Staff
Caroline, the busiest lady we know – often mistaken for the dancing girl from the John Lewis Insurance advert – has been CEO of the Baytree Centre since 2010. As CEO her main responsibility is to provide leadership to deliver the vision, strategy and specific objectives of the centre. She describes her role at Baytree as ‘her most satisfying yet most challenging work to date.’ Prior to getting involved in the third sector, Caroline worked at UBM, a global events-led marketing and communications services business.
Caroline is a lover of all things Italian, which includes her husband! They have three children (now young adults), all of whom have volunteered at Baytree in some form or another. To relax, Caroline enjoys spending time with her family and her beautiful mongrel dog, Alfie. Animals are another of her passions (particularly dogs, horses and pigs), and her dream is to one day move out of London and set up a small animal sanctuary.
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Carmen is Baytree’s Development Director and has been involved with the centre as a volunteer and employee at various times right from the very start. Part of the initial team which helped turn Baytree from a derelict warehouse into a women’s centre. Carmen also started Baytree’s first homework club over twenty years ago. She is very experienced working with and for a variety of different charities. Prior to her role here, she worked at HAVCO as their Development Manager and acted as a consultant to over 400 local charities. Carmen has run numerous youth and female empowerment programmes in the UK and overseas and brings enormous insight into inter-cultural partnership working, participatory development and project management. Carmen is also the CEO of Wonder Foundation, an organisation that partners worldwide to empower women and girls through education. She loves fake tan & coca cola and has recently discovered the wonders of coconut oil!
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Anna is Baytree’s Service Director and oversees the smooth running and strategic development of the Women’s Service and Volunteer Service. Anna took on the role of Service Director in Spring 2021, having previously worked as one of our Social Mobility coaches and volunteered extensively at Baytree. She has over 20 years’ experience in private sector client services and is very pleased to now be applying her skills to support and develop Baytree’s fantastic work.
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Helena has been Baytree’s Accounts Officer since August 2021, before this she had been volunteering within the department since 2014. Helena’s experience with Baytree dates back as she remembers the building as a derelict warehouse when it was acquired in the 1980’s. She previously worked in various roles within retail banking while volunteering repeatedly with Baytree over the years. She was born in Worthing and lived in Sussex for many years. In her spare time, Helena enjoys going for walks in the country and looking after her flourishing garden.
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Joyce is our Monitoring and Evaluation Officer. She has started volunteering with us in 2016 after moving to the UK from the Philippines whilst working for another local charity near Brixton. She has been involved with all Baytree’s services and feels stongly connected with the team and service users as well as Baytree’s work. It was no surprise then that as soon as the opportunity to join Baytree as an employee opened up, she went for it. Joyce has longstanding experience in community development, education, governance and project management in her home country. She brings with her a great enthusiasm for working with children, young people and communities. Baytree is a very natural fit for her. Outside of Baytree, Joyce is a keen softball player, if by keen you mean ‘enjoys hanging out with the team and going to the pub after matches’. She is still adjusting to the UK’s unpredictable climate, so will often be found wearing thermal undergarments.
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Rosanna is the Head of Youth Programmes at Baytree. Her main responsibilities include overseeing the development, management and implementation of the Youth Service strategy. She joined us in June 2015, having graduated from Roehampton University with a first-class degree in Education Policy and Sociology. Rosanna is also a JNC-qualified Youth Worker. Rosanna has lived locally, in South London since moving from Germany in 2010, and takes great satisfaction in contributing to her local community through her work at Baytree. Besides Germany and England, she has lived in Spain and spent a few years of her childhood in Botswana.
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Andrea works in Baytree’s Youth Services as a Youth Programme Coordinator and leads on our GEMS programme and Mother and Daughter Activities. She has previously worked as a learning curriculum designer. She has achieved an undergraduate degree in Educational Psychology and also completed a Masters in Social Justice and Education. Andrea joined Baytree in the summer of 2021. She has lived in many countries in South America including Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. In her spare time, she enjoys reading and playing football.
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Federica is our Mentor and Parent Liaison Manager, who leads our mentoring programme and our Character Development Programme. Federica has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Universidad de la Republica in Uruguay. She joined BAYTREE in March 2019. In 2022 she also worked as a Mentoring Consultant for Latin American projects at Wonder Foundation. Before joining BAYTREE, she worked in procurement for the hospitality sector. She has volunteered in different social projects in Kenya and Uruguay and is passionate about social mobility and community development. As a typical Uruguayan, she loves her country’s traditional tea, ‘ Mate’.
