmental Sciences and International Development at UEA.
Before deciding climate activism was my calling, I was on the British Youth Sailing Team. I competed at numerous World, European and National championships. The last 2 Laser (ILCA now) events I competed in were the UK Laser Radial Nationals 2017 where I placed 2nd Under 21 Female, and the Laser Radial Irish Nationals 2017 where I became Irish Female National Champion. Since this I have been on the UEA Sailing Team, winning national university team racing events, and become a UEA Sports Scholar.