Sisterhood is an inspiring social change organisation founded by Rebecca Thomson and Rachita Saraogi. What started as a design research project in their final year at Central Saint Martins five years ago has become a key enterprise in accelerating gender equality and democratising design education. They aim to provide the next generation of young women and gender expansive youth with the tools, skills, and confidence to build a future where they can thrive.
Recognised for their remarkable work at Sisterhood, Rebecca and Rachita are honourees on the Forbes 30 under 30 Social Impact 2021 Europe list for transforming education and business in systemic and sustainable ways. Sisterhood is based on the following values: Make Your Mark, Choose Kindness, Get To The Heart and Come Together. Their social impact programmes take a design-led approach in helping young women and gender expansive youth to develop their problem-solving skills, creative and critical thinking, and confidence in decision-making through work on social action projects that matter to them, so that they can take these skills into their futures: ‘When given the opportunity, our changemakers have clarity and conviction on what needs to be designed and redesigned. The creative design thinking and making process equips changemakers with the creativity, tools, and skills to design their place in the world.’
We talked with Rachita and Rebecca to learn more about their inspiring story, Sisterhood’s journey and its impact, and their insights into what we as an industry can do to create a more accessible space for all.
Can you tell us a bit about your background and careers before founding Sisterhood?
Rebecca: Before moving to London for university, I studied various creative subjects at Farnborough Sixth Form College before attending the University of the Creative Arts. Plot twist: I was torn between dance and design for the longest time. I always worked through dance, design, or one of my side hustle businesses. When I applied to Central Saint Martins, it was very much a stretch applicationI. I was so conscious of how difficult it was to get in. I still remember receiving that offer, I couldn’t quite believe it.
Rachita: Dance is something Rebecca and I have in common. It’s been part of my creative practice since I was very young and continues to be even now. Before I started at Central Saint Martins, I pursued a foundation at Cambridge School of Visual & Performing Arts, where I really got to experiment and push my creativity — which is something that stayed with me during my gap year when I adopted a ‘yes’ mentality — This led me to follow a group of social entrepreneurs around India creating a documentary film, doing a course on publishing (with a focus on design) with Seagull Publishing, and interning at a design studio.
R&R: Central Saint Martins is where our meet-cute happened; it was as if by design, we were placed in the same tutor group led by Luise Vormittag (a wonderful multi-hyphenated conscious creative educator and practitioner). During a tutor group session, Rachita presented a case study about what can go wrong when design form is prioritised over design function, which cost the American election because of how the ballot cards were designed.
This was what Central Saint Martins offered us aspiring designers; the design process is a vehicle for creating an outcome that looks as beautiful as it is effective, accessible and functional.
Our careers began at Central Saint Martins, where Sisterhood was also founded. Alongside building Sisterhood as you know it today we were very committed to gaining experience of using design for social good. This pathway wasn’t easy to navigate in 2015, and as well as founding Sisterhood, Rebecca worked for Breaking Barriers and Rachita at Participatory City.
What was the drive behind starting Sisterhood together?
People are often quite surprised to know that Sisterhood was our final year project at university — it started around our kitchen table (as we were also flatmates). We were discussing what our future would be like now that we were stepping into the industry. Sadly, it wasn’t looking great. We noticed a real drop in women within the creative industry when we were reaching out to connect with designers for possible opportunities; this only got worse the higher up we looked. We were shocked — we came from a cohort of 70% women & non-binary people — so we were left with the question: ‘Where did all the women go after higher education?’. This led us down a deep research path, and we spoke to so many people — those who were just starting out like us; women who were well into their creative careers; teachers; and parents. The common thread amongst all the data we gathered referred back to experiences in school, those crucial teen years where you’re figuring out who you are and who you want to be. There were two key pieces of data:
- The lack of opportunity for girls to flex their creative muscle and build confidence in their abilities (which already sits very low for girls).
