If you know Tilly Hobbs & Co, you'll recognise my thing is Manchester - every nook and cranny from Piccadilly to the last stop on the 192 and girl power in all its forms from having every Spice Girl song tattoed on my heart to aggressively cheering on and hatching business plans with every female I've ever met in a club toilet. It'll come as no surprise to you that I've taken some time during my social media quietness over the last few days following George Flood's murder to do some research into the great black women of our city, some that I had and you will have heard of and some that have been lost in our history books and certainly not covered in any syllabus I sat through hours of at GCSE.
Dr Erinma Bell MBE
Dr Erinma Bell is a community peace activist and founder of the charity CARISMA. She set up the charity after a close friend was involved in a gun related crime, the charity focus is to provide young people with the foresight to see alternatives to street and gun crime. Dr Bell's monumental work has seen her awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Salford and an MBE in 2010. More recently Erinma was honoured with a sculpture, created by artist Karen Lyons from melted down firearms in thanks for all the work she has done for our city. Erinma is also the organiser behind Manchester’s first African Festival, Afrojam.
DJ Paulette
Paulette Constables first residency was Flesh Nites at THE HACIENDA, the absolute headline of dreams, cementing her in the soundtrack of our city. Following on from her reign at Factory Records' brainchild, she has gone on to hold residencies at some of the best clubs in the world including The Zap Club, Mix Club, Ibiza Rocks, Pacha, Ministry of Sound and many more. She has been skanking and lip syncing to her tracks that will get even the most back against the wall kind of clubber grooving for nearly three decades and guess what, she doesn't stop there. Paulette is passionate about inspiring young people with her youth work, activism, mentoring and workshops at conferences, universities and colleges.
Naomi Ogbeta
Naomi is a track and field WHIZZ! She has been whipping up a storm in the athletic world since she joined her first club aged 13 in Salford. She is a FIVE TIME BRITISH TRIPLE JUMP CHAMPION - yes I'm shouting because I'm here cheering myself on when I do a burpee. She has represented the UK at the European Athletics Championships, has been the English Under 20 champion and holds a personal best of 14.15m - compared to my 10cm.
She won the English U23 title and a third straight British title at the 2019 British Athletics Championships. She placed fourth at the 2019 European Athletics U23 Championships and seventh at the 2019 European Team Championships Super League that summer. The girl is not all sporting prowess, she's recently graduated from the University of Manchester studying Politics and Quantitative Methods as well as being a barrel of laughs in the Comedy Society there. Find me a better all rounder, I'll wait.
Cleopatra
From Manchester to the WORLD - The Higgins sisters DID THAT. From being signed to Madonna's label, winning Brit Awards, Disney Channel Live specials, supporting the Spice Girls and singing for the Pope, everything Cleo, Yonah and Zainam touched in the 90s turned to gold. They were real, accessible role models for black girls growing up in the UK who at the time, were few and far between in TV and media. Their music has remained a staple throwback feature and their accolades something our city will forever be proud of.
Louisa Da-Cocodia MBE
Anti racism campaigner and former Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Manchester, Louisa moved to Manchester from Jamaica in the 50's as part of the UK's massive recruitment drive at the time . The racism she experienced during her time working as a nurse instilled in her a passion for tackling race equality issues and this led to her serving on regional Race Relations Board committees (later known as the Commission for Racial Equality, handling complaints brought under new anti-discrimination laws such as the Race Relations Act 1965. In 1981 Louise helped transport victims of the Moss Side riot to hospital, and later sat on the Hytner inquiry panel investigating the causes of the unrest in the city she was so passionate about. Louise strove to promote equality of opportunity for Manchester’s inner-city residents in housing, education and employment, stating that she was inspired by an aim “…to help young Black people understand that this is their home, this is the society they live in, and that they have a part to play in developing it."
She co-founded and steered a number of community enterprise schemes including Cariocca Education Trust and Arawak Walton Housing Association. She was also a founder member of Moss Side and Hulme Women’s Action Forum; the Agency for Economic Development in Manchester. Louise Da-Cocodia’s legacy lives on through the community organisations she help found. In 2008 Carrioca Enterprises renamed its education arm ‘the Louise Da-Cocodia Education Trust’ and it continues to build on her efforts to improve schooling opportunities for young people in particularly those of Afro-Caribbean heritage.
