Inspiring teens and parents everywhere to understand each other better and to be the change they want to see in society.
Daisy set up Make (Good) Trouble CIC with her sister Tayler in 2018. This is their second venture together, having spent a decade developing digital strategies and content for TV and radio shows including Mr Selfridge, Alan Carr Chatty Man, The Last Leg and Holby City.
Daisy is mum of two and is the driving force behind Make (Good) Trouble.
Last Friday, I had the pleasure to be the MC at the Brighton Summit, held at the prestigious Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, at the University of Sussex. The theme for this year was HUMAN. My mission was to capture the hearts of around 400 delegates and move them smoothly through the excellent line-up of speakers, workshops and experiences, curated by the brilliant team from The Brighton Chamber of Commerce.
If you haven’t been to the Summit before, I highly recommend it. It’s where collaborations and partnerships start and businesses are born. Back in 2017, I was a keynote speaker at the Summit and gave a talk about my experience running Liberty842, a London-based social media content company. My business life was thriving, but my home life was not. My daughter’s mental health was plummeting, and as a result, so was mine.
So, at the end of my talk I pitched the idea of creating a new company – one that addresses the complexities of mental ill-health and puts young people in the driving seat of change. I counted 36 business cards from talented humans who wanted to collaborate. Make (Good) Trouble was born at The Brighton Summit.
The theme for the summit in 2017 was “Embracing the Unknown” – with a pandemic in the middle of our journey – we certainly did that. 5 years on and Make (Good) Trouble has worked with thousands of young people, parents and carers and professionals. We have secured long term partnerships with Public Health, Sussex Police, five local authorities, The NHS and most recently Save The Children.
So, it was on a nerve-wracking Friday morning, putting my makeup on in the dark, that I recited my lines or what I could remember of them, in preparation of holding court as MC for the day. I wanted to entertain, inform and cajole the audience into making good connections, ensuring they felt totally at ease whilst doing so. When asked what HUMAN means to me by one of the chamber organisers, I thought about our work in mental health.
I decided to open with an adlib about having undiagnosed ADHD. Having ADHD is my superpower – it gave me the gusto to get on the stage and be vulnerable and funny (hopefully) at the same time. I asked the audience what would happen if ChatGPT had ADHD? Would it start writing, stop mid-sentence and start going on about something completely different? Marvellous!
The exemplary keynote speakers showed their humanity, through emotional, funny and uplifting stories sharing their journeys to success, including Jens Knoop, from Knoops (best hot chocolate I have ever tasted!), forensic scientist and author Professor Angela Gallop, CBE and finally Lord Simon Woolley, author, cross bench peer, Principal of Homerton College, Cambridge and one of the UK’s most high-profile campaigners for social justice, co-founder of Operation Black Vote. I was bowled over by Simon’s humanity as he held my hand on stage and thanked me, which took me by surprise and made my day!
I learnt so much on Friday that will further inform our business going forward. I ate delicious food and made loads of connections which are still flooding into my inbox as I write.
Do come to the Brighton Summit next year, where I’ll be on stage again as MC, making more good trouble.
On-stage selfie at the Brighton Summit 2023: Karen Dobres, Lord Simon Woolley and Daisy Cresswell. And Daisy introduces Simon onto the stage at the Brighton Summit – and is surprised (and delighted) as he holds her hand to thank her for her support.
Main image courtesy of The Brighton Chamber.
Make (Good) Trouble is proud and excited to be part of the Brighton Kickstart scheme put together by Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival (BDBF), working together with Future Creators. It allows us to provide a young person with reliable employment and offer vocational training in media production.
We’re one of 20 local organisations offering over 80 work placements in the arts, publishing, PR, digital media and other creative opportunities. Future Creators will facilitate the scheme, working with local businesses and organisations to provide paid work placements for 16- to 24-year-olds claiming Universal Credit.
Every project we undertake is co-created with young people and digital media production is the lens through which they can express their opinions and direct their truths, ensuring an authentic, actionable end-product. During the current economic uncertainty, this scheme is very much needed and helps to fund places for young people who might not otherwise get that opportunity.
We will be supported by Future Creators throughout the placement and will be awarding Badge Nation’s Digital Badges as part of the scheme. We have already awarded 56 Digital Badges to young people involved in our projects over the past year, and they’re a brilliant way to reward our co-creators with a verifiable record of their achievements.
This is such an important initiative, particularly at a time when youth unemployment is hitting new highs due to Covid. We look forward to welcoming our newest team member to Make (Good) Trouble. Watch this space!
We’re heartbroken to hear the news that our friend Tracey Allen has died.
Last year, Tracey strategically managed a brilliant PR campaign for us, which was called Brighton5. She did this with gusto, kindness and positivity. Everything she promised, she delivered. BBC South Today, ITV News… she got us brilliant coverage. She recommended we change the name of our organisation to something less ‘local’ – which we were all in agreement with, and so Make (Good) Trouble CIC was born.
I first met Tracey when I became a trustee of The Brighton Fringe. It was an instant friendship – both strong determined women sharing a sense of humour and comparing glamour notes! Her brother Kenton knew my late brother Addison, so we always felt like old friends – trust was a given.
It’s so hard writing these words but one thing I do know, her brilliant work to help organisations like ours make an even bigger social impact will live on. And so will Tracey as a friend – a positive shining light.
Tracey’s family have set up the Tracey Allen Memorial Fund which aims to raise money for the community organisations she was so passionate about: “The intention of this fund is to provide a place where family, friends and colleagues can leave a gift in her memory, whilst building a capital fund which will make grants to those small, impactful, community organisations she most cared about, year after year.”
Tracey’s friend, Lynsey Bartlett, has written a lovely piece about her in The Argus if you want to learn more about the amazing work Tracey did.
Rest in peace Tracey. Love from Daisy, Tayler and Jane.
Mental Health Awareness week was celebrated across the UK – hurray. We witnessed some pretty spectacular things, not least the axing of The Jeremy Kyle show. Our management team all worked in TV prior to setting up Make (Good) Trouble and we wonder if this is the start of a media revolution, to create content with GOOD intention instead of this bear-baiting, revolting chase for ratings. Axe Love Island? We live in hope.
We are working flat out on our radio show Raising Teens. This week we heard teens, parents and experts talk about Relationships: friendship groups, access to porn, whether parents had the all-important ‘sex talk’ with their kids – they were all subjects under discussion. Our teen roving reporter, Lola, delivers candid, surprising and delightful interviews with her peers every week on various topics including resilience, sleep, school stress, body image and social media.. It really has been an amazing series and journey for us. As one listener said: “I loved yesterday’s show… it really struck a chord… What you are doing is desperately needed… I think your lifebelt thrown to a sea full of struggling parents and children will have many takers.”
If you have any feedback, please drop us a line here. It means a lot.
We have some amazing new work coming up, including a series of podcasts in partnership with Public Health and the Clinical Commissioning Group; a film about PTSD in women in the First World War and what that means to teenagers today; a project with Sussex Police (watch this space!); a set of parent talks through schools, given by our teens (we’re kicking off with a talk about device addiction and social media); and of course our Brighton5 films (I’ll write a post about the progress on that next week, promise).
Finally, I’ll be on our very last radio show of the series on Thursday 30 May, which is all about teen language. And on that note, as the young folk might say, tune in, stay woke, *cringe*.