Our People - CHOL

Here’s the team…

Chol Co-Directors

Mandeep Samra

Strive and Inclusivity Lead

Mandeep Samra

Strive and Inclusivity Lead

E-mail: mandy@wearechol.co.uk

Jess Woodhead

Youth and Social Arts Lead

Jess Woodhead

Youth and Social Arts Lead

E-mail: Jess@wearechol.co.uk

Jess is a socially engaged facilitator with over 10 years of experience, specialising in working with young people and communities to drive meaningful social change. With a strong commitment to social justice, Jess integrates this passion into all aspects of her work – professionally, personally, and creatively.

Jess’s journey began at Liverpool John Moores University, where she graduated with a BA (Hons) in Dance Practices in 2015. Since then, she has accumulated extensive experience across the creative industry, working with community arts organisations, educational institutions, and multidisciplinary performance projects. Her expertise in site-specific work, drama, and theatre facilitation allows her to blend diverse art forms into her practice, creating dynamic and impactful experiences.

An advocate for reflective practice, Jess values thoughtful evaluation, design, and delivery to ensure that all projects are meaningful and transformative. She is dedicated to engaging people through play and creativity and with a background in movement and dance, Jess believes in the power of the arts as a tool for mobilising communities and amplifying voices. Her work prioritises accessibility in the arts sector, ensuring that communities play an active role in shaping initiatives that impact them.

Clara Collett

Finance and Development Lead

Clara Collett

Finance and Development Lead

E-mail: finance@wearechol.co.uk

Clara is a versatile and socially engaged practitioner with over twelve years of experience working in community-led arts, and charity sector. In recent years, she has expanded her practice into finance, and organisational strategy, developing strong skills in budgeting, reporting, fundraising and strategic planning.

Clara holds a BA (Hons) in Community Drama and an MA in Professional Practice: Theatre and Drama Facilitation, both from the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. Clara’s background spans community theatre making, creative facilitation, reflective practice and project management. As a trained coach, Clara brings a supportive, reflective approach to leadership, using coaching principles to strengthen collaboration, confidence, and learning across teams.

With a passion for socially engaged arts, theatre making, and community-led action, Clara supports Chol in building resilient systems behind the scenes – ensuring that creative ideas can thrive and communities remain central to Chol.

Associate Co-Directors

Aamta-Tul Waheed

Associate Co-Director

Aamta-Tul Waheed

Associate Co-director

E-mail: aamta@wearechol.co.uk

Aamta-Tul Waheed is an interdisciplinary artist, producer and community arts practitioner whose work is rooted in collaboration, lived experience and creating spaces where people can share their stories. Her artistic practice explores identity, migration, belonging and intergenerational experiences, with a particular interest in transforming community stories into ambitious live performance. Over the past decade, she has worked across theatre, festivals and participatory arts, including with Leeds Playhouse, Bradford 2025 and Bradford South Asian Festival.

What immediately drew me to Chol was the role’s honesty about unequal access to leadership in the arts. That matters to me both personally and professionally. As a Muslim woman from a Global Majority and working-class background, I know what it feels like to question whether you belong in certain rooms—even when you have the experience, skills and care to be there. This role feels different because it does not ask someone to choose between delivering work with communities and stepping into senior leadership. I am excited by both. Creating work alongside communities is my happy place: it is chaotic, beautiful, deeply human and incredibly rewarding.

Isabelle Kirkham

Associate Co-Director

Isabelle Kirkham

Associate Co-director

E-mail: isabelle@wearechol.co.uk

Hello! I’m Isabelle! I’m a theatre-maker, storyteller and facilitator, and a lot of my work is shaped by my own Care Experience. I love making work about home, belonging and the messy bits of being human. Most recently, I developed Make Yourself At Home at Lawrence Batley Theatre, exploring what it means to make a home for yourself as a Care Experienced adult.

I’m really excited to be joining Chol! I love Chol’s playful, people-centred way of making theatre and the belief that everyone is creative and has a story worth sharing. I’m excited to learn, make, try new things and work alongside lots of brilliant people and communities.

Outside of work, I’m a huge Harry Styles fan, love a good book and, most importantly, love being a mum!