Episode XI: She Means Business

Josie Dobrin, OBE

I first met Josie Dobrin OBE about a decade ago, when she was in the early stages of building Creative Access - a charity she co-founded to tackle the stark lack of representation across the creative industries. The mission was clear and urgent: open doors that had long been closed by placing people from underrepresented backgrounds into paid internships and meaningful roles across media, publishing, film and beyond. At the time, it felt bold. Necessary. Disruptive. Today, it feels foundational.

Under Josie’s leadership, Creative Access has grown into one of the UK’s leading social enterprises driving diversity, equity and inclusion - not just through access, but through influence. What began as a pipeline intervention has become a force shaping how organisations think about talent, culture, and who truly gets to belong.

And now, as Josie steps away from the organisation she helped build, the legacy she leaves behind is undeniable. Not just in the thousands of careers it has helped launch, but in the shift it has driven across industries that once resisted change.

What has always set Josie apart is this: she doesn’t deal in surface-level solutions. Her work goes deeper - into systems, into leadership behaviour, into the uncomfortable spaces where real change either happens… or doesn’t.

In a moment where DEI is being questioned, softened, and in some cases quietly sidelined, Josie brings clarity, conviction, and a perspective grounded in years of doing the work - not just talking about it.

This is a conversation about leadership, power, and what it really takes to build organisations that are fair, representative, and fit for the future.