Congratulations to our Be the Ladder Award winners 2025!
The Innovation Ladder category:
Recognising creative solutions that break down barriers and create new opportunities
Gold winners:
University of Law Students Union
Since 2021, the Skills Development Programme has empowered over 4,700 students with 500+ workshops, from public speaking to mental health first aid. With inclusivity and honesty bursaries removing barriers, 71% of students say it has boosted their careers — and the new Career Launchpad is taking that impact even further.
Platinum winners:
Wealthbrite
Founded in 2021, Wealthbrite empowers early-career legal professionals, especially from underrepresented backgrounds, to gain financial confidence and control over their futures. Its programmes, scholarships, and mentoring turn financial stress into opportunity, boost social mobility, and strengthen wellbeing and ethical resilience across the legal profession.
InsightBox
Empowers individuals and teams to reach their full potential through AI-driven insights and expert mentorship. Focusing on young people, including those who are NEET or have care experience, it provides personalised guidance to build confidence, skills, and workplace success. Through partnerships with organisations like Spectra, Ambition, and the NHS, InsightBox pairs participants with the right mentors, fostering trust, engagement, and lasting impact.
The Community Ladder category:
For grassroot organisations who showcase initiatives that strengthen and unite local communities
Gold winners:
BMet BAME Network
An employee-led initiative driving racial equity, inclusion, and representation at Birmingham Metropolitan College. Since 2018, it has increased BAME leadership from 11% to 32% and delivered impactful programmes like Realise Mentoring and the Ramadan Equity Project. Recognised nationally, it has become a benchmark for meaningful, lasting change in education.
Leadership Through Sport and Business
Breaking barriers to social mobility since 2012, helping nearly 2,000 young people from disadvantaged backgrounds build meaningful careers with top UK firms. Through training, mentoring, and schools programmes, they inspire the next generation to aim higher.
Coach Core
Unlocks potential by giving underrepresented young people meaningful education and employment through inclusive sports apprenticeships. With one-to-one support and employer partnerships, apprentices gain skills, confidence, and careers while inspiring their communities.
Platinum winner:
Chroma
The UK’s leading provider of Creative Arts Therapies, supporting adopted and Special Guardianship Order children, their families, and those affected by brain injury. Each year, they help over 400 children navigate trauma, loss, and disrupted attachments through art, music, and drama therapy. Their PACE-based, trauma-informed approach builds emotional resilience, strengthens relationships, and transforms everyday life at home and at school.
The Resilience Ladder category:
Honouring people who turned adversity into strength and inspired others to rise
Gold winners:
Daniel Adebayo
Compliance Manager and Founder & CEO of Race Forward CIC. Three years after graduating with a First-Class Law degree, Daniel launched Race Forward to create opportunities for Black and Mixed Heritage individuals. Through scholarships, mentorship, and partnerships with organisations like Barclays, he has opened doors and inspired young people to thrive.
Dr Margaret Jordan
Chartered Counselling Psychologist, has been a leader in mental health and addiction recovery since 1981. She founded a rehabilitation centre for people with co-occurring disorders, creating innovative, trauma-informed care that heals the whole person. Through mentoring, community education, and advocacy, she reduces stigma, empowers clients, and inspires lasting change in individuals and communities
Platinum winner:
Shirah Mansaray
Founder of I Am Somebody’s Child Soldier, empowering survivors of war in Uganda to heal, lead, and mentor others. A lawyer, academic, and mentor, she combines strategy and compassion to create inclusive systems and inspire the next generation of leaders.
The Transformation Ladder category:
Individuals who have sparked profound change, turning challenges into opportunities and helping others climb to new heights
Gold winners:
Egbe Manton
Lawyer and founder of Inspire Law Global, dedicated to making the legal profession accessible to all. Drawing on personal experience overcoming barriers, Egbe has supported hundreds of aspiring lawyers through workshops, coaching, and mentorship, helping many secure legal roles. Committed to fostering a pay-it-forward culture, Egbe empowers others to share guidance and normalize setbacks, while expanding ILG’s reach through digital learning and strategic partnerships.
Christy Traore
Deputy Dean (Students) at the University of Roehampton, is a natural leader who inspires confidence and growth in others. Guided by a mentor’s lessons in truly seeing people and her father’s example of selfless giving, she leads with empathy, kindness, and integrity. Christy has transformed lives by helping students and colleagues discover their strengths, overcome challenges, and achieve success.
Platinum winner:
Tom Lyas
Head of Resourcing & Social Mobility at Browne Jacobson law firm, has spent 15 years driving inclusion in the legal sector. He challenged traditional recruitment practices, led initiatives like FAIRE and REACH, and fostered a culture of mentorship and opportunity. Beyond his firm, he influences policy and sector-wide change, making social mobility a lasting, core priority.
