The one who never thought she’d work for an insurer

Westfield is the most deprived area in York.¹ Statistically, it ranks among the most deprived areas in the country.

It’s also a 15-minute bus ride away from our office.

I moved to Westfield when I was three. My parents separated, and my mum, my sister and I moved from Spain to the UK to be closer to my mum’s family.

We had nothing. We were homeless for about six months, living in other people's houses.

It had been hot in Spain. We’d spent our time outside or in the leather shop where my parents worked.

Then suddenly dad was gone; York was cold. Mum said the first time the sun came out I stood in the street and clapped.

We got housed in Westfield, and we were burgled twice. Mum was physically assaulted.

Then we moved to a council house in another part of York, Scarcroft Road, and things got better. Mum’s still there now, and I have happy memories of those times.

But that experience of having nothing is part of me. I saw how important community was to my mum. In Scarcroft Road, she built a support network that our family relied on.

On safe communities

Fast forward to today, and I’m working with support networks other families can rely on.  

The Place was set up by The University of York. It provides a safe community for children in Westfield to learn and grow, and for adults to access support services.

Aviva has committed to a five-year investment in The Place. I’m working with them on an employability programme for local pupils in years seven and eight.

We’re co-creating a series of six skills workshops with a local high school to help young people get ready to go into the workforce.³

The first workshop is called Future Stars. It’s about understanding what you're good at and how to translate your skills, traits, and interests into a future career.  

Near the end of term, on the hottest day of the year, we ran Future Stars for the first time.

We asked year-seven pupils, “What do you think you're good at?” And we got, “I'm good at sleeping. I'm good at eating. I'm good at talking.” But we also got some brilliantly insightful responses.

We created job cards for more than 40 roles ranging from influencer to accountant. The role title was on the front of the cards. On the back, a list of the skills and interests you might need for that role.

I was utterly impressed with how much knowledge the pupils had. Their sense of what they might be good at, and how they could translate their skills into future careers.

After Future Stars come two communications workshops. A skills workshop called Bouncebackability about resilience. A Money Matters workshop, and one about equality and diversity.

On focus groups… with kids

We arranged for some pupils to visit Aviva for a focus group to help us develop the workshops. One of the teachers said, “They can't get out, can they?” I asked, “Why, do you think they might try?!”  

My own children are a bit older than the pupils we're working with, so I've got experience of those age groups. They can be a tough audience. This was a diverse group, with some from challenging backgrounds.

We took them on a tour of the office. They all wanted a go on the massage chair in the hygge room. They wanted to use the reverse vending machine to recycle their cans.

They were blown away. They couldn’t believe we have these things in an office.

Some of them had never been to York city centre before. They don't see themselves as part of the city. Westfield is their community. That's where they go to school, that’s where they live.

To bring them here, past security into a big office, probably felt quite daunting. But they got to see that we’re just normal people. People with different backgrounds.

They hadn't understood what jobs might be available at a company like Aviva. Didn't think it was for them. But coming here and speaking to colleagues… after that, some felt that maybe it could be their future.

One of them told me they didn’t want the visit to end.

On exhaustion and elation

After the first skills workshop on that hot day, I was exhausted. We were all drained. But in an elated kind of way because it was such a brilliant feeling to have done what we did.  

The work we're doing in Westfield is important to me because it's where I came from. I don't remember my life in Spain really, so York is my childhood.

I saw what my mum went through. Some of the young people we're working with are facing the same challenges we experienced.

Families who can't afford school uniform. Kids coming to school without having had breakfast.

To be hands on, working in communities, is fantastic. But, yeah, it’s tiring.

On inspiration

My mum inspires me. What she went through, what she sacrificed. Her tenacity and determination to make a better life for us had a huge influence on me, especially now I’m a single mum myself.

She got into teaching because it fitted around us. She did an Open University degree alongside working full-time, and that's probably what made me want to go to university.

I’ve worked with York Cares for years and still do one day a week. Aviva was one of the founding members of the charity and Chairs the Board of Directors.

We’ve had some fantastic leaders, like Louise Soulsby and Jamie Kew-Robson who I work with now.

I’m incredibly grateful for the leadership of people like Louise and Jamie. Their mentorship is partly why I came to the private sector after 20 years in the public and charity sector.

I never thought I’d work for a company like Aviva.

Then again, in my whole career, I've never seen a role like mine in the private sector.

So here I am, loving what I'm doing.

On the future

We're already bringing together organisations across York. We’re working with Business in the Community on the Pride of Place programme to help UK communities tackle their most pressing challenges.

Think how incredible it would be if more private sector organisations did the same.

We can have more impact together. We can get to the root causes of community challenges. We can start to change things for the better, for the long term.

For now, I’ll do as much as I can to help the communities I grew up in, like Westfield, get ready for the future.

Around 40 colleagues are working with Holly on workshops to help young people get ready to go into the workforce. If you work here and want to use your volunteering hours to get involved, email holly.hennell@aviva.com.

_Notes

_{1.       https://data.yorkopendata.org/dataset/indices-of-multiple-deprivation/resource/e7d80331-dab8-42cb-a841-6b511e4eb9da - slide 17}

_{Edelman research commissioned by Aviva in 2025 found that:}  

_{2.       Being part of the local community is important to people across the UK, with 72% of people in Yorkshire and Humberside agreeing it’s important for them. 8 in 10 people who feel part of their local community are satisfied with their overall quality of life. 5 in 10 of people who don’t feel part of their local community report the same satisfaction.} 

_{3.       1 in 3 people in the UK say there are not enough jobs in their local community. 47% may need to move out of their local community for better job opportunities but would prefer to stay.}

_{More about the research: The study, commissioned by Aviva, was conducted by Edelman DJE. The self-completion online survey was hosted by Potentia Insight among N=6,089 members of the public living across the United Kingdom, nationally representative by age, gender, region and ethnicity. The research was undertaken from the 31 March to the 21 April 2025, and surveyed Gen Z between the ages of 18-28 years old.}