The Team: Founders & Managing Directors
Joy Francis
An experienced journalist, editor, media and social policy adviser, Joy leads on communications and publications. For 20 years she has written, edited and reported for the trade, ethnic, national and broadcast media including Community Care magazine, Local Government Chronicle, Mental Health Today, The Big Issue, The Guardian, BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC London 94.9FM. A former Visiting Lecturer in Journalism at the London College of Communication, she has developed a module for, and will be lecturing on, the new MA in Media and Diversity at the University of Westminster. Joy also works as a media and diversity trainer and consultant with civil society organisations, journalists and editors internationally from Albania and Hungary to Washington and Cuba. In 1997, Joy co-authored the first national survey of black and minority ethnic (BME) mental health service users for the national mental health charity Mind. She was a runner up in the Commission for Racial Equality Race in the Media Awards ‘Specialist’ category (2000). A year later she launched The Creative Collective’s National Newspaper Internship Programme for BME journalism students, the first of its kind in the UK, in partnership with seven national and regional newspapers, including The Times, Financial Times and Manchester Evening News. She is also Founder and Executive Director of Words of Colour Productions, a social enterprise, which provides training and industry-led consultancy in journalism, literature, scriptwriting, PR and independent publishing for emerging and new writers.
You can follow Joy on Twitter @WordsofColour and find out more about Words of Colour on Facebook
Paul Macey
Paul Macey leads on community development and implementing equalities solutions. Paul has over 20 years experience in the fields of community development, equalities and journalism as a practitioner, consultant and trainer. As a result Paul has developed successful models in the practical application of sustainable actions in community development and promoting public involvement in policy and service development through consultation and asset mapping. He has developed intervention strategies with voluntary and community sector organisations. Paul’s work also covers supporting voluntary and community sector organisations to develop effective communications strategies. Recent work includes managing the innovative Croydon Xpress youth participation initiative based at Croydon Voluntary Action, mentoring young journalists on the award-winning London-based newspaper The Cut, and developing voluntary sector involvement in Integrated Offender Management in a South London borough. Throughout his career Paul has worked with a range of statutory and voluntary organisations including Transport for London, Oxfam, The Afiya Trust, and a number of health trusts. Co-founder of ATRAP (the Association of Transracially Adopted People), Paul has an MA in Journalism from Westminster University. During his journalism career Paul was Community Affairs Editor at The Voice before freelancing for publications such as The Guardian, Evening Standard and Local Government Chronicle. Following seven years as a Senior Consultant and trainer at Equality Works, Paul is now an Associate for equalities consultancy Innovations at Work.
Photograph of Joy Francis by Sharron Wallace.