- Being held back for personal, social and cultural reasons from exploring different career paths or different types of learning.
This gelled with our own experiences so that we knew we needed to do something about this situation. It is often the case that we create the things we wanted when we were younger. So we decided to go to the root of the problem to ensure that the next generation of girls feel equipped with the tools, skills, support needed to build a future where they can thrive.
Sisterhood today, is the essence of that initial research but true to the design process, we have tested, developed, and iterated along the way. Sisterhood is now organised to accelerate gender equality and to democratise design education — to prove that creative education is just as important to a person’s development as any other academic education AND that it offers many transferable, employable, and personal development skills which will set up girls even better for their own future and that of the changing world of work.
“Sisterhood is now organised to accelerate gender equality and to democratise design education — to prove that creative education is just as important to a person’s development as any other academic education AND that it offers many transferable, employable, and personal development skills which will set up girls even better for their own future and that of the changing world of work.”
We love how you’ve set up the programme to be design-led and allow young women and gender expansive youth to work on social action projects that they can relate to and make change in. What are the benefits of taking a design-based approach in empowering young women to effect change?
Design is everywhere. Design shapes our world, and this is where we start from with our programmes. The changemakers get curious in thinking critically and consider the role design has played from the phones in their pockets (not on the table, right girls?) and services they use or don’t get to use each day to the buildings and places they visit and the different systems that affect how they live. The benefits of taking this approach of asking girls about their user experience is to draw on their experience of what works and what could be designed better. From our research, women have been missing from decision-making, and this directly impacts design; you have only to read ‘Invisible Women’ by Caroline Criado Perez for an exhaustive list of products, systems, and services that have not even considered women’s let alone girls’ needs.
Girls’ needs slip through the cracks. ‘Billions of pounds have been invested in services for girls —from health to education to entrepreneurship. Services they need. Yet millions of girls are not using them, even when they are free. Why? Because girls do not see the services as being ‘for them’. (Girl Effect & Vodafone Report, 2018)
Since starting Sisterhood, changemakers have self-started over 15 social action projects that address the social and gender inequalities that we face, including gender-based violence, healthcare inequality, and the digital divide. When given the opportunity, our changemakers have clarity and conviction on what needs to be designed and redesigned. The creative design thinking and making process equips the changemakers with the creativity, tools, and skills to design their place in the world.
“Since starting Sisterhood, changemakers have self-started over 15 social action projects that address the social and gender inequalities that we face, including gender-based violence, healthcare inequality, and the digital divide.”
Has there been a favourite project of yours the students have worked on that’s resonated with you both since you started the organisation?
We are not just being diplomatic when we say that with every project, there is an innovation and intervention that would have positively impacted our girlhood experience and/or the girlhood experience of our peers. You can check them all out on our website. We truly believe the secret to this lies in the process and investment in long-term programming for young people. If we had a donation for every time we hear “if I had this when I was younger…”
Our changemakers are curious about entrepreneurship and starting their own businesses, and during the lockdown some of our alumni, self-started. This insight has developed into a programme known today as Sisterhood Summer: Social Entrepreneurship and Business Launchpad, which aims to build a pipeline of future purpose-led entrepreneurs. We were recently named amongst the Top 100 Female Entrepreneurs by The Telegraph and NatWest and— we know that creativity and entrepreneurialism go hand-in-hand and need nurturing from a young age. The Rose Review analysis shows that 16 to 25-year-olds are now founding 22 times more businesses than in 2018. Sisterhood Summer was initiated by our community of changemakers asking for support to flex their creative muscles and build their own businesses.
The Sisterhood Summer programme will take place from 27th July to 11th August. Applications are now live, and there is a ‘Building your business from the kitchen table digital workshop’ to inspire ideas to submit in your application. Ffind out more and how to apply by visiting our website: https://www.oursisterhood.co.uk/opportunities
Since you’ve founded Sisterhood, do you think opportunities for young women and gender expansive youth getting into design education and leadership roles within the creative industry have improved?
