Meet the team
Here you can learn more about the team that are bringing Migrateful cookery classes to a venue near you. Are you interested in working at Migrateful? Join the team.
Jess Thompson, Founder & CEO
Jess Thompson, prior to setting up Migrateful, studied abroad in Mexico, where she learnt about the causes of the global migrant crisis being rooted in the legacy of colonialism and the inequalities of the capitalist global economy. She then spent two and a half years working on the front line to support migrants and refugees in Ceuta, Morocco, Dunkirk refugee camp in France, and London. In 2017 she completed the Year Here Fellowship which gave her the training and network to set up Migrateful. She was featured on the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 List and also the 2020 Women of the Year List in recognition of her achievement.
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The Chef Training & Support Team
Stephen Wilson, Head of Chef Training
Steve is an experienced chef and cookery teacher with experience varying from working in Michelin starred restaurants and in mass catering for community projects. He set up The People’s Kitchen, and Dalstons, a natural soft drinks company. He now works as a cookery teacher and chef consultant, as well as running a new pop up called @Tableonthewater.
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Khadim Mané, Catering & Entrepreneurship Manager
Khadim Mané has joined the Migrateful team as our Catering & Entrepreneurship Manager. He is an experienced chef, entrepreneur and musician who runs his own pop up restaurant called Little Baobab, a music bookings agency, and a West African music festival in Islington. Through his role at Migrateful he provides real life cooking opportunities for the Migrateful chefs that are interested in setting up their own food businesses.
Elizabeth Kolawole-Johnson, Chef Support Officer
Elizabeth trained as a psychologist in Nigeria before moving to the UK, 10 years ago. She joined Migrateful as a chef in 2017 and managed to finally regulate her immigration status in 2018. She has first hand experience of working as a chef for Migrateful and how life changing the experience has been for her, making her perfectly placed to carry out her role as Chef Support Officer.
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Senia Ng, Impact Officer
Senia is a human rights lawyer from Hong Kong who is building her career in social innovation. Having provided legal assistance to refugees and asylum seekers in Hong Kong, she joins us as a Year Here fellow with hopes of utilizing her professional experience in law, human rights, education and community engagement to help build a better and brighter future for Migrateful chefs.
The Events Team
Noah Walton, Head of Operations & Finance
Noah previously worked as a Structural Engineer at the international design firm Arup, while setting up social enterprises and community mindfulness groups at the same time. He is passionate about refugee issues, community building and the potential for innovative social enterprise to make a difference.
Andrea Merino-Mayayo, Events Manager
Andrea, brought up in Madrid, started an internship with Migrateful as part of her masters in International Development, and now organizes private and corporate classes, and deals with other bookings enquiries for Migrateful as Events Manager. Her love for food, cooking, diversity and community is what drew her to Migrateful.
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Nadine Shamji, Events Coordinator
Born in Kenya, raised in the Congo, and of Indian descent, Nadine was drawn to the diversity of the Migrateful family. She began as an intern at Migrateful, and is now our Events Coordinator. With a background in nursing and Global Public Health, Nadine has always been keen on entering a field that empowered individuals. Migrateful’s mission embodies this while involving her favourite thing in the world – food! Her dog Lola is also a much loved member of the Migrateful team.
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Annette Forjoe, Operations Support Officer
Prior to joining Migrateful, as an Operations Support Officer, Annette graduated with a law degree at a top ten London university and gained extensive experience in the legal industry. Naturally, her love for advocacy drew her to Migrateful. As a part of the Operations Team, Annette plays an active role in supporting the organization of private and corporate classes.
The Business Development Team
Ryan Horsford, Head of Business Development
Ryan has over ten years of experience in the world of business and entrepreurship. Prior to starting at Migrateful he released a self published audio book, under his personal brand, myfreemynd. This saw him making an appearance on BBC 1 Xtra and BBC Radio London. Ryan understands what it takes to maintain brand integrity while bringing a product to market and this is why he is well suited to his current role as Head of Business Development here at Migrateful.
