After an extensive career in acting, Baroness Lola Young became a professor of Cultural Studies, a writer, broadcaster and cultural critic. She has been an independent Crossbench member of the House of Lords since 2004, after serving as Head of Culture at the Greater London Authority for two years. She’s been on the Boards of numerous arts and cultural organisations, including the National Theatre, Historic England and the Southbank Centre.
Young has tackled racial disparity in the criminal justice system, and services for women and girls at risk. She’s a Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Looked After Children. While campaigning for the elimination of modern slavery in supply chains, Young founded and Co-Chairs All Party Parliamentary Groups on Ethics and Sustainability in Fashion, and on Sport, Modern Slavery and Human Rights. Since 2018, Young has been Co-Chair of the Foundation for Future London. She was appointed Chancellor of the University of Nottingham, and a Non-Executive Director of Bloomsbury Publishing in 2020.
You can follow Young on Twitter and Instagram.
Images: 1) Varda [detail], from Sonal Kantaria's commission, Ghar, 2020. Photograph, © and courtesy the artist, commissioned by Autograph for Care | Contagion | Community — Self & Other. 2) Courtesy Baroness Lola Young.
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