Always on
This project successfully funded on 30th July 2025, you can still support them with a donation.
You Make It | Empower young + working class women
London, Greater London, United Kingdom
Aim
YMI needs urgent support to keep transforming the life chances of Black and Brown women so they can thrive personally and professionally.
If you're a young working-class Black or Brown woman in the UK, you are much less likely to get access to opportunities that others take for granted to get ahead in life.
You Make It is a race and class inclusion movement for young, working-class women. We elevate the voices, visibility, skills, and ambitions of the women we work with so that they stand a fairer chance of making it in life personally and professionally.
Sada Cole, a You Make It graduate and sessional support worker, is now celebrating 10 years of running her own business. She takes great pride in witnessing the transformation of women who go through the programme.
"There’s something about this programme—coming out the other side with a sense of 'I can, I will, and I won’t stop until I get there.' You develop this fierceness, this hunger for life."
Our founding CEO, Asma Shah, set up You Make It from her kitchen table because she had experienced her journey of overcoming barriers to achieve and felt compelled to help others do the same.
Through our transformative programmes, our community of women begin to thrive in the social, cultural, and economic life of their city.
With your support, we will be able to help bridge gaps in funding to continue delivery of our 4-month-long programmes for a further 150 women.
We’ve already helped transform the life chances of over 600 women to date through our award-winning empowerment programmes that provide fully funded access to:
- Creative and practical workshops led by experts
- Exclusive guest talks and Q+As, past speakers have included Riz Ahmed, Renni Eddo-Lodge and Annie Mac!
- Mentoring with trained professionals, previously recruited from the likes of Mixcloud, SixtyFour Music and Depop
- Online therapy with our accredited therapists
- Wellbeing sessions including yoga, sauna sessions, boxing sessions, sports days, dance club, cooking classes and running club
- Short work placements to help build your CV, providers amongst others have included Olivia von Halle, Publicis Sapient and Royal Opera House
We also provide a range of opportunities to support the growth of progressive employers who want to build fair and racially inclusive workforces through:
- Mentoring Programme Employers can sponsor staff to receive expert YMI mentoring training, which develops transferable leadership skills and is then also put into practice as we match each mentor with a woman taking part in our programmes across 16 weeks.
- Work Placement Partnerships Employers can provide work experience placements to our young women, strengthening and diversifying their workforce.
- You Change It Our anti-racism allyship course materials guide employers through a learning process to deepen their understanding of the origins and pervasiveness of racism in the UK. The course equips them with the tools to promote better representation, inclusion and progression for racially minoritised talent in the workplace.
- Sponsorship Opportunities We offer sponsorship opportunities to employers who want to support our empowerment programmes. Employers have the chance to contribute to our social impact outcomes for young women which across almost 13 years have been consistently STRONG!
To continue our movement, we need you to join us, and support our crowdfunder. Your donation will directly help 150 women access mentorship, training, and the support systems necessary to transform their lives.
Together, we can keep this movement alive. Donate today and make a difference.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made