About ember lab

Rachel is an intersectional feminist leader with 25 years experience devising and delivering radical political education and anti-oppression interventions. She has worked nationally to connect third and public sectors with communities and social movement members.

Monique is as sectoral leader with 15+ years’ experience of integrating human rights, social movement organising and community-led evaluation. She specialises in co-designing strategies to dismantle intersectional discrimination across public and third sectors.

Our Journey

We are intersectional feminist changemakers with decades of experience across social justice, public health, culture, and community organising. Our work is grounded not only in professional expertise, but in lived experience of navigating structural oppression as working-class, LGBTQI+ women within the public and third sectors.

We first met in 2013, working in aligned roles at Glasgow Women’s Library and the West of Scotland Regional Equalities Council. A shared commitment to transformative anti-oppression practice sparked an immediate friendship rooted in equity, strategic action, and political education. In 2017, we co-created and delivered Mainstreaming Anti-Sectarianism in the Equalities Toolkit, a nationally commissioned programme embedding intersectional, anti-sectarian action into local authority and Community Planning Partnership strategies.

After collaborating across various projects and sectors over the years, we reunited in 2024 at See Me, leading work to tackle mental health stigma through structural, justice-rooted approaches. In this context we recognised a wider gap between grassroots knowledge and institutional change. And, ember lab was born: a platform for political education, coalition-building, and community-led impact, driven by solidarity and system-shifting strategy.