So rewind to 5 years ago when Sisterhood was still a post-it note, we struggled to find opportunities and pathways that offered a route to designing for social good, let alone setting up a creative social enterprise. Today we see initiatives, programmes, fellowships, residencies, and incubators that are aimed at encouraging women and girls to enter the creative industry, but also a few of these initiatives are offering alternative routes to design education and experience. Change is happening, but equity is lagging for many reasons. One is that many of these programmes are London-bound, which means we miss out on nationwide talent in design education and leadership.
We are currently looking for a design advisor, and we had zero applications from female design leaders…
What do you think we, collectively as an industry, can do to remove barriers and create a more equitable and accessible space for all?
- One of our biggest gripes is with organisations within the collective industry who declare good intentions to support communities or marginalised voices but do not practise what they preach by embedding time into the creative process to engage meaningfully with the community they are targeting. By advocating for better design practises and embedding co-design methodology into processes, we can engage meaningfully with intersectional perspectives, challenges, and causes that we may not be experiencing. Meaningful community engagement can also break down barriers for and assist people to tap into their creative potential.
- As an industry-leading body or organisation, do not just bolt-on services and programmes as part of your CSR agreement; use that time and energy on doing the work to research grassroots programmes that are currently working to improve design education and working hand-in-hand with the next generation of creatives. Invest in and elevate those organisations, partner with them, collaborate with their leaders and use your resources and unique expertise to support that pipeline to the future.
- The design workforce needs to reflect the diversity of the world it designs, if it doesn’t, the design of products, spaces, and services will often overlook many people’s aspirations, assets, and needs, excluding them and reinforcing existing inequalities and forms of marginalisation. We need more role models in the workforce, and these role models need to be trained to facilitate talks, workshops and exercises relevant to today’s generation so that they recognise design as a viable pathway.
“By advocating for better design practises and embedding co-design methodology into processes, we can engage meaningfully with intersectional perspectives, challenges, and causes that we may not be experiencing. Meaningful community engagement can also break down barriers for and assist people to tap into their creative potential.”
Do you have any advice for young girls and gender expansive youth wanting to get into the creative industry or kick-starting their career?
Firstly hello 👋 it is always a pleasure to meet fellow aspiring creatives. You are already taking advice that we would probably give by being here, reading this, and connecting with Design by Women, who are doing the work of celebrating inspiring role models in the industry.
- Keep showing up for yourself like this: Sign up and attend events, talks, and training opportunities for yourself. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is show up. Taking yourself along to an opportunity that piques your curiosity could open up connections and pathways. In fact, we’re looking for 30 designers for our Summer programme to work with the changemakers to bring their business idea to life visually — If you’re interested, please get in touch with us.
- Engage and join a community that speaks to your creative passion and curiosity because that is how you find out where to connect with others who may share your values and interests in design or a specific sector within the industry.
- Request a Sisterhood Taster Session at your school or we will come along and share stories, advice, and activities to inspire ideas and acting on your purpose.
- Remember, you are not bound to do one thing with your career. We are multi-hyphenated social entrepreneurs, founders, designers, facilitators, and creative strategists working at the intersection of girls-rights, design, education, and creative entrepreneurship — In today’s world being flexible and adaptable is a career asset.
“We are multi-hyphenated social entrepreneurs, founders, designers, facilitators, and creative strategists working at the intersection of girls-rights, design, education, and creative entrepreneurship — In today’s world being flexible and adaptable is a career asset.”
What are Sisterhood’s plans and vision over the next 5 years?
As we acknowledged earlier, Sisterhood has primarily been delivered in London., Our focus right now is growing the organization. We plan to do this through our ‘Training of Trainers’ programme, which we will be developing and launching soon. It’s exciting to see our vision realised.
We have so many ambitions for the next 5 years, but making an impact in girls’ lives globally is definitely the main focus, so watch this space!