About us
The Sweaty Betty Foundation was launched in March 2021 with the support of our partner and funder Sweaty Betty, the activewear brand for women.
Our vision
is a world where every woman and girl is active, healthy and happy
Our mission
is to empower women and girls from every background to get active, and stay active – for life
Our values
EVERY VOICE COUNTS
we pursue diversity of perspective relentlessly
OUR STRENGTH IS IN EACH OTHER
The women and girls we work with are our best assets
WE ARE BRAVE
We’re prepared to try new things and do it differently
WE WILL CHANGE LIVES
Our actions make a real difference
WE REALLY CARE
Everyone has the right to be active, healthy and happy
Our current priorities
The Foundation’s focus for the first few years will be supporting girls aged 10–18 to try new activities at school, at home and in their communities, so that they can discover the ways they love to get active, and stay active, for life.
We will focus on girls who are the least active and who face the biggest barriers to being active, particularly those from lower income families and ethnically diverse communities, especially:
→ In the UK
those from Black and South Asian heritage backgrounds
Our geographic areas of focus will be specifically selected to ensure that we can work with girls from these backgrounds.
We recognise that there are other groups of girls who are also less likely to be active, including LGBTQ+ young people and girls with disabilities, and our work will support these groups too.
Our trustees and staff
Board
Like every charity, our voluntary Board of Trustees has the ultimate responsibility for setting and monitoring the strategy of the Foundation, ensuring it complies with the law, and ensuring the charity’s finances are well managed.
As you know we have been recruiting trustees for our Sweaty Betty Foundation both inside and outside of Sweaty Betty and are delighted to announce our full board of Trustees for the Sweaty Betty Foundation.
Coming from a variety of different backgrounds and bringing a wide range of skillsets, their role is to support the foundation in its mission to empower women and girls from every background to get active and stay active, for life.
We are delighted to have so many talented and passionate individuals as part of our board and a huge thanks to everyone who helped in their recruitment!
Staff
The Foundation has two staff members, the Director, Afsana Lachaux and Business Development Manager Sophie Planes.
Afsana previously worked at the Prince’s Trust and has more than 20 years’ experience of senior roles in central and local government. She runs the Foundation on a day-to-day basis and oversees it’s long-term strategy.
Sophie has a background in retail, and has worked for Sweaty Betty for the past 6 years. In this role, Sophie looks after the fundraising and communications, as well as the relationship between Sweaty Betty team members and the Sweaty Betty Foundation.
Meet the Staff and Trustees
Amman Kaur Johal - Trustee
Amman currently works in the Building Safety Team at Greater London Authority, supporting the Mayor of London’s aim to improve the safety of buildings in London following the Grenfell Tower fire. Amman is delighted to be part of the SB Foundation board of Trustees.
Chantel-Mariee Lewis - Trustee
Chan has worked on various campaigns, specialising in marketing, social media and public affairs. Chan is of Jamaican descent and was born and raised in Peckham, South London and is looking forward to supporting the foundation in making an impactful change to girls and young women.
Efe Odeka - Trustee
Efe is a Financial & Management Accountant working in the real estate sector. Prior to this, she worked as a Senior Audit Manager. Passionate about social change and health Efe is excited to be joining the foundation to support their mission.
Ginny Yang - Trustee
Ginny is a Senior Retail Area manager for our UK stores. She has been with Sweaty Betty for over 12 years and has impacted so many during her career always ensuring that we are living out values and empowering women.
Heidi Coppin - Trustee
Heidi is the Chief People Officer for Sweaty Betty. She plays a key role in empowering and inspiring employees to create real change for women and girls, as well as playing a vital part in linking the foundation to Sweaty Betty.
Afsana Lachaux - Staff
Afsana Lachaux has been the director of the Sweaty Betty Foundation since October 2023. Before that, she worked for the Prince’s Trust and held a series of senior positions in the civil service and local government. She is passionate about participation in sports and physical fitness, and about empowering women and girls. She won the Emma Humphreys Memorial Prize for her work on ending violence against women and girls.
Sophie Planes - Staff
Sophie is the Foundation’s Business Development Manager. She joined the Foundation back in July 2022 and has a background in retail, working for Sweaty Betty in their stores for the past 5 years. In her current role, Sophie looks after the fundraising and communications, as well as the relationship between Sweaty Betty team members and the Sweaty Betty Foundation.
Tamara Hill-Norton - Chair of SBF
Tamara is the founder of Sweaty Betty and the Chair of the foundation. She has always been passionate about inspiring women to lead an active lifestyle. Now through the foundation, she is excited to empower teenage girls to get active, particularly those that have not had the opportunities to do so.
Melissa Mullen - Trustee
Melissa is Sweaty Betty’s Global Brand President / CEO. Passionate about the power of people, Melissa’s on a mission to empower women through fitness and beyond. Melissa plays a key part in linking the foundation to Sweaty Betty.
Girls Panel
Girls’ voices are central to our work. That’s why we have a Girls Panel, made up of 6 girls aged 14-18 who come from our target cities. They provide invaluable feedback on our current and upcoming projects, help decide our strategic direction, choose new staff and trustees and can choose to support on specific projects like ‘Girls on the Pitch’. We pay all the girls for their time and they’re highly valued members of our team.
We recruit new girls to join the panel each year so if you’re interested in taking part, please email sbfapplications@sweatybetty.com to find out more.
Girls Panel
Girls’ voices are central to our work. That’s why we have a Girls Panel, made up of 6-10 girls aged 14-18 who come from our target cities. They provide invaluable feedback on our current and upcoming projects, help decide our strategic direction, choose new staff and trustees and can choose to support on specific projects like ‘Girls on the Pitch’. We pay all the girls for their time and they’re highly valued members of our team.
We recruit new girls to join the panel each year so if you’re interested in taking part, please email sbfapplications@sweatybetty.com to find out more.
How we work as a foundation and with our partner, Sweaty Betty
The Sweaty Betty Foundation is an independent registered charity. As a corporate foundation, our main funder is Sweaty Betty (and its wonderful customers), but the charity makes its own decisions on what projects to fund and what funding to accept from Sweaty Betty.
The Foundation’s sole purpose is to support women and girls to get more active.
We are not operating an open grant programme. As a small foundation, we have formed a select number of strategic partnerships with organisations who share our values and who we believe collectively can help shift the dial on teenage girls activity levels
We have thoroughly researched the physical activity, community, charity and commercial sectors to find organisations with innovative and scalable ideas to get more teenage girls active.
We work with both small and large, local and national organisations who have great ideas to get active and we have played an active role in co-creating new initiatives with them.’
If you believe you can help us achieve our mission, do get in touch by email: sbfapplications@sweatybetty.com