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Carol, our Morning Receptionist, never fails to give us all a warm welcome when we arrive each morning – and always knows where the good stationery is hidden. Carol was a Care Assistant before she came to us in 2002. She loves Baytree because of the rich community made up of staff, children and parents. “I look forward to coming in every morning” she said with a smile as she spoke about the Baytree family. In her spare time Carol enjoys spending time with her friends, keeping fit and laughing.
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Sonia is our Afternoon Receptionist and has been working at Baytree since 2007. Prior to Baytree, she spent 13 years working in fostering and adoption at Lambeth Council. A domestic goddess, Sonia’s love of sewing means she is often found in the fashion club teaching the girls her tricks. Much to the delight of the entire team, she loves to bake and often brings in her homemade treats to share with the rest of us. A firm favourite with the girls, Sonia always has time to listen and share her words of wisdom.
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Joanne is a Social Mobility Coach in Baytree’s Women’s Service. Before joining Baytree, Joanne worked for London charity FAD, where she designed and delivered skills training and mentoring programmes, supporting 14-30-year-olds into creative careers. She has also worked for UNHCR, the UN refugee agency. Joanne is a qualified teacher and has taught languages, art and fashion textiles to children and adults in school, college and the community. She holds an MA in Latin American Cultural Studies, speaks French and Spanish, and has lived in Havane, Paris and Cajamarca, Peru. Joanne likes a nice cup of tea and hanging out with her daughter – their favourite places in London are the Horniman Museum and Hampstead Heath.
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Mayra is a Social Mobility Coach within Baytree’s Women’s Service. As well as coaching at Baytree Mayra is a journalist for a Venezuelan newspaper, and has a long history of working on social issues and with local support projects. She arrived in the UK seven years ago from Latin America; within a few months, Mayra became a Baytree volunteer and was immediately impressed by the centre’s work. In her free time, Mayra loves to be in touch with nature, enjoy a good meal and spend time with her friends, who are more like family.
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Christina is the Academic Manager and the Adult ESOL and Literacy Tutor. She is a true veteran here at Baytree and has served over 20 years. When she first arrived at Baytree, Christina worked part-time teaching English, and then went on to become the ESOL coordinator. Now she is in charge of overseeing the smooth running of the Women’s Service ESOL provision, as well as teaching. Christina is a UK native but lived in Greece for 13 years, where she met her husband. In 1996 she came back to the UK with her husband and two boys. Christina is a keen theatre-goer. She belongs to a theatre club and has ‘starred’ in the play ‘The Trial’ at the Young Vic. Christina also loves to travel and has been to Mexico, Brazil, Belize, Cyprus, France and all across the United States.
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Margaret is a triple threat: she’s Baytree’s Women’s Service tutor in ESOL, literacy and numeracy. When she’s not tutoring or coordinating the ESOL programme for the Women’s Service, Margaret likes to fix various broken objects around the centre and jokes that she should have been a maintenance person. A long-standing employee, she has been at Baytree since 1998. Before Baytree, Margaret worked as a secondary and primary school teacher in northern England. She taught a variety of subjects including general studies, French, English and Maths. She loves everything about Baytree, especially the teamwork and, of course, the people who come here.
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Lorentana is a ESOL Tutor for beginners in entry 1. She became part of the Baytree family in 2010. Initially, Loretana mentored women on a one-to-one basis but soon became involved with programmes for girls here. Her favourite part about Baytree is its supportive, nurturing, and safe environment. “It doesn’t feel like going to work; it feels like going home to my family.” Loretana grew up in a small town near Rome, Italy and she loves to go back and visit every year. She moved to London when she was 21 when she got married. When she is not volunteering at Baytree, she loves gardening and cooking. She also enjoys reading about women and children living in different conditions around the world.
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Bouchra is an ESOL Tutor with our Women’s Service. In 2002, Bouchra moved from Morocco, where she gained a BA in Linguistics, to London, to join her husband. Her first engagement with Baytree was as a client, where she came to improve her English. Her own experience of moving to London gives Bouchra a profound understanding of women’s situations and complexities when learning a new language. After completing her education at Lambeth College and gaining her CELTA qualification, she returned to Baytree as a volunteer, where for several years she mentored a young woman and taught ESOL to girls on the Into School programme. She is happy to be working in Baytree’s welcoming environment alongside the Women’s Service staff who once supported her. Outside Baytree, Bouchra helps run a community group, organising activities for children and women. She also enjoys painting and going for long walks.
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Ksenia is part of the Communications & Fundraising team at The Baytree Centre. With a background in media and fundraising, Ksenia is responsible for managing relationships with the press, developing Social Media & Marketing strategies, overseeing website architecture and photo/video production.
