Heather Wilkinson founded and runs Striding Out, a pioneering support network for young people, aged 18-30, with enterprising ambitions. She also caters for the over-30’s, with Branching Out, an active and dynamic way to connect individuals who are planning or running their own business. Heather says “As a young person, you have great ideas, plus the time and energy to realize them! Striding out in business can be an amazing experience but equally challenging. A supportive network of individuals can make it much easier to succeed.”

My name is David McQueen. If I was to sum up what I am known best for is helping people to leverage themselves for career success. As a professional speaker, faciliator and coach I work with young people in schools and colleges. I also coach and train adults who wish to improve their presentation skills, find work, get promotions or develop their own business. From using traditional methods to embracing social media tools my focus is to get people to enjoy their career journeys. Working with organisations as well as individuals. I find the best way to do that is also be authentic in the way I run my business and manage my own career which to be frank has been exciting but filled with its own challenges. On a personal level I am happily married with two energetic, creative and sometimes challenging daughters. I love music, poetry, philosophy and the way people interact across different cultures. I am a firm believer that our careers are intrinsically linked to our happiness and contentment, and as they take up so much of our personal time why not work on getting it right.

I have been working for over 20 years in the creative industries both as a freelance visual artist and in many roles supporting and managing professional development and creative regeneration programmes. Currently I am Director of Programmes at Connections Communications Centre in Hammersmith, a charity dedicated to providing media training and services so that every individual can raise their aspirations through media literacy, creative empowerment and the chance to share their story. Connections worked with over 500 young people at risk of disengagement from education last year, and we run a young people’s forum which gives young people a chance to feed ideas into our programmes. This year is Connections 25th Anniversary and we are premiering 6 new short films by young people at the Riverside Studios cinema. We built and run Ontrack an online community for independent training providers at www.ontrack.uk.net. Ontrack includes an online monitoring and tracking database, showcasing, marketing and news, and an online learning environment. We also deliver coaching and leadership programmes for media professionals, and our associated social enterprise, Ravenscourt Media, www.ravenscourtmedia.co.uk provides a media facilities hire service.

I’m the Local Network Manager for Striding Out in London and Brighton. I’ve lived in the UK for almost 5 years, being originally from Mexico. I studied a degree in Marketing in London and have been part of the Striding Out team since summer 2006. Striding Out is a support network for young and social entrepreneurs. We provide a range of services such as networking events, coaching, workshops and training to help young people to start, launch or grow their businesses. My main aim and role is to bring together a community of like-minded individuals who help, share and support each other and to provide young people with affordable services that enhance their personal and professional skills.