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Kate Edwards, Regional Development Manager
Kate brings 5 years’ experience in operations and business development in both the charity sector and the experiential events industry, as well as a creative background in film and photography. Kate is passionate about food and loves those magic connections that form between people when they sit down together and share a good meal. She wants people across the UK and beyond to experience that Migrateful magic!
Sabrina Au, Marketing & Comms Officer
Hailing from Hong Kong, Sabrina’s own migratory experience drew her to the mission of Migrateful. With a background in coordinating art events and content writing, Sabrina revels in collaboration and building communities. She is delighted to work with all the chefs and the wider Migrateful team as Marketing and Comms Officer, in which she continues to marry her creative passions with social impact.
Charity Fashesin, Fundraising Officer
Charity has a degree in international development and experience working for not-for-profit organisations as a fundraiser. Charity was was eager to work for an organisation that strived towards positive social change, the empowerment of individuals and involved the community and this is what drew her to Migrateful.
Our trustees
Mireille Harper
Mireille is an editor at Square Peg, Vintage (Penguin Random House UK. Outside of work, Mireille works as a freelance writer, sensitivity reader and PR and comms consultant working with grassroots arts and culture organisations, black-owned businesses and black creatives. Mireille also volunteers as an Independent Visitor, mentors students and young people looking to get into the publishing and creative industries, and offers editorial advice to aspiring writers.
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Isabel Sachs
Isabel is an arts and culture manager with international experience in artists and event management and communications, having founded and sold an award-winning international production company based in Brazil. Isabel studied at Leiths School of Food and Wine to become a professional Brazilian cookery class teacher. She started volunteering at Migrateful in 2018 to help develop their cookery class model. She then worked as the Migrateful Event Manager for over a year, supporting its expansion, before becoming a Trustee.
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Habib Sedat
Habib is part of the Migrateful chef alumni. Habib managed to escape the talibans, using food as his tool to survive in the Afghan army; in Calais refugee camp and now to thrive in London. Habib says that teaching the Migrateful cookery classes allowed him to meet British people and it was a place where he could belong and people made him feel valued and trusted. Running the classes has also helped him to develop the idea of starting his own Afghan food company.
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Emily Miller
Emily heads up learning and partnerships at the Migration Museum in London. She coordinates all their work with schools, unis and other organisations in different sectors. It is through this role that she met Jess and came across the wonders of Migrateful. The Migration Museum now hosts monthly Migrateful cooking class and has been lucky to share the delicious cuisines of various chefs through their catering at the museum’s Refugee Week events. Emily is proud to be a trustee and help the organisation develop and grow – and help more people affected by the hostile environment.
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Daljeet Singh
Daljeet (or DJ as he is better known) is a freelance marketing expert using his 8 years of experience to provide marketing strategy & services for ethical businesses that are changing the world. His experience spans freelance writing work, co-founding multiple businesses, working in-house for a number of businesses, and providing ad-hoc consultation to clients at a business coaching firm he was marketing manager for. He started helping Migrateful through a mentorship programme and is thrilled to be a part of helping Migrateful become a self-sufficient enterprise.
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Mary Locke
After a career in international development and social investment, Mary now focuses on ways to deal with conflict and difference constructively. She works as a mediator and is exploring ways to evaluate the efficacy of community mediation and dialogue. She was drawn to Migrateful recognising the power of its model – not only supporting vulnerable migrants but also bringing people together through the universal love of food. She is also an active fellow of the RSA.
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Amaya Dent
Amaya works as a Creative Producer on a wide variety of cultural events and public art projects. She has significant experience in producing ambitious work in the outdoor realm. She is experienced in co-creating projects with the community, and firmly believes that things are rarely interesting unless everybody is in the room. Her work ensures that underrepresented voices get a say in the arts. Her methods remove barriers that prevent access to great art and culture for all people.
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Nora Bali
Nora has been working for over 10 years with the Credit team at The Charity Bank, an ethical organisation supporting charities and social enterprises on their journey to sustainability. Driven by her Syrian roots, Nora joined Migrateful to combine efforts and help migrants and refugees to become independent and dynamic members in their new communities. Nora has also a keen interest in Microfinance and has been to Kenya and India on a number of projects working on improving business acumen and financial management of small businesses.