About us

Championing positive masculinity and increasing male engagement in gender allyship.

Who we are

We believe men need to be fully involved in creating equitable workplaces. Every man will sit on the continuum that runs from combative to changemaker, and there will be reasons for his place there.

By listening to men to understand where they’re at, and educating them about what women face in the workplace, we cultivate a culture of openness and understanding.

Research shows perception gaps are significant between men and women, but our allyship training is incredibly effective at moving men to not only being aware, but being knowledgeable and confident enough to challenge and make change.

Jade is wearing a khaki blazer and Lee is wearing a floral blazer. They're both standing in front of a huge curved screen that has the Male Allies UK and Women In Tech Week logos on it,

Our vision

Gender equality in all industries and organisations across the UK where men are active allies, change systems, and promote inclusivity at all levels.

Our mission

To support, inspire, and recruit men to be allies, empowering them to embrace positive masculinity, cultivate inclusive environments, and foster gender balance in their workplaces.

Our values

Partnership.
Collaboration.
Accountability.
Continuous learning.

About us

Lee is the chief psychologist and founder of Essentialise and Male Allies UK. After a diverse career, from corporate finance to building a tech company, he is now focused on supporting organisations to engage men in inclusion, accelerate gender equity and promote effective allyship. He has been featured on the Startups 100 Index, has received a Great British Entrepreneur Award, and sits on the boards of CMI Women, Regenerage, and the Manchester Metropolitan University Business School.

He is a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences in the USA - the first Black British scientist to be awarded in its 33-year history, received for his work on health inequalities. He was the UN Women Changemaker of the Year in 2023, and is an ambassador for the UK Government's Lilac Review for Disabled Entrepreneurship. He speaks globally on allyship and intersectionality, having taken the stage at One Young World, ChangeNOW and the Bloomberg Global Equality Summit, and is the author of the upcoming book, Momentum: Reboot Your Career, Unlock Your Potential.

Personally, he shares his experiences as a Black autistic man, a stay-at-home dad, and his journey to learn to walk again after acquiring a chronic illness. He lives near Preston with his two children.
Lee Chambers - Male Allies UK - Male Allyship
Lee Chambers
Co-Founder
Jade is a sociologist and writer with a particular interest in intersectionality and equity. She has worked in the tech and non-profit sectors and also runs her own social impact copywriting and proofreading business.

Combining down to earth writing with her lived experience as a working-class, disabled, neurodivergent woman, Jade believes in the power words hold to educate and inspire change. Storytelling, research, and collective action are cornerstones of her work as well as listening to people to understand their experiences and meeting them where they're at.

Following on from her award-winning dissertation about everyday sexism and street harassment – which highlighted the need for men to be involved in gender equality efforts because it will benefit them as well – she's excited to help organisations and leaders to make tangible, lasting change through Male Allies UK. After all, men stand to gain hugely from a more equal and inclusive society, not just women and non-binary people, and it's time for them to be empowered to shoulder the responsibility.

Jade is based in Manchester with her partner and their cat, and her latest obsession is playing squash as often as possible.
Jade Anderson
Jade Anderson
Co-Founder

Meet our advisory board

Claire Thomas

Claire Thomas

Gender Equity Specialist and Former Chief Diversity Officer

Claire is a mother of two boys and passionate advocate for gender equality and diversity of all forms. Her personal experiences of exclusion, infertility and the juggle of being a working parent have raised her levels of awareness on the critical importance of a sense of belonging in the workplace.

She strongly believes that allyship is needed to create a fairer society, where people of all genders can break free from stereotypes.

Claire is a former Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer of a global technology company, and spent 15 years as a sales leader prior to this role. She is a Trustee at Equality Starts at Home, delegate for the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and is a founding member of Pregnant then Screwed. 

Stewart Codling

Chief Inspector at Thames Valley Police and Chair of TVP Men’s Forum

Stewart has been with Thames Valley Police since 2001 when he joined from West Yorkshire and has worked across multiple disciplines; major crime as a qualified detective, as well as being an accredited firearms officer.

