Some weeks remind you why you do this work. Recently I found myself in two very different rooms; one a recording studio, the other a live fundraiser in Canary Wharf. Both united by a single purpose; refusing to let domestic abuse stay in the shadows.
The first was Solace Women’s Aid’s Jazz Against Violence, a fundraiser held in the heart of Canary Wharf, with all proceeds going to Solace.
It was, quite simply, an amazing evening. A room full of people who had chosen to spend it standing alongside survivors. I had the privilege of speaking about my role as a shadow board member of Solace, and about my own experience as a survivor of domestic abuse. Sharing that story is never a small thing, but there is something powerful about doing it in a space created entirely for good, where music, warmth, and generosity come together to fund the services that genuinely save lives. To see people give so freely to Solace’s work was deeply moving, and a reminder that change is built not only in boardrooms and courtrooms, but in rooms like that one, filled with people who care.
I also joined Fartumo Kusow on her podcast, Break the Silence, Build a Future, for a conversation I won’t forget. We talked about “strategic silence”, the idea at the heart of my book, GAWGO, and about why the moment a survivor leaves is so often the most dangerous.
Where the Jazz Against Violence evening was about a community coming together out loud, the podcast was about the intimate, honest conversation that so often has to happen first, the naming of what was endured, so that others might recognise it in their own lives.
What struck me, moving between the two, is that both are the same work in different forms. Fundraisers keep the doors of services like Solace open. Conversations like Fartumo’s reach the individual survivor, perhaps listening alone, perhaps realising for the first time that what they are living with has a name. We need both. And I feel enormously grateful to have played a small part in each.
If you’d like to listen to the episode, you can find Break the Silence, Build a Future on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and if you’re able to support Solace’s work, please do. Every bit of it matters.
More exciting campaign work, podcasts and other collaborations to follow this year!
