The GREAT Inititiative - Gender Right & Equality Trust

Trustees

Mariella Frostrup, Jason McCue, Karen Ruimy and Marc Carter decided to join forces and create a foundation in London that would raise awareness of and fund gender-related projects.

Mariella Frostrup

Mariella is a journalist and broadcaster who has been vocal in this country on a variety of women’s issues. She is also a respected arts critic and has sat on the panel for arts awards from the Booker to the Turner Prize. She is an invited member of the Royal Academy’s Council and received an honorary doctorate in 2009 from Nottingham University. She writes a weekly column for The Observer and is the film critic for Harper’s Bazaar and writes a book column for Psychologies. She also presents the UK’s two premier book programmes,  The Book Show for Sky Arts and Open Book for BBC Radio 4. She has been active in the charity sector for two decades, having worked on Bank Aid and Comic Relief along with various fundraising initiatives for Oxfam, The Childrens Society and Save the Children. Campaigning for women’s rights and gender equality has become her main focus; she has recently made several trips to Africa to meet women and young girls in their communities, and experiencing firsthand the realities and inequalities of the lives that they lead.

Jason McCue LLD

Jason, founding partner of H2O Law, is a recognised legal expert in human rights and conflict resolution. He was named as the UK’s Lawyer of the Year 2009-2010 by the UK Law Society, not least for his work in conflict resolution around the world. He advises governments, NGOs and companies on an array of legal, crisis management and humanitarian issues. Jason has worked with FAS for many years as one of their Ambassadors, and has also worked closely with the UN, Oxfam and Crisis Action. He has been particularly active in Sudan; he created Mandate Darfur and formulated it with the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.

Karen Ruimy

Born in Morocco, Karen is a producer, artist and writer who has performed and produced flamenco shows in Paris and London. Prior to her move towards the arts, Karen had a successful financial career in Paris; her first book, The Angel’s Metamorphosis, explores her spiritual journey and decision to leave that career behind. Karen has been active in many humanitarian causes such as La Voix de l’Enfant and Les Ecoles de l’Espoir in Paris which support women’s and children’s rights, and their status and role in our society.

Marc Carter

Marc is the owner and managing director of leading communications agency The English Group, which provides marketing and design expertise to many charities and good causes, and has contributed towards or instigated the fund-raising platforms for organisations and individuals as diverse as Bryan Adams, Annie Lennox’s SING Campaign and The Circle initiatives, The Soil Association, The European Nature Trust, Bottletop, Peace One Day, and in particular, the educational programmes for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Portrait Gallery, and the British Academy of Film & Television Arts.