Eugenie Teasley | Spark and Mettle

We see ourselves as an aspirations agency. Our clients are young people who are overcoming obstacles in their own lives and we work closely with them to develop their potential. And at the same time we work on their behalf to make connections with individuals and organisations who can help them realise their career aspirations.

Who are you, Eugenie, and what drives you?

I'm 30 years old and live in Brighton with my husband Bud, one year old son Otis, and our two dogs. I had a brilliant, inspiring childhood and was fortunate to have gregarious, connected parents and friends who were all keen to help me succeed. When I graduated from Oxford, I taught in south London for a wonderful couple of years before moving to California and doing a Masters in Education at UC Berkeley. I ended up working at a brilliant and innovative non-profit out there called 826 Valencia.
The more I moved forward in my career, the more I realised that I had been beyond-lucky in my own upbringing, and the more frustrated I became that there weren't the same opportunities available to all young people in Britain. On returning to the UK I vowed to do something about it, and so came Spark+Mettle.

What change do you bring about and how are you doing it?

I founded Spark+Mettle to provide an avenue for young people from less privileged backgrounds to flourish. Our pilot programme, Star Track, centres around supporting young people to follow their passion, fulfil their potential, find a job they love and feel good about what they do. We don't want to prescriptive about careers to pursue, but we hope that with what they learn about the components needed to flourish in life, they will be able to make informed decisions about where and how they work. Asides from our work around flourishing, we also help them develop their professional competencies. And we provide them with the connections and resources they need to land the career that they'll love.

You say that you can succeed on the strength of your network. Can you give us 3 top tips?

For every person who "looks like" the sort of person you should approach and introduce yourself to, do the same with someone who looks the very opposite. You can never judge someone from their appearance, although it's a natural human tendency to do so.
Networking isn't just about introducing yourself, plugging your project and exchanging business cards. It's an opportunity for you to listen to the other person, to hear what they're doing and what they need, and to consider how you could help them.
Someone told me that the first five 'contacts' are critical in establishing a positive relationship with a new person. Whatever way you follow up with a new connection - be it email, in person, over the phone, or even through an old-fashioned letter - make sure you make those first five as good as possible. Put extra energy into them, and that person will then perceive you in a really positive light

You have an international professional and educational background, what does this experience enable you to do on a day to day basis?

I've lived, travelled, worked and studied in many places around the globe. It grounds my thinking: it makes me realise that there are often several answers to any one question, and it inspires me to mesh local, community-embedded solutions with national or international responses. My time at Berkeley was particularly revealing—the very antithesis to my undergraduate degree. I was made aware, very quickly, how much of the knowledge that I had thought to be set-in-stone factual, was in fact just heavily-represented opinion. It was a confusing and eye-opening time: I had had no idea how much of the perceived wisdom in the UK had trickled into my own thinking. I'm not in any way more immune to this sub-conscious learning any more, but I am perhaps just a little bit more aware of it. On a day-to-day basis, it makes me prevents me from jumping to a neat-sounding conclusion and instead look around for alternative answers.

What question would you have loved someone to ask you when you started your career?

If you drew a map of your life, how much would the career component cover? Sometimes ambitions don't align with a harmonious balance in life. I'm a lot happier now that I'm more honest about how I want to share out my life between my work and my family and everything else. Including the occasional evening of utterly mindless TV.

For profit or Not-for-Profit social enterprise?

Both. At 826 Valencia, we had a charitable fleet of amazing programmes for young people that were literally fronted by a for-profit shop. It was a chance set-up, but one that worked out to be brilliant. I love social enterprises and I am excited that this space is growing rapidly in the UK. I think it's increasingly important for those at either end of the profit spectrum to find ways to make themselves sustainable in every sense: blending for-profit and not-for-profit motives is a great way to do this.

Which female social innovator would you particularly recommend our readers to look at/be inspired from?

Niníve Calegari co-founded 826 Valencia. She has been often overlooked in the press because her co-founder, Dave Eggers, is an acclaimed author, publisher and activist. But her vision and drive meant that on a day-to-day basis the 826 concept was successfully rolled out and made sustainable in cities across the US. I also love the work that Martha Lane Fox is doing to promote the power of the internet across the country.

Check this quick video Eugenie made explaining one of the concepts of the Star Track programme:

Contact

@sparkandmettle

www.sparkandmettle.org.uk