Yesterday saw a first for Step Up – an in-person birthday celebration. A week after our launch on 10^th June 2023, the founding team (Adam Brett-Aguirre, Christine Ivory, Nicola Arkinstall, Utha Vallade and I) met to map out the mission, vision, values and plan for Step Up initially. One thing we agreed on was to mark and celebrate our birthday/anniversary to celebrate and showcase all of the amazing people within the network.

Each year, we have structured our birthday events slightly differently:

• Year 0 (10.06.23) – The year of launching – we brought together 14 amazing speakers who gave a 10-minute micro-presentation on an area of leadership of their choice.
• Year 1 (10.06.24) – The year of reflecting – we looked backwards and forwards as an organisation with Hannah Wilson providing a keynote on the power of networking.
• Year 2 (10.06.25) – The year of successes – we brought together a fantastic group of individuals who have been real supporters and experienced success as a result of their involvement with Step Up.
• Year 3 (10.06.26) – The year of collaboration – we are bringing some of our partner organisations to showcase the work we are doing with them.

It was also intentional to host an event in London to mark our third birthday – London is our largest ‘hub’ for our community and therefore it made sense to connect within the capital. The brief for speakers was to pick a topic that would link/ lend itself to celebrations. We also wanted coaching and reflection to be part of the event (coaching circles have been implemented across all face-to-face events and will be in place for our virtual member events next year).

Just over 24 hours ago, 16 wonderful people descended on Angel, north London to celebrate three years of activity and impact by Step Up. All of these people had one thing in common – they had already engaged with Step Up in one way or another (usually more than once). We were brought together amongst coffee and cake. After the initial opening from Vina and then a year in review led by Ben, we started with our first speaker: Sam Crome. Sam was originally scheduled to present at our Bristol event in January 2025, that we unfortunately had to cancel. Sam spoke to ‘the power of purpose’; guiding the audience through much research, academia and reading on the importance of our purpose within the work that we do.

Following Sam’s presentation, Mark Pritchard begun the first part of our reflection, celebration and coaching circle – this was facilitated through intentional thinking (pausing), discussing and noting. This was so useful to celebrate all of the successes that each person should truly be proud of.

Christalla Jamil (who spoke at a previous London event) followed on linking her work and thoughts of intentionality to the Greek work of ‘Oikeiôsis’ meaning belonging. She showcased how this has been her driver in her leadership and life in all that she does. You had to be in the room to see the collective wisdom shared.

Another different segment was a fireside chat with Ben, as founder, Vina posed a range of questions to uncover the intentionality behind the work of Step Up. The many fantastic achievements throughout the years of dedicated work.

Mark finally led us through our final reflections – every person in the room shared a goal that they were committing to the following year. We look forward to revisiting this, with those of us who are members throughout the course of next year.

The day included lots of laughter, hugs, smiles and in some cases tears; it was a true day of celebration that was then exemplified by continuing these conversations after the event.

Happy 3^rd Birthday Step Up – London you’ve got us thinking for next year!