Our Board of Trustees helps us fulfil our vision of making the arts more accessible, while ensuring we meet the legal guidance set out by the Charity Commission. We are a deaf-led organisation, and many of our Board are users of our services themselves. They kindly volunteer their expertise to support our staff and ensure the charity runs smoothly.
Sophie Ede
Sophie has nearly 20 years of experience in the charitable sector and is currently the CEO of Hearing Help Essex. Sophie trained as a classical singer at Trinity College of Music, and the Royal Academy of Music, before losing her hearing in her mid-twenties and re-training as a teacher. She has since learnt to navigate life as a profoundly deaf hearing aid user, and is passionate about breaking down the barriers that face those who are deaf and hard of hearing.
She has a keen interest in the development of accessible technology, and has worked with GN Resound as an ambassador, road testing their equipment designed for those who have a profound hearing loss. Sophie is married, with one son and a dog – she enjoys volunteering, walking, and a busy social life, often involving trips to live theatre and concerts.
Sarah Bradley
Sarah is a chartered accountant and chartered tax adviser. After training with a City accountancy firm, she spent 10 years working for FTSE 100 companies – initially as a tax adviser and later in financial reporting roles.
Having sung with the Bach Choir for 30 years, Sarah has a keen interest in the performing arts, particularly choral music. Through her involvement with the choir, she became aware of initiatives to make music more accessible for deaf people.
Sally Yarwood
Sally is a chartered accountant and worked as a Finance Director in three London housing associations, for over 20 years. She worked in a wide range of housing provision including street homelessness, general needs, supported housing and shared ownership. In 2009 Sally joined Shape Arts as Finance and Corporate Services Director where she gained an excellent understanding of arts and access barriers. She now works part time for Shape Arts on a freelance basis.
Sally is hard of hearing and is very interested in the development of access resources, including captioning that makes the arts inclusive and accessible to deaf audiences.
Christopher Reid
Christopher is a Director of Service Delivery for Action Deafness, a leading Deaf-led charity dedicated to supporting people who are Deaf, Deafened, Hard of Hearing, Deafblind or have a sensory impairment. His main career has been working for local government in social care operations and commissioning across disability and older people.
Deaf since birth, Christopher is married and has two grown up daughters. He lives on the border of Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire
Marie-Clare Fenech
Marie-Clare is a Head of Talent and ED&I advocate, who helps companies secure and retain skilled employees, fostering an inclusive organisational culture and sense of belonging, and ultimately driving revenue growth.
Born in London of Maltese and Irish parents, she was educated in Italy, and returned to England to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology.
For over 5 years, she has served on the committee of Tech for Disability, an initiative championing accessible technology for disabled individuals, sparking her passion for enhancing accessibility within the arts for the deaf community.
Ben Glover
Ben Glover is a freelance, deaf, video designer and creative captioner who uses interdisciplinary skills in both creative and technical fields. He produces innovative and often expressive creations typically informed by his background in theatre, film and computing.
He is a recent Fellow of the Royal Shakespeare Company for his research on creative captioning and his work has featured on international stages including the West End, the Royal Albert Hall, Glastonbury Festival and Burning Man Festival.
Ben is passionate about creative access and is excited to explore how new technologies can develop this area of work.
Jessica Ryan-Ndegwa
UK based designer and disability advocate Jessica Ryan-Ndegwa was born and raised in London with mixed Kenyan/Irish heritage. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Product and Furniture Design and is a business owner whose mission it is to champion for a more inclusive society.
Jessica is a keen theatregoer and regularly attended shows including comedy, art shows and captioned performances, pre-lockdown. Recently, Jessica was selected as a Creative Freelance Champion to help drive systemic change within the creative industries. She hopes to use this opportunity as a transferable asset in exploring other areas of her work.
Robin Saphra
Robin worked for 10 years as an accomplished Theatre Director before becoming a lawyer. A trustee of the Yard Theatre in London, he has always had a strong interest in the arts. Since starting his legal career at a City law firm, Robin has spent 20 years in Corporate General Counsel roles to global technology businesses in the UK, Germany, Dubai and the USA.
He has been a key influencer in creating and developing regulation for the global telecommunications markets.
Robin is also an entrepreneur and has helped establish several new ventures within technology and professional services.
Kasia Senyszyn
Kasia is the Accessible Information Manager for the University of Kent and also the Chair of the Canterbury Players. It is these two passions – accessibility and theatre, that have brought her to Stagetext. As the daughter of a deafened dad and a British Sign Language student, Kasia is an ardent advocate for the D/deaf community and for reducing and removing barriers to inclusion and participation in the arts.
Kasia has a diverse background with roles in higher education, hospitality, project management, theatre management and practice-based research. She is a problem-solver at heart and loves to learn new ways to develop and share best practice to improve accessibility for all.
