People:
we’re a tight-knit team of designers, developers, strategists, writers and project managers working across disciplines – and time zones – to understand and respond to the unique challenges of every project we take on.
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Alice Vulliamy
UX strategist
As Soapbox’s UX strategist, Alice ‘s role is centred around people and systems — facilitating research studies that connect with hard to reach audiences and crafting solutions that meet and exceed their expectations. Alice holds a PgDip in design for visual communication from the London College of Communications and an MA in economics from the University of Edinburgh.
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Andrea Kostakis
Senior developer
Andrea is an experienced developer, proficient in a range of content management systems, and back and frontend processes. He has worked with various higher education institutions in Europe – Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, European University Institute and Imperial College London, for whom he also developed an online shop. A committed, passionate coder, Andrea loves to put innovation into practice to improve high-quality, accessible digital services. He holds a degree in computer science engineering from Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Sorbonne Université).
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Anja Pölk
Creative lead – Berlin
Anja works on a range of projects including branding, exhibition and publication design, animation and information graphics – all with a focus on strong conceptual design solutions and clear messages. Prior to joining Soapbox Anja worked with major cultural institutions and architectural practices in Berlin and London. She holds an MA in visual communication from the University of Art and Design Halle.
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Autumn Forecast
Director of editorial design
Autumn has been with Soapbox since its inception in 2008 and oversees a range of prestigious publications as head of our Bath studio. Passionate about design detail and making policy content shine, she worked on many high profile, award-winning publications before joining Soapbox. She holds a master’s in classics from University College London.
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Ben Bastow
Junior developer
Ben joined Soapbox as a web development intern in 2021, as part of his computer science degree at Brunel University. He has a fascination with how things work and brings this enthusiasm to Soapbox’s web projects. Ben is also an award-winning book blogger, and illustrates in his spare time.
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Cormac Bakewell
Director of new business
Cormac joined Soapbox in 2010 and has overall responsibility for our digital communications practice. He is also involved in business development and acts as a lead on many of our bigger web projects. Cormac spent the first 10 years of his working life in policy roles in various national organisations in the UK before becoming an editor and then specialising in digital content. He studied law and French at Queen’s University Belfast and has postgraduate qualifications in journalism and translation.
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Florence Wilder
Senior project manager
Since gaining her degree in applied communication at Newcastle University, Florence worked in project management roles in medical education and financial services in New York and London. She joined Soapbox in 2018 as a project manager.
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Grace Palacz
Junior developer
Grace has a strong background in design, having worked for six years creating food-and-drink packaging, picking up several awards along the way. She switched careers in 2022, retraining as a software developer, which combines her keen eye for detail with an enthusiasm for problem solving, collaboration and teamwork. Grace holds a BA Hons in graphic design from Leeds Arts University.
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Graham May
Senior technical lead – WordPress
Graham is a full stack senior developer building websites in WordPress, Drupal and Bolt CMS. He is happy to work on everything ranging from database admin to custom backend development, building bespoke frontends to preparing the server for launch. Graham previously worked as a designer and developer creating e-learning courses and graduated from Brunel University with a degree in multimedia technology and design.
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Guy Grimshaw
Creative lead – brand
As brand creative lead at Soapbox, Guy creates and develops visual identities that help our clients to captivate audiences and drive change. He oversees implementation across physical and digital outputs, making sure everything remains impactful and on-brand. Before Soapbox, Guy worked at a non-profit organisation countering misinformation, as well as numerous design studios in both Amsterdam and London.
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Huey Nhan-O’Reilly
Head of digital delivery
Huey oversees the project management and delivery of all our digital projects at Soapbox, ensuring our clients get the digital experience they need at the quality we all expect. He has produced award-winning work for the likes of Disney, Xbox and Coca-Cola, as well as the UN and many charitable and progressive organisations. He holds degrees in business and multimedia from Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia. Huey also serves on the UK board of the International Rescue Committee and on the board of Southpaw Dance Company, and is a member of the Diversity & Inclusion Leadership Council at Agency Hackers.
