Managing Partner

Trainer

Jodie is an employment law solicitor with more than 10 years of experience as a trainer and coach, including spells as a university lecturer at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Her areas of interest are neurodiversity, mental health and ED&I. She has been diagnosed with ADHD, has struggled with mental health issues and is regularly engaged to consult on ED&I across a range of businesses.

She is also a popular choice for training among c-suite executives and founders, given that she is a business owner and founder herself.

Jodie regularly carries out one-to-one and group training programmes and coaching focused on the workplace, covering key employment law and HR topics, all the with the aim of developing progressive leaders, their managers and teams, and harnessing the power of people within organisations.

Finally, Jodie is an experienced public speaker who has delivered keynote speeches and participated in panel discussions in front of large audiences.

Senior Associate Solicitor

Trainer

Alicia is an employment law solicitor with more than five years of experience. She completed her training in London but returned to Yorkshire for a better work-life balance and to spend more time with her young family.

Her background is in providing employment law support to large international businesses, but Alicia loves engaging with individuals on a personal basis, particularly victims of discrimination. The opportunity to focus on this work is something that she prizes about her role at Thrive. Much of her early work came during #MeToo so she is highly passionate about supporting women and fighting for female equality at work.
Alicia possesses a commercial awareness that enables her to understand business needs, tailor her training sessions accordingly and provide detailed case studies and examples.

She has a particular interest in ED&I training because much of her time is otherwise spent supporting businesses and employees when something has gone wrong. Similarly, Alicia loves to start from the beginning with managers, to provide a solid introduction to the core elements of management responsibilities and employment law.

Her training style is personal and relatable, and she very much believes that there is no such thing as a stupid question. As such, Alicia is easy to talk to and explains complicated issues and matters in a straightforward way.

Alicia volunteers for the Maternity Action helpline and leads Thrive’s partnership with Pregnant Then Screwed in supporting new mothers in their discrimination issues. She also regularly delivers training sessions as part of the Agora Publications Mental Health Adviser Workshops and appeared on stage alongside ACAS at the MAD World Summit 2023.

L&D Lead

Trainer

Jo has more than 20 years of learning and development experience. She started her career with the Army in Germany, achieved a Master of Science Degree in Learning and Development, and has written qualifications for awarding bodies such as Edexcel (now Pearsons) and City & Guilds. She can develop qualifications and adapt them to meet the needs of diverse audiences.

Jo also has a particular interest in and experience of working with those whose brains work differently, after discovering her youngest child was severely dyslexic.

Jo has always had a passion for learning and enabling others to learn, by whatever means works best for them. Her motto is to keep it interesting and interactive.

In addition to this, Jo has managed large teams of people and is fully conversant working in the HR arena, from recruitment to disciplinaries and dismissal.

Trainer

Chelsea, a practising barrister, delivers training sessions and courses for Thrive alongside her existing legal practice as Head of the Employment Team at Park Square Barristers.

A published author and experienced practitioner specialising in employment law, Chelsea delivers in-house seminars and training for employers, HR practices and law firms.

L&D Expert

Michael is lending his expertise in a consultancy role at Thrive, which he carries out alongside his current position as Client Solutions Director at Manchester-based recruitment specialist Certain Advantage.

He has more than eight years of experience working in the L&D space for a career development leader, where he designed proposals and managed commercial expectations for FTSE 250 clients.