In addition to her work at Baytree, Ksenia is studying at the Psychosynthesis Trust and managing a Digital Platform with after school activities for Ukrainian displaced families. In her free time Ksenia enjoys running, meditation and spending time with her dog.
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Marwa recently graduated from Cardiff University where she studied psychology with placement year. During her time at university, I decided to join and start initiatives that she deeply cared about. Marwa volunteered with Student Action for refugees, co-founded the Mena (middle eastern and north African) Society, was an organiser for islamophobia awareness month and was also the head of education and wellbeing officer of Islamic Society. She completed her placement year at a children’s hospital and also work as a teacher’s assistant in a weekend Arabic school. After graduating, she wanted to pursue a career that gives back to the community and promotes women’s welfare and social mobility and what better place than Baytree! In her spare time she enjoy hiking, reading and anything with food.
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Apithanie is a Youth Programme Coordinator who leads on Sparking Futures, a life skills and employability programme and the youth clubs Spark, Junior Spark and Sparklers. Prior to this she developed strong bonds with Baytree after volunteering for several years, falling in love with the impact Baytree has in the local community. She finds many of their values align with her own so when offered the opportunity to join this inspiring team, she was thrilled. Apithanie absolutely loves the work she does and inspired by her colleagues and the girls daily. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, personal development, spending time with family and friends and travelling.
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Hélène is Operations & Facilities Manager and works hard to make sure that The Baytree Centre is a safe and welcoming place and that our operations run as smoothly as possible. She joined Baytree in February 2023 after working for nine years at Shell in Human Resources where she developed skills in project management, stakeholder management and process improvement – all very useful in her current role! Hélène has lived most of her life in Southwest London but her family are based in France where they make wine. Her other passions in life are volunteering, hiking and rock dancing!
helene@baytreecentre.org.uk
Eva coordinates and delivers our Into School Programme which has been designed to support newly arrived girls, migrants, asylum seekers and refugees to apply for places in schools and colleges and provide them an education and wellbeing programme while they are waiting for a place. Eva is passionate about sharing her love for education, linguistics and culture with others in addition to helping people recognise their true potentials and work with them closely to achieve their desired goals. Having worked in a variety of education settings as an English as an Additional Language Coordinator and Teacher, she has supported young people to improve their English language skills and integrate into their school and wider community. She is a keen dancer, especially loves swing, authentic solo jazz and 5 rhythms, in addition to exploring places on her bike.
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Indigo is Head of Youth Programmes at Baytree. Her main responsibilities include overseeing the development, management, and implementation of the Youth Service strategy. Indigo studied Music at The Brit School of Performing Arts and then went on to complete an MA in Creative Writing and Education at Goldsmiths University. She is a writer and spoken word educator who has performed at Tedx Brixton, Tedx UCL, BBC Radio 4’s Bespoken Word, Glastonbury Festival and is the winner of the 2012 New Generation slam. Her work has been published in Filigree: Contemporary Black British poetry, an anthology published by Inscribe in 2019 and was one of 6 leading poets selected for the pioneering Spoken Word Educators Programme. She has worked internationally and across the UK with organisations such as The Royal Shakespeare Company, The Southbank Centre and numerous educational institutions both as a consultant and facilitator. Indigo has over 10 years’ experience working with young people and women through the creative arts, literature, and well-being workshops.
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Alejandra is the Youth Mentoring Coordinator at Baytree. From an Ecuadorian family, she was born and raised in Barcelona and moved to London to pursue a bachelor’s degree in politics and economics. She was also the head of the Hispanic Society at her university and started a project where volunteers delivered English lessons to the Spanish-speaking members of the cleaning staff at campus. Wanting to pursue a career in the charity sector, she volunteered at Baytree for some time and then officially joined the team in August 2023. It was particularly important for her that the organisation she worked with was aligned with her personal values and gave back to the community, which is why Baytree was the perfect fit. In her free time, she loves reading, going for long walks, and discovering new hidden spots in London.
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Advisors
Is a lecturer in Literacy Education and works with the International Literacy Centre at the UCL Institute of Education (IOE). She works on literacy-related topics including language and communication, phonics, and Reading Recovery. She is interested in research on early writing development and early literacy interventions.
Is a thought leader in Character Development. An educator and school leader she has taught at both the secondary and university level. She is founder and Director Emerita of the LifeCompass Institute for Character and Leadership at Montrose School. Former Assistant Professor and Director of Boston University’s Centre for the Advancement of Ethics and Character (now CCSR), Dr. Bohlin is a Senior Scholar at BU’s Center for Character and Social Responsibility.
