The people powering the movement.
Words are not enough, what we need now is – diversity in action.
Sophie Ashby
Trustee and Co-Founder
House & Gardens Top 100 Interior Designer
Led by its Creative Director, Sophie Ashby, Studio Ashby creates spaces with a unique identity. Ashby’s aim is to bring authenticity to each project, not only in the selection of furniture, lighting and art but in its use of a natural palette of materials and textures. Unswayed by the passing dictates of fashion, Ashby draws on her love of antiques, colour, contemporary ‘world art’, modernist furniture, photography and her latest discoveries to deliver an eclectic richness to each interior.
Founder & Creative Director Studio Ashby @studioashby
Alex Dauley
Trustee and Co-Founder
Alex Dauley is a residential Interior Designer and founder of Dauley Design, a multi-disciplinary design practice based in London and Surrey. Having spent years working in property as a relocation agent, Alexandria took her combined love of houses and people, deciding to retrain at KLC School of Design to follow her passion for design.
Interior Designer & Founder Dauley Design @dauleydesign
Graeme Brooker
Trustee
Professor Graeme Brooker is a thought-leader and author. He has taught at reputable institutions around the world throughout his 25-year career. In 2006 he founded Interior Educators, the national subject association for all interior programmes in the UK, which he directed for over a decade.
Bushra Ahmed
Trustee
Voted as one of the 15 most inspiring leaders to look out for on #IWD22 (Charity Times), Bushra Ahmed is a business woman, NED, strategic consultant and community activist, with over 25 years of experience in strategy, governance, finance and community engagement.
As a highly respected public speaker, Bushra uses her lived experience and expertise to promote social justice causes, & advise on diversity, equity, inclusion and cultural intelligence.
Eric McKenzie
Charity Director
With 30 years work experience within the social impact sector, working either as a senior executive or a consultant, Eric McKenzie brings substantial experience of managing charities & social enterprises and engaging with commercial & philanthropic organisations. While he has had several commissions working with local and national government departments including 5 years as an advisor to the Department for Education & Skills, most of his time has been spent supporting local and national charities such as Crisis and the Princes Trust. He also volunteers as a Trustee of an international NGO, Pump Aid. These roles have afforded opportunities for him to lead teams, develop & manage training programmes and develop initiatives to assist organisations to grow through the development of a mixed economy of income.
Mofe Demuren
Engagements, partnerships and projects officer
With a versatile background in engineering, the arts, design, and operations, Mofe Demuren has a passion for creating doors for individuals from marginalised communities. He is very keen to contribute to social change regarding diversity in and around the design industry.
Francesca Tedeku
Charity Co-ordinator
With a love for interior design and the arts, Francesca Tedeku has a solid background in administration and hospitality, nurturing unforgettable experiences. She has a genuine enthusiasm for social change, and wholeheartedly embraces the opportunity to support United in Design.
Janet Morgan-Smith
Charity Administrator
Janet Morgan-Smith is the Charity Administrator at United in Design. Prior to this, she worked in the Education sector for over 20 years in roles including office and school business management. She loves working with people to initiate change and would definitely list Social Justice and creative pursuits amongst her passions.
Simon Hamilton
Council Member
Simon Hamilton is an interior designer, design tutor and Founder of Design Career Consulting, which helps design professionals put their best foot forward. He has operated as a creative within the built environment sector for 3 decades, and lends his deep knowledge of the industry to UiD through contribution to the Resource Hub.
Grant Pierrus
Council Member
Building a strong design community is what drives Grant Pierrus in his various business activities. Combining his enthusiasm and skills, the award winning Interior Style Hunter has collaborated with some of the best interior designers and luxury brands on engaging, effective and creative campaigns. In addition to Interior Style Hunter, Grant owns Pierrus Agency, a dedicated marketing agency for interior designers and architects.
Busola Evans
Council Member
Busola Evans is the executive editor at The World of Interiors and editor of its highly-regarded online directory, The Interiors Index. With over 20 years experience in journalism, Busola has written for a number of newspapers and magazines including The Guardian, The Sunday Times Magazine and Livingetc magazine, whilst being the deputy chairperson of Women In Journalism.
Sophie Eastop-Scopes
Charity Social Media & Marketing Support
With over 15 years experience working across multiple industries in admin, social media and marketing, Sophie Eastop-Scopes supports the United in Design team with all things social media and general marketing.
Josie Dayment
Bookkeeper
Josie Dayment has been running her own bookkeeping business since 2018 and is the Finance manager at United in Design. She has extensive experience working with limited companies, charities and C.I.Cs. Before forging a career in bookkeeping Josie worked in education specialising in music and the creative arts.
United in Design Steering Committee
Mimi Shodeinde
Fameed Khalique
Miminat Designs
Fameed Khalique
Laura Hammett
Simon Rawlings
Laura Hammett LTD
David Collins Studio
Miles de Lange
Tolu Adeko
MILES
Adẹ̀kọ́ & Co
Hay Joung
Natalia Miyar
Hay Designs
Natalia Miyar Atelier
Emily Tobin
Hatta Byng
World of Interiors
House & Garden
Graduate Internship Partners 2023/24
Educational Partner.
Why Now?
On June 4th 2020, in light of the murder of George Floyd and the global anti-racism uprising, Sophie Ashby released a public statement on the Studio Ashby Instagram account in response to #blackouttuesday; Sophie’s only ambition at the time was to make it clear that, as a company, Studio Ashby was taking the time to scrutinise it’s position within the industry, be honest about shortcomings in running a diverse company and vowing to take a good look at how to change things. Sophie also acknowledged something we’ve all known for a long time, that the world of interior design is difficult to get into and often kickstarted by established connections providing that all important ‘foot in the door’.
At the same time, Alexandria Dauley, having trained and tutored at KLC School of Design, had seen first-hand the lack of diversity coming through the doors of our training providers. She reached out to several people of colour within the Interior Design industry to discuss and understand their challenges and experiences, asking what they felt needed to happen to address issues of inequality. Motivated by the conversations she had, Alexandria reached out to magazine editors and leaders in the industry to specifically promote the benefits of schools outreach programmes, having had her own personal success story in the form of her daughter, now a ballerina at the Royal Ballet School thanks to a brilliant initiative “Chance to Dance”.
Sophie and Alexandria soon joined forces. Encouraged and supported by key industry leaders and pledges of support from peers, they decided to launch United in Design fuelled by the belief that words are not enough and that what we need now – is diversity in action.