On promotion to Inspector in 2017 he moved into the control room as Force Incident Manager, managing multiple significant incidents before moving to his current role where he is responsible for the professionalisation of NH Policing across the three counties of the force.

He is passionate about the wellbeing of his colleagues and has chaired the Men’s Forum within TVP for the last three years. Stewart has been a #HeForShe ambassador for the last five years, using his position to embed male allyship as a key pillar of the Forum.

Stewart is married with three teenage children; a fantastically clever and adventurous girl, and two kind and thoughtful boys. Stewart is committed to providing his children with the best opportunities but also with the understanding that all three have responsibilities, especially the boys.

Stewart Codling
Khayala Eylazova

Khayala Eylazova

Commercial Director at PwC and UN Women UK Trustee

Khayala brings over two decades of experience in the technology and financial services sectors. She joined the PwC Financial services practice in 2017 as Head of Sales and Business Development Lead for Insurance and subsequently advanced to the role of Commercial Director for EMEA in the Deals M&A Advisory division. Before joining PwC, she spent nearly a decade at Microsoft in senior positions across EMEA, APAC, and CEE headquarters, specialising in consulting, global cloud business development, and technology sales.

Khayala’s career has been driven by a strong commitment to strategic excellence and a passion for advancing gender equality. As a Board Member at UN Women UK, she is deeply involved in initiatives that create real change. She is an experienced public speaker and panellist, advocating for diversity and inclusion across all business sectors.

Currently, she is an integral part of the EMEA Consulting, Operations Transformation leadership team, serving as Chief of Staff to a strong Operations Transformation practice consisting of 3,000 professionals across various functional domains, including Supply Chain, Procurement, Manufacturing, and Enterprise Wide Productivity.

Khayala holds an Executive MBA from Cambridge Judge Business School and an MSc in International Management from BI Norwegian Business School. Her commitment to driving Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity has been recognised with several prestigious awards. She won Advocate of the Year at the Women in Finance Awards in 2020, featured among WeAreTheCity’s Top 50 Trailblazers in 2021/22, and was selected as finalist for the Women in Insurance 20/21 and finalist for UN Women Awards 2023. She is a regular contributor and the guest speaker at the Cambridge University Wo+Men Leadership centre and co-authored various articles and thought leaderships.

An active supporter, ambassador, and keynote speaker, Khayala is committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion. She is also recognised for her leadership and advocacy in these fields.

Tafadzwa Muchenje

Marketing Executive at Channel 4 and The Shed Men’s Network Lead

Tafadzwa Muchenje is a writer, actor, presenter and marketing executive at Channel 4.

He is an agent of change, and started a men’s network – The Shed – aimed at supporting men, helping them understand their agency and responsibility in shaping DEI and gender equity.

He is a warrior for social justice and furthers the public discourse on immigration through storytelling.

Tafadzwa Muchenje
Shelley Macintyre

Shelley Macintyre

Global SVP Marketing at BBC Studios and WACL Allyship Lead

As Global SVP Marketing at BBC Studios, Shelley leads the global growth and commercial marketing of the BBC Studios portfolio, which includes Bluey, BBC Earth, Doctor Who, Strictly Come Dancing and Top Gear.

BBC Studios is a leading presence in the industry for allyship and Shelley is an active member for WACL (Women in Advertising & Communications Leadership) chairing a committee for next generation talent.

Before joining BBC Studios in 2024, Shelley was General Manager for allplants and spearheaded the marketing and revenue growth of industry-leading scale-up Sipsmith and led the Global acquisition by Suntory.

Prior to pioneering the craft gin category and subsequently creating the plant-based eating movement, Shelley spent a significant period – c.18 years – in senior leadership positions at Unilever, The Coca-Cola Company and Suntory Global Spirits.