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Ian Blenkinsop
Lead editor
Ian is Soapbox’s lead editor, based in our Bath office. He enjoys working with text to create clear, engaging written content, whether that’s writing, editing or proofreading a report, copywriting for the web, infographic text, animation scripts, through to collaborating on new tone-of-voice guidance for our clients. His background in both academic and commercial publishing means he has a wealth of experience in both print and digital projects.
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Jemima Sandison
Digital designer
Jemima joined Soapbox as a junior digital designer in 2021, after graduating from Shillington college of graphic design. With a focus on user experience and user interface, she combines logical thinking with a strong visual aesthetic to provide accessible designs and accurate communication. Before joining Soapbox Jemima worked as a web editor for a food and sustainability publication, and she also holds a BA in archaeology and anthropology.
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Jenny McCarten
Head of design delivery
As Soapbox’s production manager, Jenny oversees most of the design jobs coming through the studio, including print, infographics, and animation. Her role includes providing quotes and working with the designers to make sure they stay on brief, on time and on budget. She joined Soapbox after several years managing design and animation projects in the e-learning sector. She holds a degree in English Literature from the University of Sheffield.
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Johanna Schwartz
Filmmaker
Johanna is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. She currently splits her time between Soapbox and the Financial Times, where she works as a creative director. She has previously produced films for broadcasters including the BBC, Channel 4 and the Discovery Channel. Her 2016 feature film debut, They Will Have To Kill Us First, received acclaim from the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and many more.
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John Schwartz
Founder and chief executive
John built up Soapbox from a freelance design practice to a thriving global communications agency. He divides his time between running the business, managing major accounts and working as creative director on key projects. John began his career in book publishing before joining the IPPR in 2003. He is an advisory board member for On Think Tanks. You can read some of his writing on the future of policy and research communications on our blog.
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Karen Grey
Technical lead – Drupal
Karen began building websites at the age of 14, before pursuing a degree in digital systems at the University of Sussex. She has been developing Drupal websites since 2009, working closely with Drupal Commerce and contributing towards several Drupal projects. Karen is highly skilled at taking on complex builds and working with third party systems, and enjoys helping others to improve their productivity.
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Kris Davies
Operations director
Kris joined the leadership team as operations director in 2023 having specialised in agency operations since 2008. Kris oversees HR, finance, IT and facilities, as well as our project management team. He is responsible for ensuring that all aspects of our daily operations run effectively and efficiently so that we can continue to delight our clients and achieve our strategic objectives.
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Lara Lissowska
Studio manager
Lara joined Soapbox in 2022. She has 14 years’ experience in customer service, and as manager, she is our go-to person for all things office related. She has a flair for organisation and enjoys finding clear ways to implement processes and systems.
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Lena Pilshofer
Designer
Lena joined Soapbox as a junior designer in 2022, after graduating with an MA from the London College of communication. Lena worked for several years in customer service and in the music and events industry – overseeing venues and ticketing – before her love of typography and traditional, hands-on print processes (such as screen printing) led her to retrain as a graphic designer.
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Margherita Cardoso
Creative lead
Working across print, digital and data visualisation, Margherita specialises in translating complex concepts into clear graphic messages. Her previous experience includes leading the graphic and exhibition design efforts for an international architecture firm, and several years as a freelance graphic and set designer. Margherita holds a BA in design from the University of Florence and an MA in exhibition and set design from the University of Rome.
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Naomi Isaacs
Director of brand and strategy
Naomi joined Soapbox as a brand strategist in June 2019, as part of the agency’s commitment to improving and developing our practice in this area. She cut her teeth working in journalism and at the UK think tank Demos before moving to communications agency, Fishburn Hedges, where she spent five years advising and delivering campaigns for a range of clients. Prior to joining Soapbox she worked for several years as a freelance consultant.
