Charly Young

Charly Young MBE is CEO and Co-founder of The Girls’ Network – a charity that provides 14-19 year old girls from the least-advantaged communities across England with a female mentor and a network of professional female role models. As a secondary school teacher, she saw first-hand how girls and young women were limited by their gender and background, and knew she had to do something! She left teaching, and has since grown the charity from supporting just 30 girls in 2013, to over 1,400 in 2021. The Girls’ Network works with girls via relationships with schools in London, Sussex, Portsmouth, the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, the Tyne and Wear, Tees Valley and Merseyside. Their mentors are all professional women who volunteer to meet their mentees at least once a month for a year, to build skills and confidence, but also to open up networks and opportunities that the girls might otherwise not have access to. Mentoring is a journey, helping mentees get from where they are to where they want to be. The charity has helped over 5,500 girls and young women to date, and it continues to grow. In recognition of this work, Charly received an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2021 for services female empowerment and young girls. Charly has experience in scaling organisations from idea to reality, and has supported social entrepreneurs working in the education and social justice space through Teach First, the Fair Education Alliance and Expert Impact. She previously worked at the Royal Society of Arts as a researcher, was a primary school governor, and sits on the Expert Impact Alumni Board.