Writer, policy expert and campaigner

Strategy & Campaigns

Gracie has over a decade’s experience working with trusted friends and co-conspirators to develop and land creative strategies for systemic change, with particular expertise in integrating legal strategies into multi-disciplinary campaigns. She has held senior leadership roles at Liberty, Friends of the Earth Scotland, and Grenfell Testimony Week. As a senior leadership and strategy consultant, she has delivered for a broad range of high-profile organisations including Good Law Project, Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, and Systemic Justice, as well as being part of several grassroots campaign collectives and actions over the years. 

Boycot School census placard outside the DfE

Gracie started out working on reception at specialist GPs surgeries for homeless people and asylum seekers in Leicester, her hometown, before heading off to university. She subsequently spent several years supporting survivors of torture and other gross human rights violations before moving into broader civil liberties policy and campaigning.

Through parliamentary lobbying, strategic litigation, public mobilisation and careful media work, she’s won people detained at the border the right to a lawyer, challenged pandemic policing powers, strengthened our data protection rights, and helped stop refugees being deported to Rwanda. Over time she has become more interested in creative, generative campaigns focused on building towards the world we want to live in, rather than defending the status quo.

Gracie’s senior leadership expertise is often sought by advisory and trustee boards. Her appointments include Systemic Justice, 2024 – present, Glasgow Women’s Library, 2022 – present, defenddigitalme, 2019 – present, and Solidarity Detainee Support (formerly SOAS Detainee Support), 2014 – 2016.

Strategy & Campaigns work

Here’s a selection of policy and campaigns work that Gracie has conceptualised and led. Please note that copyright and IP remain with the publishing organisations.

"Empathy and imagination are essential tools when engaging with challenging subject matter. So are patience and openness. Gracie has all these qualities and more. During some of the most difficult circumstances that I’ve had to deal with, Gracie demonstrated highly developed sensitivity and practicality. While the prognosis was not good to start with, thanks to Gracie’s leadership we were able to secure excellent outcomes for the project."
Baroness Lola Young, Independent Member of the House of Lords
"My experience of working with Gracie began when she was appointed as Co-Chief Coordinator for Grenfell Testimony Week.

Gracie’s empathy and co-production approach was second to none. Albeit that the role was to coordinate the bespoke project, to help ensure that ideas from the consultation were incorporated in the planning and design, the role morphed into much more.

Gracie, the writer, campaigner, leader brought all her experience to the process of making this conceptual idea of Testimony Week a reality.

The planning of this unique event was at times beset by difficulties which challenged the most resilient of us. Gracie withstood those challenges and Testimony Week was an overwhelming success for all who participated."
Marcia Willis Stewart KC (Hon), Partner and Director at Birnberg Peirce
"Gracie's work is amongst the most remarkable I have seen - creating from the most exclusionary of spaces the United Kingdom we talk of but so rarely encounter in real life."
Jo Maugham KC, Founder and Director of Good Law Project
"Gracie is a long-range strategic thinker. She is often ten steps ahead of other people in the room and she is able to hold in mind the long-term goals of any piece of work, reflecting constantly on how best to plot the course to success even if it takes years. As Interim Director of Liberty this was a key feature of her leadership; embedding a flagship campaigning model and building coalitions around positive solutions for the long-term, rather than just reactions to short-term political hostility. "
Martha Spurrier, former Director of Liberty
"Gracie is a remarkable campaigner and a pleasure to work with. She offers that rare and alchemic combination of sharp and analytical policy insight with the ability to design and deliver effective political strategy, while also keeping her work (and the work of those around her) deeply rooted in anti-oppressive practices that uplift and empower. It would be hard for anyone to work with Gracie and not come away feeling a little bit smarter."
Satbir Singh, former Director of OpenDemocracy and Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants
"As FoES's Director, Gracie demonstrated inspirational and compassionate leadership and strategic thinking. She is a woman of many talents."
Mark Ballard, Chair of Friends of the Earth Scotland and former Member of the Scottish Parliament
If you’d like to speak to Gracie about consultancy, particularly for joyful or creative campaigns
Get in touch