The co-founder and former director of the award-winning social enterprise, Social Bite, is embarking on a new mission as a motivational speaker.
Alice Thompson, who left Social Bite earlier this month, has joined Edinburgh-based motivational speaker agency Speaker Buzz to help inspire organisations and individuals to make meaningful and lasting change.
Speaker Buzz represents a new generation of motivational speakers who focus on topical issues such as mental health, wellbeing, resilience, diversity and the environment.
READ MORE: Social Bite launches brownie delivery service to help homeless people
Through her work as a motivational speaker, Ms Thompson will share her experiences of co-founding Social Bite and tackling homelessness to help inspire others to achieve their goals.
In addition to her work as a speaker, Thompson has set up her own consultancy offering affordable coaching and mentoring support to start-ups and people in business with strong ethics.
As part of her new venture, Ms Thompson is offering her services, for free for a minimum of two years, to an entrepreneur or small team who has a business idea that actively tackles climate change, through reducing carbon emissions, creating clean energy or increasing biodiversity.
Ms Thompson said: "We are living in a climate emergency, and I feel it is the least I can do to help empower someone with a business idea that could make a real difference to this planet."
Ms Thompson began her career in business aged 19, having rebelled against the normal routes to success by dropping out of university in exchange for a practical education. Having gained hands-on experience in events and marketing, she went on to co-found Social Bite along with Josh Littlejohn in 2012.
In her 20s, she on went on to manage a team of more than 100 people and helped grow Social Bite to become Scotland’s most exciting nationwide social enterprise, while creating meaningful and lasting change to the Scottish homelessness system.
In addition to running nationwide fundraising programmes and largescale events, Thompson attracted A-list visitors to support the Social Bite cause, including HRH The Duke of Cambridge and HRH The Duchess of Cambridge, George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio.
With a mission to end homelessness in Scotland, Social Bite has led to pioneering new housing policies in partnership with the Scottish Government and funding such work to the tune of £4 million.
During her career with Social Bite, Ms Thompson spoke at more than 100 business events throughout the UK.
She said: “Social Bite was an incredible journey for me but it’s time for a new challenge. With its mission to make a difference in the world, Speaker Buzz is a perfect fit for me. As a motivational speaker, I’ll be sharing everything I’ve learned along the way, from the highs and the lows, to help inspire others to achieve their goals and make a difference.”
Debbie Byers, founder of Speaker Buzz, said: “We are proud to represent Alice having followed her personal story and incredible achievements with Social Bite for a number of years. So many organisations will gain from her insights and knowledge of the purposeful business she co-created and the positive impact Social Bite generated around the world to address the issues around homelessness.”
Ms Thompson’s other achievements include receiving Honorary Doctorate degrees from Glasgow University, Queen Margaret University and also Heriot-Watt University in 2021, becoming a member of the First Minister’s National Advisory Council on Women and Girls, receiving an ITV Pride of Britain Award in 2019 and being awarded the Livingstone Medal from the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, a prestigious award also held by the likes of Sir David Attenborough, Neil Armstrong and Annie Lennox OBE.
Other speakers on the Speaker Buzz roster include TV personality and mental health campaigner Gail Porter; the youngest woman in the world to ski solo to the South Pole, Mollie Hughes; former Scotland rugby captain John Barclay and Dubai-based women’s rights activist Manal Rostom.
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