Rowetta
Known for her flowing mane and powerful vocals that are immediately recognisable on Happy Mondays tracks as well as her own solo material, Rowetta has long been one of Manchester's most hard working females on the music scene. The godmother of the Hacienda days and a proud supporter of our LGBTQ family in Manchester, you simply can't talk about our city's musical culture without making reference to her. An active spokesperson for domestic violence awareness after she herself had to flee her marriage in 1987, Rowetta has fronted numerous campaigns and worked hard to use her celebrity as a cause for good.
Ruth Ibegbuna
I have heard of Ruth many times in her capacity as a 'professional northerner' - she is passionate about our city being recognised as the powerhouse that it is as opposed to London's loudmouth cousin. She is the founder of the youth leadership charity RECLAIM as well as the Roots Programme, a scheme working to bridge divides between UK communities. An important voice for young people in the city, she works hard to connect the dots between the capital and us enabling vital social change.
Ruth is the deserving winner of countless accolades including
– Manchester Peace Activist of the Year, 2008;
– Manchester Woman of the Year 2009;
– National Business in the Communities Winner 2011.
– Northern Power Women Award 2017
Elouise Edwards MBE
Working from Moss Side, home of the suffragettes and epicentre of black feminism, Elouise Edwards and her team of some of Manchester's radical women were instrumental in developing community resources in an area of Manchester that made some people stop in their tracks simply when they heard it. She was passionate about making sure there was a place for her culture, a place for black women to have as their own and therefore many of the projects centred on connecting people with languages that were lost in the move to the UK, she commandeered a centre for Women in Moss Side that wasn't ran by the state and wasn't taken over by men! She worked hard to make sure her community could find each other, support, provide resource and celebrate each other. She was awarded an MBE for her amazing contribution in 1994 for services to the community in Manchester.
Yasmin Evans
Straight outta SK8, Yasmin started her radio career at 15 and has worked her way up to her own bloody show on Radio 1xtra! If you don't follow Yasmin on Instagram then please, please hot foot it and do it right now. She is just solid solid good vibes, an advocate for self care, for friendship and living your best life and not in a 30,000 selfies a day way but just wholly authentically. Her radio show is a firm favourite of mine and my fellow St James alumni doesn't stop there - Yasmin has taken part in Comic Relief trips to Uganda raising over one million pounds, played an influential role in the BBC's Apprenticeship scheme and the BBC Outreach team since 2012. She is a comforting presence on her show, on her socials and a true positive influence.
Annette Joseph
Annette returned to the North West and was shocked at the lack of diversity within the Tech Industry, not one to stand still - she then founded Diverse & Equal to help organisations be their best by unlocking the power of diversified teams. Her company hosts workshops that work to increase the number of people from under represented demographics succeeding in the Tech world through allowing participants to gain hands on experience in the company of experts. DiverseTechNW workshops show people from diverse backgrounds that the skills and experiences they already have are valuable, and that Tech roles are actually within reach.
– Annette has been named TechNation’s 50 most inspiring, prominent, and influential black voices in UK tech 2019 – Shortlisted for DigitalAgenda Impact Diversity Award 2020 – Chair of Rise Network — Co-op’s network for colleagues from BAME backgrounds 2018 – present
Loreal Blackett
L’Oréal Blackett is a professional journalist, magazine editor, presenter and broadcaster based in Manchester. I know L'Oréal from the Bumble networking events she organises in our city, there is no one better for hosting these kinds of evenings that don't feel stiff and weird and business card-y ha! If you digest Manchester Confidential then you will more than likely have come across this absolute powerhouse's work, she was the digital magazine editor for six years before solely building the sister magazine Body Confidential where she focused on local women's issues and lifestyle from investigating women's homelessness in the city to interviewing well known names in fashion. L'Oreal is someone who features on my Instagram feed heavily due to my constant referring back to her page for powerful quotes and 'put together' style. I always delight in seeing the kind of women I'm happy for my daughter to look up to become successful and making amazing moves like L'Oreal has.