Meet The Team

Abosede Alaka is a growth advisor, mentor, and social mobility advocate with experience across the corporate and non-profit sectors. Born in Belgium with Nigerian heritage, she brings a global perspective to her work, helping non-profits in the UK and Africa enhance their effectiveness.

She works with the Aleto Foundation, a UK-based social mobility organisation supporting young people from low-income backgrounds in leadership development. As a contractor, she has played a key role in revamping mentoring initiatives, create new impact reporting strategy and process, and now developing new youth outreach in universities and this for the past three years. Since 2022, she has expanded her advisory services, supporting small and medium-sized non-profits with strategic growth, branding, partnerships, and impact measurement.

Abosede amplifies the voices of grassroots, underfunded organisations, helping them scale sustainably. Passionate about community development, she volunteers regularly and mentors young changemakers, assisting with mock assessments and career readiness workshops. In response to growing interest from young professionals on shifting career paths and making an impact while working, Abosede launched "The Entrepreneur’s Vision", a newsletter, and a solopreneur diary across her social platforms, sharing insights and reflection points on career transitions, purpose-driven work.

She previously served on the Young Advisory Board for Strength Within Me (S.W.I.M), a charity focused on healthy relationships and domestic violence prevention, and was the Communications Director for the UK Chapter of the National Sales Network, fostering networking and career growth for Black professionals.

Fluent in French and English, Abosede is a sought-after speaker on social impact, authentic connections, and her journey from corporate life to entrepreneurship. She believes in making passion her daily purpose, taking bold and strategic steps to create meaningful change.

One of the original trustees and is the lead contact at Youth Link Networks for any legal and compliance matters. Charisma is a qualified practising Solicitor of over 8 years and continues to monitor the charity’s policies.

She started with Youth Link Networks as the Chair of trustees but has since taken a break for maternity leave and will return in the new year as a trustee.

Charisma has played an integral role in bringing the trustees together and helping Youth Link Networks to prioritise. She has also played active roles in personal fundraising, highlighting our projects to access donations and organising events. 

Karla Simpson had made numerous international trips to Ghana, Cambodia and Uganda, volunteering through charities such as Platform 2, Restless Development via The Department of International Citizen Service and Adra working in communities to teach sexual reproductive health and rights, livelihoods, health and nutrition and to build soft play activities for children in the community.

Over the last 10+ years, Karla has been committed to building activities that support young people in Uganda living in poverty and from disadvantaged backgrounds to become more confident, access education, skills and employment to have the best possible outcomes. Karla brings extensive programme and grants management experience as she works as part of one of the largest Cultural Relations open call programme in Europe - The International Collaborations Grant at the British Council. She has successfully contributed towards the design and delivery of its second cohort and the closure of the first one.

Karla has demonstrated a high level understanding of partnership work across international countries through her ability to successfully manage and support organisations implementing projects overseas with the support of colleagues in retrospective countries to problem solve, procure for services, manage finance, operations and contract and overall project management.

Chantelle has been a volunteer at Youth Link Networks since 2020 and has recently joined the board of trustees in 2025. Her previous role was based around social media, communications, website management and working closely with the board to market and fundraise for the charity. Chantelle has been involved in numerous fundraising campaigns and fundraising events for Youth Link Networks. Now, stepping into a trustee role, Chantelle will continue to offer her expertise in these areas as well as finding new innovative ways to strengthen the image and branding of Youth Link Networks.

Rochelle Ampomah-Ababio is a trainee solicitor at a leading commercial law firm and works closely with Charisma and Karla. Rochelle has participated as a delegate at the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Pan African Youth Summit aimed at ending FGM. She has also dedicated her time to volunteering at a primary school in a South African township and has been involved in developing projects focused on empowering young girls through her work with the Foundation for Women's Health and Research Development.

Previously, Rochelle founded The Three Es Africa, a social enterprise empowering women in Africa through e-learning and a digital health magazine. She secured funding from FORWARD and the Crimson Youth Fund to support the initiative’s growth and later participated in the OneTech Accelerator in collaboration with J.P. Morgan. The platform reached and educated hundreds of women across the continent, equipping them with essential resources and skills.

Rochelle has been a key contributor to Youth Link Networks by bringing in corporate funding, organising events, raising personal funds, and bringing visibility to our work through her networks. 

Naomi Grossett, one of the original trustees and co-founder of the Pretty Box project, Naomi has proudly worked with Youth Link Networks since 2017.

Naomi has an MSc in Sustainable Development from SOAS University and is an experienced Senior Project Manager for a behavioural change consultancy where she has managed programmes up to £1million for global organisations. Naomi comes with a strong background in the charity sector working for International charities like ADRA across Africa and Asia, as well as smaller youth charities like St Andrews Club in the UK. Naomi has also volunteered her time to Australian South Sea Islanders, Port Jackson in Sydney to support them with their cultural programmes for Indigenous Australians.

Over the last 8 years Naomi has played an integral role in the project’s orchestration and delivery, she has continued to be a key contributor to the charity through personal and corporate fundraising bringing visibility to our work through her networks.