Lily Khandker, CEO and Founder of Voice4Her, discusses their empowering mission and her experience with the Community Leadership Academy.
As part of Blueprint for All’s celebrations of the success of the Community Leadership Academy programme, we turn our attention to Lily Khandker, CEO and founder of Voice4Her, a participant of the 2024 cohort.
Voice4Her is an international organisation dedicated to empowering women age 45 and above, through the collective work of comprehensive support, advocacy, and partnerships. This work includes improving physical and mental wellbeing, in addition to financial support and advice for the women they work with, specifically prioritising women from marginalised and/or racialised backgrounds.
It’s no secret that marginalised people experience discrimination, with the Centre for Ageing Better reporting that not only do those from Black ethnic backgrounds have significantly lower wages than those from white ethnic backgrounds, but that the generation of people currently aged 45+ who’re of diverse ethnic heritage are more likely to feel socially isolated compared to their white counterparts across the UK, too. When we spoke to Lily about her motivations for creating Voice4Her, she pointed to her own personal journey. “Unfortunately, due to my lived experience, and like many people, I have personally seen and suffered the direct and indirect discrimination, victimisation and/or stereotyping [that just existing as a marginalised person can bring].” By channelling her own experiences into the development of Voices4Her, Lily’s unique perspective provides an authenticity to the organisation that’s seen it both flourish and lend itself to the Community Leadership Academy.
The Community Leadership Academy free bespoke programme offers community leaders from diverse ethnic backgrounds (in addition to those whose organisation supports people of diverse backgrounds) workshops and events to discover and develop ways of growing their organisation. By working together to strengthen individual leadership skills, the mission of the programme is to help create a bigger network, expand opportunity outreach, and train the skills needed to maximise the impact of programme participants non-for-profit organisations. Voice4Her has been working with Blueprint for All as part of this programme since January 2024, covering a vast array of training sessions from boosting productivity in the workplace, to exploring emerging HR practices, to covering tips and tricks on writing a successful non-profit grant application.
Lily, who has been working in the equity, diversity, and inclusion sector for over 25 years, believes that it’s never too late to learn and develop. “So much can be learnt from listening to others,” shares the founder of Voice4Her. As part of the Community Leadership Academy, Lily was paired with a life coach to help support her journey and encourage her to further the teachings from the programme, applying them to her own organisation. “I’ve used the skills and knowledge gained from the programme and my life coach as a sounding board [for success].” The mission of the organisation is act as a vessel of access for women. Looking for networking? Trips and hobbies? Family friendly days out? Voice4Her has got you.
“I strongly believe my work contributes toward a dialogue centred on diversity. As part of my role in Strategy, I challenge people to understand the impact that institutional racism and stereotyping can have,” Lily furthers. Having worked previously within the environment sector as part of the Bristol based organisation Black2Nature, Lily shared that she’s used to fighting for the voices of underrepresented people. “I aim to advocate on behalf of our core audience across Voice4Her, which is women aged over 45+. I want to support women from all cultures and backgrounds, women from different faith or non-faith backgrounds, disabled women (those impacted by mobility, sensory, developmental, mental health, ill health and long-term conditions) and women impacted by social-economic inequities.” A truly worthy cause, and one more vital than ever.
Blueprint for All Programme Coordinator, Nohamin Solomon, who worked across the Community Leadership Academy programme and with Lily directly, spoke to the necessity of programmes like this and to work like Voice4Her. “Coming together to see month after month the progress that the community groups and micro-organisations we work with as part of the programme offers a real insight into the power of continued learning. Committing to training isn’t always easy, and often a lot of people we work with as part of our programmes at Blueprint for All either aren’t sure where they want to start, or of the direction further training can take them. But as we’ve seen with Lily, commitment to lifelong learning and advocacy demonstrates why programmes like this one are so vital! Seeing her efforts across the Community Leadership Academy has been so inspiring, and I know firsthand having worked on the programmes across Blueprint for All that those who go into the programme with an open mind and willingness to learn come out the other side having developed new skills, made new friends, and developed new, unique perspectives.”