Helen Wales
www.nesta.org.uk/team/helen-wales/
www.nesta.org.uk/team/helen-wales/
Mission Manager, fairer start mission
Helen joined Nesta in May 2021 as mission manager for a fairer start and was part of the Nesta Cymru team.
Before joining Nesta she led BookTrust Cymru. Her work at BookTrust included designing programmes and initiatives to support children’s reading in the early years, with a focus on parental engagement, wellbeing outcomes, the home learning environment and cross-sector partnership working.
Helen was really excited about bringing the fairer start mission to Wales and innovating to make a real difference to children and families.
She was previously the Director of UNA Exchange, an international youth volunteering charity based in Cardiff, working on youth and community development initiatives in Wales and overseas.
She has lived and worked in Lesotho, Italy and Moscow and is a former secondary school English teacher. She studied English Literature at Cambridge University and has an MA in Critical and Cultural Theory from Cardiff University.
Outside of work, she can be found telling (and listening to) stories, exploring different corners of Wales, inventing new recipes, finishing off her Welsh homework and playing with her nieces.
