Stephanie Thomas

Stephanie Thomas’ teenage years were, what some might describe as, ‘a bit wild’. She did well in her GCSEs but, despite attending four different colleges, she couldn’t quite get into studying for her A Levels.

Being a creative type, who was into art, fashion and poetry, she instead found herself drawn to East London’s underground arts and music scene and the wealth of talented people it has always been home to.

Stephanie felt passionate about wanting gifted locals to get the recognition that they deserved for their skills and ended up getting work with a talent scouting company called Stargate, which she loved. “I thrived off being around those people and wanting them to reach their goals drove me,” she says, energetically.

Life continued like this for a quite a few years, until 2007 when her parents decided to uproot and move from East London, where she'd grown up, to settle in the Essex countryside. Stephanie was 22 and still living at home, but she didn't see her future in Essex.

“I had everything in Hackney, all my friends, the scene I was into, I belonged there, so I ended up staying and pretty much became homeless,” she says. “I loved my family, but didn’t feel overly connected to them at the time, so it seemed better to stay where I felt comfortable,” she explains.

Being homeless

For the next six months, Stephanie found herself sleeping on friends’ sofas, until she was given a place at St Mungos hostel in Hackney where she would spend the next year-and-a-half.

“I received so much support there and it really shaped me as a person,” remarks Stephanie. “It helped me discover more about who I was.”

The young entrepreneur made the most of the opportunities available to her at the hostel, taking advantage of the multitude of courses and skills training sessions on offer, from art workshops and events management training courses, to Futureversity sessions.

“Because I hadn’t done my A Levels, I felt it was important to learn wherever and however I could,” she explains.

It was while living at the hostel in 2009, that Stephanie came up with an idea for a social enterprise called Elav8. It would promote and sell products, art and fashion created mainly by homeless and ex-homeless people.

That same year, she fought off competition from dozens of other young people to win nearly £3,000 for her project from the Sparklers Challenge - a competition run by Big Issue Invest which gives money to social entrepreneurs with unique ideas for helping homeless people.

She used the money to set up a home office in her new place, and ran regular stalls on Camden and Broadway markets, selling artisan wares produced by herself and her contemporaries.

Back to school

That same year Stephanie enrolled at the School for Social Entrepreneurs – a part-time peer-to-peer training course for the brightest stars of the social enterprise world, and spent the course developing a clearer business model. She graduated in March, full of hope about the future.

A few weeks later she found out she was expecting a baby, but continued to work on the company throughout her pregnancy. "Even after giving birth in January (2011), I was back onto my emails within hours," she says.

Stephanie is now preparing for a busy year. She has just launched an online shop, so that Elav8 goods can be sold more widely. And, in the coming months, she and groups of homeless and ex-homeless people will be running stalls at a number of UK festivals, promoting and selling their stock.

A £2,000 grant from UnLtd, the foundation for social entrepreneurs, will help get the stalls on the road and allow the Elav8 team to build up money from sales. For each sale, the creator of the products get 75% of the ticket price and 25% goes back into growing the business.

Fundraising events, like an entertainment night planned at London’s Woodstore Bar on 17 April, will also put some money in the pot.

A new life

Stephanie is now settled in a new place and enjoying her new baby, as well as working on the business. Growing up and becoming a parent has brought her closer to her own parents too, she feels.

“I guess I used to be like a lot of teenagers, I didn’t really know my parents. We are of Caribbean heritage and I’ve noticed that in our culture people are meek and modest about their achievements. I didn’t know until recently that my granddad had been a tailor for the queen’s staff and my dad used to work with Alan Sugar back in the eighties. Dad is quite entrepreneurial. My cousin and auntie are also actors.

“I think we’re a bit of a creative, ambitious family all round and my social enterprise is all about unleashing the creativity inside myself, and others, and doing what I can to help them and myself achieve our true potential. I have high hopes for Elav8.”

Connect:
elav8.co.uk