Ashleigh Fox
Transforming Care Director
Catalyst Care Group
We would like to introduce to you and for you to get to know Ashleigh, one of our Trustees, a little bit more.
Originally from Zimbabwe, Ashleigh relocated to the United Kingdom in her teenage years, where she continued her education, and has been there ever since. She is blessed to have two beautiful children. Ashleigh’s hobbies include: knitting, going for long walks, and advocating for human rights, which she is very passionate about.
Ashleigh has been in the healthcare sector for more than 21 years, where she has accumulated a mass of knowledge, through her various organisational roles. In 2015, she joined Barchester Healthcare and became the ‘Head of Unit’, where she was responsible for managing patients and a staff team in a severely complex and diverse unit, within a nursing setting. In 2016, Ashleigh joined Bristol Care Homes as a ‘Registered Nurse’, where she provided geriatric and dementia care support to elderly patients. Later in 2016, she joined Nurseline Healthcare (part of the Catalyst Care Group House of Brands), where she originally started as a ‘Registered Learning Disability Nurse’, but then switched roles, and became the ‘Transforming Care Director’ for Catalyst Care Group – where she currently leads the messaging and communication across all companies within the group.
Before joining the Catalyst Foundation as a Trustee in 2021, Ashleigh was selected to be a Member of the Board for Care and Support West, a leading representative body for companies, charities, organisations and individuals involved in the social care, support and health sectors in the West of England, in 2020, where she currently serves as a Clinical Advisor.
We asked Ashleigh to share with us more information about why she decided to become a Trustee, and her experiences so far as part of the Catalyst Foundation:
“Having grown up in Zimbabwe, and seen first-hand the inequalities and barriers people face to accessing education, I welcomed the opportunity to get involved and champion girls’ education in Sub-Saharan Africa, by becoming a Trustee, through using the skills I’ve learnt over time.
I was privileged to travel back home to Zimbabwe with my children, where we had the chance to meet our beneficiaries at Glorvina Gombo Primary School in Beatrice. Two beneficiaries, Ropafadzwa and Tafadzwa, really made an impression on me, as their passion to take full advantage of the opportunity that they had been granted to be part of the Programme, was inspirational. Gifting Tafadzwa her brand new bicycle to travel to school and back, because she lived really far away from her school, was amazing too, as well as my daughter taking part in one of the Mathematics lessons with all the other students.
What most excites me about the Catalyst Foundations future, is potentially seeing the S.H.E Programme, continuing to grow, across Africa – creating greater impact in rural communities, one girl at a time and seeing them achieve what they deserve.
To our beneficiaries, girls, we are really proud of your motivation, dedication, commitment and above all, resilience that you show every single day to go to school. We are proud to stand with you every step of the way, and we can’t wait to see how you will shape your own (and others’) futures as you make your journey through life. We love you!”