Vince Pizzoni

Professor of Engineering and Globally Recognised STEM Mentor

Professor in Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of Nottingham, Vince has mentored 1000s spanning the whole career lifecycle from school to university, executive and board level, and made it his mission in life to inspire and mentor future generations into STEM, Engineering, Tech, and Energy careers. His other pillars around which he has built his portfolio are education, the energy transition and equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Vince has 40+ years’ of relevant, global business experience incorporating executive management and board positions in blue chip companies including ExxonMobil, Suez, V. Ships, Nalco and P&G and with a boutique executive search firm, Preng & Associates, that specialises in executive and board recruitment for companies in the energy sector.

Today he manages a diverse portfolio that incorporates career coach and mentor to undergraduates, graduates and alumni at the University of Nottingham, energy sector career coach to students and alumni at several prestigious UK business schools including London Business School, Imperial, Oxford, Cambridge and Chicago Booth, and holds Trustee and Non-Executive positions on several boards.

He won the prestigious Chairman’s Award as global General Manager of the year at Suez for outstanding performance, and recently the Davidson Medal 2024 from the Institute of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) for his global leadership in mentoring and the TechWomen100 2024 Award for Gender Balance.

Vince is a Trustee/Non-Executive Board member and Ambassador for various organisations including the Women in Engineering Society, Female Leaders in STEM Subjects, POWERful Women, MyBigCareer, a charity providing career guidance to students from disadvantaged backgrounds and the South Shropshire Multi-Academy Trust.

He is also a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of several organisations including the IChemE, Energy Institute, Women’s Engineering Society, and the Chartered Management Institute. He is a Group Partner of Circklo start-up and a member/volunteer of Graduate Mentor, UN Women UK, the Career Development Institute and European Women on Boards.

Vince Pizzoni

Our experience

Academic backgrounds, varied careers, and lived experience

As a psychologist and a sociologist, we are evidence-based and research-led. We believe in both learning from and sharing information with others.

We have worked in organisations of different sizes across a variety of industries and seen the extent of the gender imbalance present in all, at every level. Common themes run across all sectors, such as a lack of diversity on leadership teams or little to no awareness of gender-based micro-aggressions.

Our work is based on raising awareness about gender inequality and championing the positive effects of male allyship training. We also understand that there are barriers to men engaging in allyship, which will have come from somewhere and therefore need to be worked through in order for them to step into allyship — moving from combative or complacent to committed or changemakers.

The allyship continuum

Our allyship continuum shows the different mindsets men can have when it comes to gender equality, ranging from working against it, to being curious, to be leading agents of change.

We know that raising awareness, engaging men, and increasing their understanding through allyship training enables them to move from wherever they start on the continuum sequentially through it to ideally become committed influencers and role models or systemic changemakers.

Male Allyship Continuum that goes from combative > complacent > curious > caring > committed > changemaker

What our clients say

Lee Chambers is a captivating speaker and story teller who adeptly navigates the complexities of male allyship with authenticity, grace and humility. His insightful reflections and personal journey provide a compelling narrative for driving meaningful change in societal norms and behaviours. His stories resonate deeply, offering powerful insights into the challenges and opportunities that arise when men actively engage in advocacy and support for inclusion across all communities.

By sharing his own journey, he creates a safe space for dialogue and questioning. Lee’s message is timely and reminds us that we all have a role to play in creating a more equitable and inclusive society. Thank you Lee, your insight is incredible.

Kathy Brooke
Technology Chief of Staff Office, Bank of England

I highly recommend Lee as a speaker and collaborator. His thought-provoking speeches are backed by data and delivered with honesty, making him effective at conveying difficult messages. Lee is open-minded, a great listener, and adaptable to current issues, ensuring inclusivity for the entire audience. Together, we successfully delivered a memorable event, and I believe Lee would excel in any support role.

His keynote speech and panel participation showcased his ability to engage strong leaders, and his personable nature adds a human touch to his interactions. I highly endorse Lee for any endeavor.

Sandie Small
Deputy Governorship - Chief Information Officer for the Prudential Regulatory Authority