Meet the ambassadors: Caroline Criado-Perez

Our campaign may nearly be over, but we’ve still got some treats in store. Today we’re introducing you to another great ambassador. Unless you’ve been living in a cardboard box with your fingers jammed in your ears for the last six months, we’re pretty sure you’ll have heard of Caroline Criado-Perez.

She’s hit the headlines time and time again thanks to her successful campaign to achieve gender equality on banknotes – which resulted in The Bank of England’s pledge to review their process of selecting historical figures, as well as their confirming Jane Austen’s place on the £10 note.

Unfortunately, however, the story didn’t end there. Caroline’s success sparked a torrent of Twitter and email abuse. A few weeks ago, she temporarily shut down her Twitter – you can read her (oft misreported) reasoning here.

The What I See Project is really heartened by Caroline’s numerous achievements, as well as her openness, honesty and perseverance – and that’s why we think she’s such a positive ambassador to have on board.

Did we mention that she’s co-founder of The Women’s Room (a database of female experts to counterbalance skewed media representation), a freelance journalist, in charge of the Week Woman blog and a Masters student at LSE alongside her established position as a feminist campaigner? 

We sat down with Caroline to talk about her story, and found that it really chimed with the project: “I’ve only just really acknowledged to myself that I want to be a writer… I never really admitted it to myself [before] because I just felt that there was no way I could do it… I think that’s really what’s so amazing about the internet, is that it provides women with a root into whatever they want to do, and it gives them a voice, and they don’t need anyone to give them permission for that.”

We heartily agree, and can’t wait to see Caroline on the Q&A at our launch on Tuesday. If Caroline’s words struck a cord, hop over and watch the rest of her video (featuring guest star puppy, Poppy), or contribute your own voice!