Women Changemaker Series

This month we are proud to celebrate Clare Whittaker, a multi talented holistic therapist, trainer, and founder of Hearts (Health Education and Resuscitation Training Services), where she delivers first aid and mental health training to organisations and social enterprises.

Over the years, Clare has accessed various training opportunities through Flourish, and collaborated on multiple wellbeing events both internally and externally as a freelancer. As a woman of many talents, she has worked within the probation sector helping young offenders find inner peace, to coaching boxing on a women’s team, yoga and sound bath facilitation, and is a qualified first aid trainer.

In the summer Clare also ran a 7-week Mindfulness course which Flourish Together supported through hosting at the Hub in Heaton Chapel, which was an overall great success. In 2024, she secured £5000 from Build a Business to grow her first aid training business. Clare has not only evolved her organisation, but exceeded her goals by expanding her services, accessing funding from multiple sources and growing her marketing and online presence.

Over the coming year Flourish are putting on series of accessible and affordable First Aid and Mental Health accredited courses in partnership with Clare to ensure start ups for the charity and enterprise sector. Upcoming dates can be found here.

Clare is a dynamic changemaker and we are proud of what she has accomplished and will go on to achieve.

This month, we are proud to celebrate entrepreneur and activist, Shamime Jan, the Founding Director of Bollyfit Active, a group which aims to support local women in having a culturally appropriate environment to open up, socialise and stay active. She has also completed both the Time To Grow and We Lead For Legacy Programmes.

Shamime is a British Pakistani who was born in Pakistan and raised in the UK. And her dedication to growth and development is evident in everything she does. She started as a driving instructor and later as a Herbal life coach, a venture she started when she fell in love with its products and results.

Shamime wanted to help the women like her, improve their health and wellbeing by empowering them to train and to become Herbal life coaches, stretching over a decade. She has a long history of working with and advocating for South Asian women in the local community for twenty years through her various businesses and voluntary work.

She is the director and founder of Bollyfit Active CIC; offers a strictly women-only environment, incorporating cultural music and cultural dance to tackle obesity, isolation, and depression and improve the health and well-being of South Asian and BAME women in the local community.

She also co-chairs on BASE Community Benefit Society, and is the founder of a coaching organisation for women: “Dreams Become Reality” ensuring her impact across Manchester is felt by as many people as possible.

Here at Flourish we are proud of what Shamime has accomplished so far and are looking forward to partner on projects in 2025 – so watch this space!

Check out Bollyfit Active

This month, we are proud to celebrate a dear friend of Flourish, Karen Livesey, a passionate advocate for child protection and the founder of No Whispers CIC, a social enterprise dedicated to safeguarding children and young people from child sexual and criminal exploitation and abuse across the North West. She has also completed our Time 2 Grow programme and is accessing intensive organisational support.

For over 26 years, Karen worked as an Advanced Practitioner for Lancashire County Council’s Young People’s Service, supporting countless children, young people, and families facing diverse challenges. Throughout her career, she witnessed the alarming rise of child sexual exploitation (CSE) cases and felt compelled to act.

Determined to deepen her expertise, Karen pursued extensive training in safeguarding and CSE intervention, including specialist programs with Safe and Sound – Just Whistle and PACE (Parents Against Child Exploitation), now known as Ivison and Barnardo’s. With a wealth of knowledge and hands-on experience, she became a leading voice in safeguarding action, advocating for early intervention and proactive education to combat exploitation.

No Whispers CIC works tirelessly to inform, educate, and empower adults—equipping them with the skills to recognise the signs of exploitation, intervene early, and take safeguarding action.

Karen’s work has had a transformative impact across the North West, bringing crucial awareness to communities, professionals, and organisations. She is a qualified Teacher, Youth Worker, and experienced Trainer, using her extensive experience to educate frontline professionals, parents, and caregivers on how to spot the warning signs of exploitation and disrupt harmful patterns before they escalate.

Karen’s unwavering commitment to safeguarding young lives makes her a true changemaker. She embodies what it means to turn knowledge into action, passion into impact, and advocacy into transformation.

This month, we celebrate Karen’s remarkable efforts and the vital work of No Whispers CIC.

✨ Thank you, Karen, for being a force for change! ✨

At the heart of every movement for meaningful change is someone with a deep passion for justice, fairness, and human potential. This month, we celebrate Sharon Amesu, a trailblazer who has turned her passion for justice into a mission to transform workplaces into spaces where everyone can thrive.

For 16 years, Sharon served as a Criminal Barrister, a career rooted in her profound belief in justice and equality. While Sharon thrived in the legal profession, she realized that true change required more than courtroom victories. To create lasting impact, she set her sights on influencing leadership—those shaping the policies and strategies that govern workplaces.

Today, Sharon is an advocate for workplace equity and inclusive leadership. She works closely with leaders, helping them craft environments where barriers are dismantled and individuals can reach their full potential through workshops, training and speaking engagements.

As the Founder of She Leads For Legacy, Sharon created a community of individuals and organisations to work together to reduce the barriers faced by Black female professionals aspiring for senior leadership and board level positions.

She then co-founded We Lead For Legacy; a high level leadership programme for, both, current and future leaders from racially marginalised communities, brought to you by She Leads For Legacy, Flourish Together and Reform Radio, in partnership with Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

Her belief? By empowering leaders to embrace transformative policies, we can create a ripple effect that fosters fairness and opportunity on a larger scale. As we honor Sharon Amesu as this month’s Changemaker, we’re reminded of the power of leadership to spark transformation.

Here’s to Sharon, a leader who truly embodies the spirit of driving change with both courage and compassion.