Julia Mlambo  was born in London then lived in Zimbabwe until 1991, she returned to England to study Law and Politics at the University of Kent. After gaining her Bachelor's Degree she moved to London and began working with socially excluded groups and specialised in substance misuse. This interest led her to gaining a Master's Degree in Addictive Behaviour in 1999. Since then Julia has worked within the statutory and voluntary sectors as a manager in Community Safety, Anti-Social Behaviour and Substance Misuse policy and strategy developing service, policies and strategies to enable people who have been socially excluded due to their substance misuse or offending behaviour participate in society.
 
Julia first became interested in performance poetry at university, believing in art as a force for social change and she is inspired by the way that performance poetry enables self expression and people to connect with each other.
 
As well as Apples and Snakes and work, she is learning to play the saxophone and studying for a PhD in sociology.


Agnes Meadows began her professional life as a journalist, and led a peripatetic life until she returned to London in the late 1970's and began working in arts administration. For many years she worked with the London Arts Board, specializing in arts buildings, dance and community arts. She then became a freelance fundraising consultant, a role she sustained for 18 years during which time she worked with small, medium and large-scale charities all over the UK, helping them to set up and implement fundraising programmes, and overseeing/writing project applications. She worked with a broad range of charities all over the country, specialized in working with small-scale arts organizations, such as Akademi, the Masterclass Trust, and the Little Angel Theatre.  During this time helping her clients raise over £4 million. After several months working part-time for Discover, Agnes became Discover's full-time Development Manager in February 2006. She also has a parallel career as a poet, and has an established reputation on the Performance Poetry scene both in the UK, and internationally. She has 10 times been a Featured Poet with the Austin International Poetry Festival, and is now also an Advisory Board member on the AIPF Board. She has read and given workshops at a host of festivals and events all over the world.

Agnes runs two successful poetry events in London, and has written five books of poetry, the latter three published by Flipped Eye. She has also produced a CD of her poetry with music, and has been an adviser on Poetry for Channel 4 TV.

Catherine Large is Director, External Relations, at Creative & Cultural Skills, the skills council for advertising, design, music, cultural heritage, craft, visual arts, performing arts and literature. Through initiatives like Creative Apprenticeships, Catherine campaigns for better access to the creative industries and for better and more relevant skills and training. She was previously Head of Development at Booktrust, a national charity promoting books and reading, where she was involved in the setting up of Free Word. At Booktrust Catherine developed new programmes such the Get London Reading campaign and initiatives to get books in to the hands of foster children. She first encountered Apples and Snakes when she worked at BAC (Battersea Arts Centre), where she worked in marketing and PR and as BAC’s Develoment Manager. Catherine has long been a supporter of developing new audiences for poetry and spoken word.

Christopher Beard was educated at Truro School in Cornwall and subsequently qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1963. Upon qualification he took up an appointment in a plantation agency house in Malaysia in which industry he remained until 1981 when he returned to England as Company Secretary of a City-based South American shipping company. In 1995 he was appointed Financial Controller of Hampstead Theatre – theatre being his first love – where he remained, seeing the Theatre through a £15 million rebuild, until his retirement in February 2009.

His introduction to poetry arose because of his daughter, Francesca Beard, a poet with close links to Apples and Snakes, and since his appointment to the board he has concentrated on the organisation’s finances.

Irene Lambeth has extensive experience of working within the public and voluntary sectors. Her areas of interest include youth justice and homelessness. 

Irene initially became involved with Apples and Snakes as an audience member.  Her appreciation for the impact of Apples and Snakes’ work on empowering young people to explore issues and have a voice through poetry led to Irene’s participation as a trustee. Irene has been a board member since 2008.

Chikodi Nwaiwu is a writer, editor, and freelance administrator.  She is currently working on her first novel and is an editor for a literary anthology.  She has worked as a youth worker and has facilitated arts and community projects involving young people within the heritage, disability and education sectors.

Chikodi’s involvement with Apples and Snakes began in 2004 as a volunteer.  She returned in 2006 working for the organisation as an administrator for three-and-a-half years.  In that time she developed a keen interest in the governance aspects of the organisation.  As a trustee her areas of interest include personnel development and widening access and participation, particularly among deaf and disabled communities.

John McGhee is a management consultant specialising in organisational change.  He has worked in the UK, North America and India for clients in a range of industries and sectors, including work with government agencies and the third sector.  He studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford University in the early 1990s and received his Masters in Business Administration from Cranfield University in 2004.

John has a keen interest in literature and the arts and is a passionate supporter of live poetry and performance.