Our Story
Flourish Together was born in 2016 when Founding Directors Directors Nickala Torkington, Jo McGrath and Anne Strachan spotted a need for tailored support for women developing social ventures.
Back in 2012, Nickala, Jo and Anne had set up a series of pilot projects under the banner of ‘The Women Supporting Social Entrepreneurs Network’. The network flourished, and in 2016, Flourish Together was set up as a Community Interest Company.
We could see the enormous potential for women to thrive as innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders. Our first-hand experience showed us how social enterprise can empower women to lead change – and lift themselves out of hardship and inflexible work situations at the same time. They just needed the right support – support that wasn’t out there.
Since then, Flourish has grown organically and continues to evolve – adapting services and activities to meet local, regional and national need – to support women changemakers, to foster greater collaboration across the sector and to promote positive change in communities.
Our Team
Nickala Torkington
Co-founder and Managing Director
Nickala has supported social innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders for over 24 years to create the change they see needed in communities. She has personally coached and intensively supported over 4,000 social entrepreneurs to develop projects, businesses and campaigns which create social change predominantly in the North West – and across the UK. A specialist in social value, Nickala is listed as one of the top 100 Women in Social Enterprise nationally. She was shortlisted for an Institute of Directors Award in 2020, Highly Commended in the Northern Power Women Awards in 2020 in the ‘Innovation’ category and Winner of ‘Levelling Up Leader’ Award in 2023. She was also awarded Woman of the Year in Social Enterprise as part of the Inspiring Women Awards in 2019.
To further the strategic development and support of the Social Enterprise Sector, Nickala sits on a range of groups, networks and boards including Greater Manchester Social Enterprise Network, Greater Manchester Social Enterprise Action Group and BASE (an organisation supporting and advocating for culturally diverse groups across Greater Manchester).
Nickala is a proud single parent and when not working too hard likes to head to the beach or the mountains.
Fiona Jones
Executive Director and Enterprise and Learning Manager (Health and Wellbeing)
Fiona has been working in the alternative therapy world for 26 years qualified in multiple disciplines and had degrees in Education and Biology. She has been teaching for over 22 years in both mainstream and alternative education settings and previously ran a successful therapy business for over 25 years.
As a full time member of the team she leads on the Careers in Holistic Health Programmes and oversees Pop Up Spa development. She is passionate about delivering knowledge and skills in a diverse ways to provide training and education to those that may have barriers to learning.
Anna Oliva
Admin Executive – Programmes, Events and Evaluation
Anna joined the Flourish network through the Time to Grow programme, when she was developing ReCreate Mossley – an arts & craft for wellbeing community group based in Tameside. Anna has been a core part of the team since 2021, providing administrative, operations and marketing support across a range of activities and programmes. Anna supports the operational delivery of the We Lead for Legacy programme we deliver with She Leads for Legacy backed by the GMCA.
Imani Edwards
Admin Executive – Flourish Hubs, Operations and Promotion
Imani joined as a full time member of the team in 2024 with a background in marketing, media production and a range of retail and marketing experience. She supports the operational delivery of the Flourish Hubs and a range of community events and outreach.
Lyla Galloway
Admin, Finance and Evaluation support
Lyla joined the team in 2023 to on a few week’s work experience and has evolved within the team to work for us part time on Admin, Finance and Research and Evaluation support, plus aids with social value reporting internally and with external clients.
She is studying a Degree in Mathematics at Glasgow University and is part of several societies
Associates
Debbie Tomkies
Flourish Associate
Debbie is a textile designer with over 25 years’ experience as a hand-dyer, author and tutor and a founding director of Making Futures CIC, a social enterprise that aims to build confidence, wellbeing and self-esteem through creative activity.
An experienced retailer and designer-maker Debbie also offers business mentoring and start-up advice to new creative enterprises. Debbie is a valued member of our community of coaches providing practical support to start up and scale up ventures.
Jon Torkington
Flourish Associate
Jon has over 30 years experience in Operations, HR and Finance and has directed a couple of companies in both the Engineering and Catering/Hospitality sectors. He provides HR, Financial Management and Operations support, plus is also one of our Enterprise Coaches supporting Social Entrepreneurs with Business Planning to scale and grow.
He is also a keen Stockport County Fan!
Ayisatu Emore
Flourish Associate
Ayisatu benefited from a Flourish Time to Grow programme to help progress her Social Enterprise Idaraya Life which supports marginalised women to boost their health and wellbeing. She has also been an Enterprise and Learning Manager at Flourish supporting the design and delivery or programmes and events.
Ayisatu is currently an Associate supporting the delivery of the We Lead for Legacy Programme and operational development projects. She is also one of our Enterprise Coaches supporting Social Entrepreneurs with Business Planning, Bid Writing and Impact Measurement.
Board
June Williams
Non-Executive Director
Dr June Williams DmedEth has over 20 years experience in research and study in Medical Ethics. Bridging two worlds of the rational and non-rational, as a Biologist and Registered Holistic and Complementary Therapies. She has a passion for unearthing ancient esoteric knowledge and applying this information to our modern lives through her company Street Holistics.
Marianna Vasilyiv
Non-Executive Director
Marianna is a lead key worker for the Growth Company, providing information, advice, and guidance on employment and employability.
She played a key role in establishing the award winning United for Ukraine initiative, supporting thousands of Ukrainians. Her dedication earned her recognition as a Northern Gamechanger 2023 and she has previously won a Special Recognition Award at the Northern Power Women’s Awards in 2022
Rana Khadiri
Non-Executive Director
Rana Khadiri has diverse experience that spans across the public, private and third sector in a range of areas from digital and tech, legal, enterprise, learning and development, domestic abuse and politics. Rana has led and delivered many amazing initiatives from organising and managing political campaigns, running digital workshops, organising and delivering training to providing mentoring and support to women experiencing domestic abuse. A common theme amongst these is her passion for ensuring people achieve their full potential and making a positive change in communities. She has held previous roles in the Digital Growth team at The Business Growth Hub and at 10GM.