Hello. Thanks so much for spending some time on my website. I thought I’d take this opportunity to introduce myself and tell you a little but about me, my work and hopes for the future.
I’m a husband, dad, speaker, author and the founder of the platform, MusicFootballFatherhood (MFF). Together with my team of contributors, we run the parenting platform for men which is all about open conversations around fatherhood. MFF was described as the ‘Dad’s version of Mumsnet’ by the BBC.
At MFF, We aim to provide a space for dads to share the ups and downs of parenting and promote a positive representation of diverse fatherhood. This is done through our popular blog which has 100s of articles written by dads, our #DaddyDebates podcast where we have in-depth chats with dads about different fatherhood related topics, our monthly online peer sessions for new dads called The Lodge and our event partnerships with football clubs called Extra Time.
I started MFF in 2016 after the traumatic birth of my daughter. It was like self therapy for me and it’s grown to something that I could never had imagined as we have supported thousands of dads over the years. I was eventually diagnosed with PTSD and I’ve gone on to talk about that period of my life in an in-depth BBC article here.
Previously, I worked in the Civil Service where I held senior Diversity, Equity & Inclusion roles. While at Department for Transport I started a staff parenting network which was used as best practise across the Civil Service, I was the head of race equality in Defra and my last role was as the Head of D&I delivery at HM Treasury.
I’ve been involved in many research projects relating to fathers in the workplace, notably the 2018 Equal Lives report by Business in the Community and the Fathers in the Workplace toolkit by University of Birmingham where I spoke at both of the launches. I have used this experience alongside my work in the Civil Service, my experience running MFF and my lived experience to become one of the UK’s most prominent speakers and writers on topics around fatherhood, masculinity, mental health, equal parenting and gender equality.
I’ve been lucky enough to be recognised by the United Nations for my work engaging men in gender equality and I was awarded the UN Women UK’s #HeForShe ‘Changemaker of the Year’ award in 2019.
And in 2022 I was also recognised by LinkedIn as one of their Top Voices on issues around mental health and work/life balance.
I was the keynote speaker at the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Fatherhood in July 2021 and I am a media commentator on issues around parenting and fatherhood. I regularly appear across national and local news, sharing my work and views on Channel 4, BBC News, Loose Women, Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio London as well as overseas media outlets across Europe and Africa. I’ve written for various mainstream publications, including The Telegraph and The Independent and even had my work shared online by none other than The Rock!
In 2021, I curated my first book entitled ‘DAD: untold stories of fatherhood, love, mental health and masculinity’ which is a deeply moving and inspiring collection of 20 stories that represent the diversity of modern fatherhood and seeks to start a conversation that challenges the traditions associated with masculinity.
We have had some amazing support for the DAD book. Our community partners have done an incredible job in helping us to promote the book and we have had some unbelievable press coverage which even saw me feature on the BBC News and live on Channel 4 at exactly the same time! As part of the ongoing promo run I even managed to give a signed book to John Barnes and hand a copy over to none other than Prince William at Westminster Abbey! DAD was published on Tuesday 1st June 2021 and is an Amazon Top 10 bestseller and The Hive Top 20 bestseller.
I presented the seminal and primetime BBC documentary ‘Becoming Dad’ which was aired on BBC One in January 2022. This was the first show of it’s kind to bring issues around dad’s mental health and work-life balance to the mainstream. Becoming Dad did extremely well and was one of the 20 most watched documentaries across the whole BBC network in 2022.
The same year, I co-founded the Working Dads Employer Awards which celebrates employers that are supporting working dads. The inaugural award ceremony took place in Parliament and it was an absolutely amazing event.
I regularly host webinars and workshops with organisations about how they can support working dads, redefine masculinity and create a family friendly workplace. Recently I have worked with companies such as Virgin 02, Ford, Allen & Overy, BT, HSBC and Glaxo GSK.
I am also the creator of the Parenting Out Loud campaign and culture change programme which supports employers to build workplace cultures where dads can be loud, proud and transparent about their parenting responsibilities at work.
My hopes for the future is a more compassionate and empathetic world. I personally want to keep impacting society, football and the workplace with my work through MusicFootballFatherhood, the Working Dads Employer Awards and my keynotes and workshops. I am passionate about this work and have dedicated my life to seeing change in this area.
Thanks for getting to the end, if you think we can work together, please reach out!
