Hello everyone!
As you know, last year I was lucky enough to be selected for the Keychange Talent Leadership programme 2025. This was a really mind blowing experience- I met an incredible number of talented, focused people shaking up the music industry across Europe.
The end of this period also coincided with the first of two big injuries – a slipped disc! (Yup, I’m at that age when discs- amongst other things- start slipping!) Flashback to Reeperbahn festival 2025 and becoming best friends with a back brace, a party pack of naproxen and finding out that some festival toilet seats really are too low! Rubbish as this was, compared to the broken leg at SXSW Austin in March 2026, this was just a warmup injury!
Throughout that period I was supported by a really fantastic mentor, Geoff Langston of GLAM.RED He really went above and beyond to give me great insights and advice. It was definitely one of the highlights of the scheme for me. I’ve also received support from many others in my time including the wonderful Martel Ollerenshaw and Sorana Santos– and have been keenly awaiting a chance to pass on many of the hugely impactful tips they gave me including Martel’s wonderful spreadsheets and Sorana’s strategic approach!
So when I was invited to act as a Keychange mentor for the 2026 scheme, I leapt at the chance!
I really wanted to introduce you to my mentee Kiki as we’ve just had our final mentoring session! She has been travelling throughout Europe this summer on the festival circuit so we’ve met in various different time zones, including an in-person meeting at the National Theatre Bar in London.
Kiki is a freelance journalist and founder of Bleeding Metal podcast focusing particularly on highlighting artists who want to make a difference to the world by taking a stance on human rights issues. She’s also shortly going to be starting a new company! You can follow her on insta here.
The Keychange scheme is a once in a lifetime opportunity and as such it is an incredibly intense experience, bringing so many people and lived experiences into one place. There were many parallels between our experiences only a year apart. It’s been a privilege to speak to Kiki about her experience on the scheme and during that process reflect on my own time on the scheme.
Please do check out all of this year’s Keychange participants here. I’m looking forward to keeping in touch with everyone and seeing the scheme evolve and flourish from generation to generation!
