Who We Are.
B-Radical: Three Women, One Mission.
Emma Freivogel
Co-Founder, Director of Consultancy, Advisory, Training and Events
I began Radical because I believe the time to boldly and unapologetically challenge the status quo is long overdue. I also believe that the business community is the single most powerful entity to redress the imbalance of opportunity afforded to those labelled; ‘care leaver’, ’queer’, ‘disabled’, ‘black’, ‘uneducated’, ‘inexperienced’, homeless’, ‘criminal’, ‘returner".
Em founded Radical Recruit, our charity partner, in October 2019, having witnessed the way in which paid work transformed the lives of more than 400 women who had contact with the criminal justice and care systems in her previous role as Chief Operating Officer at Working Chance. Since then, Radical Recruit has placed over 500 Radicals; maintaining an above 90% in work sustainability rate at six-months, with most of these humans securing good jobs that pay well in roles which enabled them to start to build lives that they love.
Since 2019, we’ve proved that there is no shortage of Radical job seekers who will do the work that enables them to win jobs on merit. We’ve also learned that there is no shortage of employers who want to recruit Radical talent. The challenge has been, and continues to be, getting employers ‘Radical ready’. That’s where Em comes in. She leads our consultancy, advisory, and training services which exist to help organisations – big and small – to assess the efficacy of their talent attraction, engagement, and recruitment processes, helping to make them more accessible and relevant to Radical talent. She also helps organisations shift the cultural dial and capacity build hiring managers and people leaders so they can recruit, onboard, and develop Radical talent.
"I want to level the playing field for Radical people and ensure that everyone has access to the jobs that they should. Since working with Radical, I’ve seen first-hand how affordable and easy-to-implement changes make a huge difference to the way brands attract, engage with, recruit, and develop talent and the value diverse talent adds in an increasingly competitive recruitment market. Even the smallest changes, like implementing a “No Salary History” policy, choosing to employ blind shortlisting methods, making reasonable adjustments for disabled job seekers and gender decoding the language used in job adverts make a huge difference in this ‘talent-short’ market. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that there is only a ‘talent shortage’ for businesses who are not willing to reimagine their old hat way of recruiting and be more Radical in their approach.”
Holly (officially) joined the Radical team in May 2022. We say officially because she has been part of team Radical since 2020. She became a volunteer and used her “free” time in lockdown to assist with CV-writing and interview prep for Radical candidates. We use the term ‘free’ loosely because Holly is a single mum, was working a full-time job, and home-schooling two children at the time. Two years later and Holly has become integral to the team. She brings over a decade of recruitment experience and a serious passion for all things EDI and employer branding.
Today, she leads the way in recruitment marketing and works with our partners as a critical friend to ensure that they are marketing themselves in the best possible way to attract candidates from diverse backgrounds as well as accommodating them accordingly through process and policy improvement. Want to know why your adverts aren’t attracting the right people? Holly is your answer. She also leads on all things ‘professional recruitment’ working closely with our partners to source the UK’s most diverse candidates who have the skills, experience, and aptitude to excel in your business. Holly finds you the right people to hire and is especially good at sourcing candidates for people-centric roles in a range of disciplines including recruitment, human resources, marketing, operations, sales, EDI, social value, ESG and Finance.
“Being disregarded or labelled ‘not good enough’ because of who you are slowly creates cracks in your confidence that expand with every rejection or negative response from employers who don’t recognise Radical talent. I am registered blind and raising two children of mixed heritage as a single parent. I have faced discrimination first-hand and I learn every day from my children who now face disadvantage because of the colour of their skin. If there is anything that makes this lioness roar, it’s those who refuse to, admit bias exists and, ignore the social injustice faced by those who ‘don’t fit the mould’.
I want Radical to be the critical best friend of choice for businesses who have the aspiration to deliver on their diversity agenda and who strive for true representation at all levels of the organisation. We’ll walk shoulder to shoulder with employers who bravely admit they need to improve, help them to iterate when things don’t go to plan, and celebrate alongside them when they deliver on their agenda.
By creating fundamental change within businesses, we encourage people to rip off their labels, uncap their aspirations, and start to repair the cracks in their confidence created by society.”
Kirsty has over 20 years’ experience working in the Charity Sector and will lead on Early Careers as well as helping to build Radical Recruit (the charity funded by B-Radical.) Kirsty was one of the first blind students to be educated in a mainstream school. She fought for the same chances as her sighted peers and made the decision not to go to university. She is keen for businesses to reimagine their early careers provision to create inclusivity at the point of entry. Getting diversity right at the start means that you are creating a diverse leadership team for tomorrow.