The Rising Star category:
Highlighting young people, or emerging leaders who are already helping others succeed
Gold winners:
Jade Gani
CEO of Circe Law, is driving social mobility in the legal profession by funding apprenticeships and removing barriers for aspiring lawyers from low-income backgrounds. She leads with inclusivity and empathy, while also giving back through community initiatives such as providing free Wills and legal education with Thames Hospice.
Niresha Umaichelvam
Head of Legal Services at Release, Niresha has transformed access to justice by securing the organisation’s first legal aid contract and championing vulnerable groups, especially young people leaving the care system. A passionate advocate for equality and inclusion, she not only gives a voice to the overlooked but also mentors and inspires the next generation of social welfare lawyers.
Platinum winner:
Kevin Osei OBE
Founder and CEO of Bridging Barriers, a charity he launched in 2020 to help young people from underrepresented backgrounds access career opportunities. Starting with no funding, networks, or experience, he grew the organisation to support over 2,000 young people in just five years. Today, Bridging Barriers has a thriving community of mentors and industry partners, and Kevin is spearheading the launch of Career Compass, a digital platform set to support thousands more young people every year. His vision is clear: a future where no young person’s background or postcode limits their potential.
The Impact Ladder category:
For individuals whose actions have created lasting, measureable change
Gold winners:
Yetunde Dania
The first Black woman to lead Trowers & Hamlins’ Birmingham office, she mentors aspiring solicitors and Black entrepreneurs. As chair of the firm’s Race Action Plan Group, she drives systemic change through initiatives that embed equity and opportunity across the profession.
Dr Haris Kiani
Venture capitalist and founder of Jaago, a microfinance initiative supporting 850+ women in rural Pakistan. He has supported 40+ underrepresented tech founders in raising over £20 million, and through national board roles, has influenced education and youth opportunity policy.
Platinum winner:
Dr Tunde Okewale
Barrister and social entrepreneur who has spent 20 years using law as a tool for empowerment. In 2010, he founded Urban Lawyers to widen access to legal education and careers, reaching over 50,000 people and supporting more than 32,000 students on their legal journeys. Through mentoring, advocacy, and systemic change, he has built a movement that lifts young people from underrepresented communities, showing them that their beginnings do not define their potential.
The Empowerment Ladder category:
Celebrating those who give others the tools, skills or confidence to climb higher
Gold winners:
Funke Abimbola
Group General Counsel at Everway LLC and Professor of Practice at Newcastle University, she has spent over 15 years breaking barriers and lifting others. At Roche, she led governance for more than 50,000 staff, showing that inclusive leadership drives transformation. Beyond the boardroom, she mentors future leaders, founded a scholarship for BME medical students, and inspires change through her book Climbing Mountains and her global advocacy.
Michael Joel Apas
Clinical Practice Educator, arrived in the UK in 2021 to support the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic. As an ethnic minority in Cornwall, he championed inclusion, equality, and pastoral support, breaking down cultural barriers and fostering understanding between local and international communities. He mentors and develops emerging leaders from ethnic minority backgrounds and builds partnerships with diaspora networks and local organizations.
Platinum winner:
Inez Brown
Managing Director and Regional Chair of the Institute of Directors and Aston University Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, champions mentorship, diversity, and inclusion. She has guided young people from disadvantaged backgrounds into legal careers and created programs supporting underrepresented students. Through her leadership and “pay-it-forward” approach, Inez ensures talent from all backgrounds can thrive, leaving a lasting impact on law, business, and education.
The Enrichment Ladder category:
Those who go beyond support to bring depth, learning and lasting value, enriching lives so that others can thrive
Gold winners:
Dominique Edell
Charity Lead with 20+ years championing diversity and social justice in law. From frontline Child Protection to Family Law, she now empowers aspiring lawyers from non-traditional backgrounds through scholarships, mentorship, and career initiatives. Since 2021, her programmes have awarded over half a million pounds in grants, inspiring confidence and shaping a fairer, more inclusive legal profession.
Joan Scott
Legal Counsel with 18 years’ experience, she founded the Junior Legal Fellowship Programme, chairs Specsavers embRACE, mentors future lawyers, and builds communities to support Black and female talent, driving systemic change and shaping a more inclusive legal profession.
Platinum winner:
Cynthia Agyeman
Law Lecturer at the University of Salford and dedicated to equity and inclusion. She leads the Legal Professional Development module, mentoring students and inviting alumni from underrepresented backgrounds to share their successes. Through pro bono work, research on attainment gaps, and industry partnerships, she equips students with skills, networks, and resilience to thrive. By fostering a “pay it forward” ethos, Cynthia inspires lasting impact across the legal profession.
The Diamond Award :
I, Stephanie Boyce