Meet the team
We bring together dedicated practitioners, creatives, and community leaders who work together to deliver positive outcomes across Coventry. Through our three strands — Business, Youth and Community — we provide accessible, culturally competent, grassroots support. Together, we help local people grow ideas, build confidence and strengthen connections so everyone has the opportunity to thrive.
As part of our succession planning, three young employees are being trained as Senior Management Leads, developing operational, leadership and programme‑wide skills. This pathway prepares them to take on future management responsibilities and, in time, to lead the Centre’s three strands and overall operations.
Our Senior Management Team
Christabell
Christabell founded The Highlife Centre over 15 years ago and has tirelessly championed opportunities for local people to grow and succeed. A true changemaker, she invests in individuals often overlooked, building confidence and opening pathways to achievement. She drives connection, empowerment and lasting change for ethnic minority communities across Coventry.
Chief Executive
Rossi
Youth, Operations, and Finance
Rossi has been part of The Highlife Centre since its beginning and plays a key role across all strands, especially Youth. He supports young people in planning and delivering events, offering guidance and creating a safe, inclusive space. Rossi also oversees event funding and, with his Construction background, ensures the centre remains safe and secure each day.
Aimee
Communities, Events and Marketing
Aimee first connected with The Highlife Centre’s Youth Strand as a teenager and has since grown into a key member of the Community Strand. She now supports family fun days and helps young people build confidence in running their own events. Outside of work, Aimee enjoys reading, creating TikToks, presenting on community radio and binge‑watching Netflix.
Claudia
Business and Enterprise
Claudia began at The Highlife Centre as a volunteer Business Support Assistant and now works closely with the business team. With a strong background in Business, she tracks and monitors the progress of supported enterprises, prepares data for reporting, and mentors individuals exploring self‑employment, reflecting her passion for helping people succeed in the business environment.
Business Development Team
Saad
Business Engagement ManagerSaad delivers the best possible outcomes for local Businesses in Coventry. Saad is supportive and open-minded in his approach to helping businesses develop plans for their next steps to overcome socioeconomic barriers they may face. He is a key part of Business Teams’ forward-thinking style of working.
Rafiat
Business Engagement ManagerRafiat is passionate about engaging with Businesses from various fields to bring about positive outcomes. Rafiat is outgoing and welcoming in her approach to supporting local businesses. She works alongside the team to help business owners and freelancers build up their core skill set to progress to the next steps in their growth journey. In her spare time Rafiat designs clothes and runs her own social media pages across various platforms exploring fashion and style.
Communities Team
Juliet
Communities OfficerJulliette is dedicated to helping the community to thrive. She is regularly involved with outreach within the community. Her role is across several of our grass roots projects to help create connections and reduce isolation in the local area for families and vulnerable people. Julliette helps to foster a safe environment for community members to access support services, meet new people and improve their emotional and physical wellbeing.
Community Engagement - This role is currently vacant.Youth Vision Leads and Executives
Vivienne
Aspirations and Leadership programme LeadVivienne is one of the driving forces behind our Youth Vision programme. With a passion for Education and Youth Work Vivienne is keen and engaged when it comes to ensuring the very best outcomes for the young people that are involved in our programmes. Vivienne supports young people with their academics through running our regular revision hub.
Marie
Aspirations and Leadership programme LeadWith a wealth of experience in the field of Psychology Marie works to support neurodiverse young people within our centre to create a safe space for them. Marie is dedicated to ensuring every young person is able to have a positive experience and make good memories amongst like minded people.
Essie
Stella
Youth Production LeadStella pioneers young people’s creativity within our Youth Vision Programme. She has led the group successfully with several amazing youth productions at the theatre including: Ella, Into the Woods and Matilda. Stella works hard to encourage the youth to think outside the box and express themselves via creativity.
Youth Production FacilitatorEssie supports with the running of our Youth Vision Productions. She is there for all the Behind The Scenes hectic moments. She helps the young people to rehearse for their performances in turn building up their confidence and self belief. She also supports with stage workshops.
Thomas
YV Production ExecutiveThomas supports our young people by running various engagement sessions to encourage the youth to build up on their skillset to set them up for a bright and successful future. Jubilee
YV Production ExecutiveJubilee supports the production team to ensure shows and rehearsals run smoothly. Angel
Media and Photography Youth Vision Events ExecutiveAngel helps our team to capture all the brilliant memories as well as show the world all the amazing things that we do at the centre specifically through our Youth Programme.
Peter
Youth LeadPeter works to provide workshops and sessions on various topics. These sessions allow young people to build up their skill set for their future development.
Helmut
Youth Lead Helmut’s dynamic approach to youth work enables him to create workshops involving aspirations and catering in a way that is engaging and educational whilst also bringing entertainment to the young people.
Hiba
Hiba ensures accurate data management by recording attendance, inputting information from hard‑copy documents, and coordinating with session leads to keep all records up to date. Hiba also maintains and regularly updates the Youth Vision Annual Report to support clear, reliable reporting across the organisation
YV Data and Monitoring Youth Executive
Tobi
YV Podcasting Executive Tobi is involved with our music production workshops. He teaches young people how to produce their own beats and use music equipment.
Favour
YV Fashion FacilitatorFavour is part of our up and coming youth fashion workshops. She supports young people to unleash their creativity and self expression in a unique manner.
Prince
YV Fashion Executive Prince supports young people with our fashion workshops as they work towards creating their own fashion line.
Christian
Facilities Officer
Christian ensures the centre runs smoothly and works alongside other colleagues in the organisation to provide our day to day services including events hall hire. He makes sure that the centre is kept clean and tidy. He is also on hand to support any service users with anything they may need whilst they are visiting the centre.