HomeOur Team

Our Team

Laurelle Brown

Director

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Petra Hilgers

Consulting Director

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Belinda Shelton

Finance Director

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Rosette Melao

Project & Programme Manager

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Charli Davies

Business Manager

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Our Associates

Each of our associate trainers is professionally qualified and appointed based on experience, expertise and commitment in our area of work, as well as their ability to foster change and transformation based on their respective backgrounds and skills. 

Below are some, but not all, of the associates that work with us providing a wide range of expertise and experiences to achieve the best possible outcomes. 

 

 

 

Angela Brook

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Sherrelle Parke

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Asra Memon

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Joshua Karl

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Martin Pratt

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Sheila Akomiah

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Liz Jewer

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Jade Meakings Leahy

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Jackie Boylan

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Laurelle began her career as a volunteer worker on play schemes and respite breaks for children with disabilities, and fundraising for her local Women’s Aid Refuge. She later qualified as a JNC recognised Youth and Community Worker, a role which inherently centres on tackling inequality and embracing diversity, namely in the interest of young people. This background has provided Laurelle with an in-depth understanding of trauma, relational-based approaches and the impact of structural inequalities the health and outcomes in work and life.

“As Principal Consultant, Laurelle possesses extensive knowledge, experience and expertise in strategic and operational leadership and management across child protection, safeguarding and inclusion and diversity.”

Laurelle’s 18-year career in children and young people’s services has entailed the delivery of high quality services across a variety of settings. Progressing upwards through voluntary, operational, research and strategic roles, Laurelle has managed projects and programmes at a local, regional, national and international level. Notably, Laurelle has a high level of interest, knowledge and expertise in practice and services for young people ‘ at risk of’ or that have experienced or perpetrated violence, as well as closely linked home and community factors such as a lack of safety, deprivation and neglect.

Children and Young People
Founder, Laurelle Brown’s previous and current, roles have largely entailed working with children and young people labelled with terms such as having ‘complex needs’ or being ‘at risk’. This has been a key interest area of Laurelle, one which she has undertaken further research throughout her career to expand her own expertise and shape practice. Laurelle’s MA thesis entitled ‘Child Sexual Exploitation via Grooming: A Further Education response’ saw her re-design the child protection and safeguarding policy, protocol and training approach across Newham College of FE, and her Churchill Fellowship ‘Caring for All: A comparative study of foster care for adolescents with complex needs’ has seen her implement recommendations within local authority and independent fostering agency recruitment and training strategies.

Inclusion and belonging
Laurelle has spent her entire career working on this agenda in various capacities, from volunteer through to systems leadership roles. In employment, Laurelle led on or formed part of project teams delivering organisational EDI programmes, including at Barnet Council, The Children’s Society, London Violence Reduction Unit and the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime. This has included developing cross-cutting EDI strategies, commissioning EDI Consultants, undertaking staff engagement and data analysis and chairing all-staff equalities networks. Laurelle’s career has enabled her to hone an exceptional skillset and understanding of inclusion and belonging within the public sector. Laurelle has expertise in applying the public sector equality duty lens across a range of organisations and functions, assessing equality impact on staff and stakeholders and designing services, strategies and plans accordingly.

At LBTC, Laurelle has led a diverse range of projects for a clients across various sectors and of different sizes. This has included end-to-end organisational EDI strategies to one-off learning and development activities.

Petra is a Creative Facilitator with expertise in conflict resolution/mediation (community, school, family), anti-racism work, youth participation and group facilitation.

Petra has worked extensively in charities in different countries – including Bosnia, South Africa, Northern Uganda, Darfur, Germany and the UK – with different communities, including at-risk young people, (young) women with lived experience of war and sexual violence, asylum seekers and young people in the mental health system.

Petra is passionate about changing the experiences of hardly-reached young people and communities with an appreciative approach and empowerment focus.

Belinda is a financial professional with 20 years of experience in a number of industries including entertainment, hospitality, manufacturing and retail.

Belinda is motivated by delivering innovation in business and enjoys using finance to add value to businesses and embrace the challenges of sustainability and working towards equity and inclusion.

Rosette is a dedicated professional with a versatile background in management consulting and 10 years teaching experience, specialising in equity, diversity and inclusion.

With a BSc in International Politics, MSc in Public Policy and PGCE in Primary Education, Rosette has a unique blend of skills, exceling in educating, initiating affirmative action and managing complex projects. She is passionate about driving social impact, having been involved in the inception of an Angolan Charity in London from a young age.

Rosette is dedicated to researching and applying best practices to implement positive change to the lives of children and young people. She is bilingual in English and Portuguese, and prides herself on establishing authentic and long-lasting relationships with the communities she works with

Charli Davies is a seasoned business manager with over a decade of hands-on experience. Her leadership journey embodies efficiency, a relentless customer service focus, and a proven track record of exceeding expectations.

Charli’s unique skill set spans across diverse landscapes, ranging from small businesses to managing multi-million-pound departments within larger organisations. Her strategic mindset, coupled with a passion for innovative solutions, drives tangible success in every role she undertakes.

Charli’s dedication to efficient operations and unwavering customer-centric approach has consistently delivered results. With a BA Hons in Broadcast Journalism and a BSc in Business and Childhood Studies, Charli’s qualifications are as diverse as her experiences. Combined with her role in running her own community-focused business she is equipping with a unique blend of expertise and insights.

