Hi, I’m Rylie Sweeney.
I've spent my career on both sides of how decisions about young people get made: inside government and national institutions, and alongside the young people living with what those institutions decide. Work that included working on national and regional policy, and advising the United Nations as Global Education and Youth Policy Consultant.
It was as a Youth Advisor to the Children's Commissioner for England that this became impossible to ignore. I was involved in the Big Ambition, the largest national exercise of its kind, which found that only 22% of children believed the people who run the country listen to what they have to say, and just 10% of teenagers believed they had the power to influence the issues they care about.
That wasn't surprising to me. Across every system I worked in, young people's lives were being treated as separate pieces, education, employment, community, rather than one connected picture, and that fragmentation was exactly why so many young people felt unheard.
I founded The Insight to Impact Collective to build a better understanding of young people's lives, across education, employment, community, and opportunity, tracked over time so that understanding stays current, not fixed at a single moment.
We do this by bringing research, policy, and practice together, and putting that understanding directly in front of the people who decide what happens next. Helping government, public services, and partner organisations better understand the challenges and opportunities facing young people.
Hi, I’m Jo Vinton-Bullwinkel.
I've spent my career turning ideas into action. Whether in technology, regulated industries, the public sector or the maritime industry, my focus has always been on bringing the right people together, building momentum and turning ambition into practical outcomes.
More recently, my work has focused on young people across Teesside, helping to connect education, industry and opportunity. Through employer engagement, youth-led initiatives and collaborative programmes, I've seen first-hand the difference that can be made when young people's voices are genuinely heard and acted upon.
As a Director of The Insight to Impact Collective, my role is to help build an organisation that puts young people's voices at the heart of better decision-making. Drawing on my background in operational strategy, partnership development and programme delivery, I'm helping to create the systems, governance and practical foundations needed for the Collective to deliver lasting impact.