We’re so excited to give an official Your Own Place welcome to Zoe Webb – our new CEO!
Emily, a facilitator at Your Own Place, met with Zoe at one of the team’s favourite haunts, The Cherry Leaf Cafe, to grill her with some interview questions. Zoe answered some classic Your Own Place workshop questions and shared a bit more about her background and what attracted her to Your Own Place.
“I met with Zoe at the Cherry Leaf – diet coke for me, hot chocolate for Zoe – and her enthusiastic energy was immediately clear. She also insisted on hearing my answers to the questions too so that we could both get to know each other!
We kicked off with some of our go-to entryboard questions – we use these at the start of workshops as an icebreaker and something to chat about while waiting for everyone to arrive.
What is your favourite pizza topping?
At the moment, pepperoni is my go to. My favourite changes – sometimes it’s prawns, or mushrooms. The best pizza I’ve ever had was Hoisin duck!
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
I have lots of countries on my travelling list. At the top is Japan – there are so many reasons Japan interests me – the culture, the people, the traditions, the Cherry Blossoms! And, of course, the food. I have to read everything before I go and plan it so I don’t miss anything.
If you were a plant, what would you be?
I thought about this for a long time. I’d be a sedum. [picture me looking on, not knowing what a sedum is] It’s a succulent – a ground coverer. They spread quickly and they flower – I relate to sedum as a hardy perennial and an all rounder!
I went on to ask Zoe some quickfire need-to-knows:
- Coffee order: Americano
- Breakfast item of choice: Normal day – fruit and yoghurt, treat – pecan plait or sourdough avocado
- Fave biscuit: Dark chocolate ginger (borders)
- Fun fact: When I was 13, my friend taught me a secret language that I can still speak!
And next, I learned about Zoe’s background – and the incredible breadth of her experience!
Tell us a bit about your background
I’ve been working in the housing and homeless prevention field for thirty years. During that time I’ve worked across local authorities, the voluntary sector, housing associations and my most recent role was working in a specialist supported housing provider. I’ve worked in a variety of roles – I’ve been an advisor, a community-based support worker, I’ve established a rough sleeper team for a local authority. I’ve also worked on really exciting projects for the Ministry of Justice – I feel really privileged to have been involved in some really innovative projects. Most recently, I’ve worked with a specialist supported housing provider, focused on supporting single people experiencing homelessness or insecure housing. I’ve purposefully worked across the sector, to build a holistic view and understanding of housing.
That’s incredibly impressive. What attracted you to Your Own Place?
Your Own Place’s values, the asset-based approach, working alongside people while they’re going through difficult transitions – these are all things that really attracted me to Your Own Place. I met Rebecca ten years ago, and I was really impressed by her approach, I really got it. I could see similarities with the work I’d been doing previously as a support worker in Greater Manchester. I was working on a young parents project, mainly with young women living in private rented accommodation that was insecure, unsafe and unaffordable. My focus was working with them – with them being very important – to support and equip them with the skills to be able to negotiate and improve their situation. I see that approach at Your Own Place. I see the strengths-based, asset-based approach and I’m really inspired by that.
Tell us about your passions. Why homelessness prevention?
Everyone has the right to a safe and affordable home. I’m a massive believer in homelessness prevention and a massive believer in early intervention. Insecure housing and homelessness creates trauma – trauma that prevention can avoid. If we invest in prevention, it pays dividends. I’m also passionate about people, creating space for change, creating space for discovering unknown capacity and skills within them and in their community. People have the capacity to find their own solutions, but they may not yet know they have this capacity – or they know they have but they are fighting against a system that’s not always working for them.
Thank you for sharing so much about your experience, values and passions. So…What has stood out to you about Your Own Place as a workplace so far?
The team have been incredibly welcoming. I’ve noticed how abundantly collaborative the team is – communication is excellent, they use Trello and instant messaging really effectively, and it’s so clear that everyone is really connected. This is hard to achieve in remote work [Your Own Place has hybrid and flexible working], but Your Own Place has a great handle on it! I’ve also seen the care and attention that goes into the quality of delivery. It’s very clear that I’m working with a skilled and passionate team.
What are you excited about at Your Own Place?
I’m excited to meet our existing partners and new partners. I’m excited about expanding our reach to prevent homelessness and embedding a collaborative approach to preventing homelessness. I’m also really excited for more and more people to see that what we do at Your Own Place works!
What would you like to say to potential business partners thinking about working with Your Own Place?
First and foremost: You won’t regret it! We’ve got a tried, trusted and successful model; our impact is demonstrated. Come and see us, come and talk to us! Prevention is a wide remit, and I think we can apply our approach across systems – so let’s explore it and contribute towards ending homelessness.
And finally, we simply must know: What three items would you want in your backpack in a zombie apocalypse?
Water, food, weapon [I pressed here for what exact weapon…] …a chainsaw!
An excellently gory and effective weapon chosen to take on zombies!
I had a wonderful time meeting with Zoe and grilling her. I can really see how her vast experience, her enthusiasm and innovative thinking, her passion are all going to be incredible assets to the leadership of Your Own Place.“