Angela has a passion for unlocking potential in organisations and people, building high performing teams and helping manage change.  She is known for her facilitation work with senior leadership teams on aligning their strategic goals and how best to achieve these.  Her strong diagnostic skills ensure the real issues are uncovered, help make complex issues simple and enable teams to bring creativity and solutions to the table.  Industries she has worked in include the highly regulated pharmaceutical industry, engineering, IT, medical devices, charity and public sector.

Clients enjoy working with Angela as her warm, informal style creates trust quickly and her pragmatism ensures real world application.  Her executive coaching expertise has enabled leaders across Europe with their career and country transitions, development and personal growth and development.

Angela has worked internationally with senior teams, coaching and facilitating towards high performance and supporting them in establishing effective governance and ways of working.  In her work on leadership and culture transformation, Angela brings expertise in agile working across ‘systems’ – partnering with key stakeholders outside the traditional organisational boundary,

Sherrelle has eight years professional research training and experience within the UK Civil Service followed by another eight years managerial research experience in local government, private and charity sectors. In her early career, as lead researcher for children and young people in custody in the UK, she delivered offender surveys and provided research support to prison inspection teams, and coordinated research projects on behalf of the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales. She went on to lead the development of a flagship evaluation framework for a London Council, including an ongoing programme of policy analysis across key Council transformation areas, including health and social care. Third sector experience includes a role at the Centre of Excellence for Child Sexual Abuse (Barnardo’s Children’s Charity), where she was responsible for managing several research projects and publications. International work includes pro bono research and evaluation work in Tanzania, East Africa, delivering an impact assessment for a women’s livelihoods charity, as well as her most recent role managing large scale international research projects, including research training in Zambia and Nigeria.

Asra is an independent research consultant who specialises in qualitative analysis. She has completed a Master’s in Social Anthropology from the London School of Economics (LSE). She has had 4 years of experience in conducting quantitative and qualitative research and analysis in multiple projects related to public health, social inclusion, migration, and social innovation. Prior to working at Melian Dialogue, she worked on research and strategic foresight consultancy assignments for different organisations including UNICEF, International Office for Migration (IOM), World Health Organization (WHO), and Centres for Disease Control (CDC).

Currently, she is pursuing her second Master’s in International Development Management at the University of East Anglia. blend of expertise and insights.

Joshua is an experienced and passionate CIPD qualified HR/EDI professional with 15+ years both in house and consultant experience. Worked across multiple sectors including management and career development programs, covering BAU.

Joshua has extensive trade union experience across a number of roles negotiating policy changes, restructures, TUPE transfers and ER meetings including disciplinary, performance management, grievance and whistleblowing.

Martin was Executive Director Supporting People (inc DCS) & Deputy Chief Executive for the London Borough of Camden until he retired in July 2023.

Camden was judged to be outstanding for both children’s social care and youth justice while he was in post. He has 13 years’ experience as a DCS and over 40 years’ experience in Children’s Services and Education. He has worked in both local government and at the DfE and also chaired the Greater London Region of ADCS for 5 years. He is a former Chair of the Board of the Staff College.

Martin is a qualified social worker but also has extensive experience in education and youth justice, as well as adult social care and health. He is a regular contributor to the UPON aspirant programme and experienced mentor. He has a particular interest in whole system orientation toward prevention and earlier intervention and in anti-oppressive practice.

Sheila has an educational background in media relations, international development and religious studies. She has extensive professional experience researching ethnic minority and other religious communities on issues of religious diversity, inclusion, social justice, equality and current affairs.

Experienced in mixed methods research with particular expertise in qualitative methods and as a former secondary school teacher, she also has experience working with young people from all backgrounds, and other public institutions involved in their care.

An experience HR director with leadership and board experience who is a qualified workplace investigator, accredited workplace mediation, and conflict coach.

Jade is a consultant who is experienced in working with grass root and C suite customers. Through her work in service design and transformation and fundraising she is skilled at building relationships and securing buy-in. Jade has a proven track record of evaluation and SROI analysis to support empowerment.

Jade has also worked in Crime Prevention and with ‘at risk’ young people using appropriate facilitation techniques and proven project methodologies such as the Emmie Framework.

As an evaluator and trained systems thinker Jade is able to support organisational development and strategic growth, through evidence based practice and development of an impact culture.

As a consultant with lived experience of disability, Jade apples an equity lens to all work conducted and have delivered pan EDI training for consultancy clients.

Jackie is an experienced researcher and project manager with 17 years experience leading and managing complex multi-disciplinary collaborative projects in academic and charity settings. Jackie has a background in psychology (BSc. and PhD), with specific expertise in psychological and health research. She has extensive knowledge and skills in qualitative and quantitative research methodologies and is an experienced Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) facilitator. Jackie has worked with many populations including young children, young people and parents/carers of children with rare diseases. Examples of collaborative projects include a trial (RCT) examining music therapy for children and young people with behavioural and emotional problems and a pilot RCT examining talking therapies for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Jackie is passionate about producing impactful research that will improve outcomes and recently founded a health research company, Connect Research, to offer a broad spectrum of observational research solutions. Going forward Jackie is excited to use her skills and experience to support the design and management of multi-disciplinary projects, reporting real-world evidence.