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Phoebe Rixon
Senior project manager
Phoebe spent 10 years as a producer in the advertising industry, helping big brands to tell better stories. She has brought her valuable project management experience to the team at Soapbox, helping our clients share a different kind of information altogether. She holds a degree in contemporary media from the University of Westminster.
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Rachel Buntrock
Creative director
Rachel is Soapbox’s creative director, overseeing all our design outputs. In her own practice she is particularly adept in using typographic detailing to help guide readers through dense and complex texts. After graduating with a degree in design for communication at the University of Reading, Rachel stayed on to complete a masters in book design. She joined Soapbox in 2009. Rachel will make it her personal mission to ensure no stone is left unturned in delivering the best possible outcome.
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Rafael Ruiz
Web developer
Rafa joined Soapbox as a junior web developer in 2020. With a Bachelor in Business Administration and Management and many years of international experience, he decided to make a move into web development where his logical mind and creative heart work in tandem to help him build websites to a high standard.
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Riya Gandhi-Dawood
Web developer
Riya began her journey as a web developer at a London based design agency in 2015. Starting as an intern there she learnt how to create and develop professional quality websites, and her skills have been growing in the industry since. She is proficient in multiple coding languages used for front end web development, specialising as a WordPress developer. Her skills and experience acquired from various projects make Riya a well rounded member of the team and allow her to build websites that emanate excellence.
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Sam Devitt
Web developer
Sam spent several years as a self-employed web developer, learning how to develop and lead the full process of building, launching and maintaining WordPress websites. Since then, he has helped manage and develop a multitude of WordPress and Drupal websites with Soapbox. He has a passion for clear/concise code and building performant/accessible front-ends.
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Sandhya Krishna
Senior designer
After studying history of art and an MA graphic design, Sandhya spent several years working on design projects in the advertising industry. She then pursued her love of typography and long-form publishing to study for an MA in book design at the University of Reading. At Soapbox, Sandhya focuses on print and digital publications, as well as complex data visualisations, aiming always to produce designs that are effective, aesthetically pleasing and functional.
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Sarah Bunney
Senior editorial designer
Sarah’s background is in international wildlife conservation, genetics and computing. After graduating with an MRes from Imperial College London, she set aside travels with dangerous creatures for a career in academic journals, working on a variety of titles. Sarah joined Soapbox in 2017 and divides her time between a range of editing and typesetting duties – to which she brings a keen eye for detail and a passion for quality communications.
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Scott Euser
Director of web design and development
Scott has been building websites since 2005, primarily for the non-profit sector. At Soapbox, he works to ensure we deliver quality work at good value and to industry best practices, while also seeking opportunities to innovate and excite users. Scott is adept at tackling complex problems and is keen to share and develop his own knowledge. He is actively involved in the WordPress and Drupal open source communities and regularly speaks at industry events.
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Shuvro Biswas
Senior project manager
Shuvro is part of Soapbox’s project management team, holding a degree in technology and e-commerce from the University of East London. He joined Soapbox after switching careers from the music industry where he worked with bands including Megadeth, Dragonforce, Sepultura, Cradle of Filth and Ghost. He’s now enjoying the relative peace of the Soapbox office, spreading the calmness that only comes from well-managed projects.
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Stuart Brockwell
Technical lead – front-end
Stuart joined Soapbox in 2012 and is our lead front-end developer, working closely with both design and development teams to produce pixel perfect websites. Stuart is keen to make all of Soapbox’s web outputs as accessible and performant as possible by using the latest web principles and technologies – focusing on semantic HTML and scalable CSS architecture. He holds a degree in multimedia technology and design from Brunel University.
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Žiga Kropivšek
Creative lead – digital
Žiga started working for Soapbox as a publication designer, before shifting his focus to digital. He now works across disciplines, applying the same principles of user-centred design. Before joining Soapbox, Žiga completed an MA in information design at the University of Reading, building on his undergraduate degree in interactive communications at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.