22/09/2026
Yesterday I turned 47.
Today, the day after my birthday, I’ve found myself reflecting on the journey that brought me here — and, perhaps more importantly, on what that journey has taught me about leadership, purpose, resilience and people.
My route into leadership was certainly not conventional.
I left school at 12. I didn’t go to university. There was no carefully mapped-out career plan that led me to where I am today.
My education came through life, experience, adversity, people and the communities I have had the privilege of working alongside.
Some of the most important lessons were learned during one of the most difficult periods of my life.
While my father was dying, I was working cleaning holiday cottages. During that time, I experienced racial abuse that I will never forget.
I remember the environment I was working in and the feeling of knowing that I did not want that to be my future.
I couldn't have articulated it then, but something changed in me.
Somewhere inside, I made a promise to myself that I would never again allow somebody else's prejudice to determine the value of my life or the direction of my future.
In 2019, my father died.
His final instruction to me was simple:
Keep our culture alive.
As a woman of faith, I believe that Pride of Romany was a gift from the Almighty, instrumental through my father after he passed.
My father was the foundation.
But a foundation is not a finished building.
And this is something I feel very strongly about.
It is now 2026.
Seven years have passed since my father died.
And in those seven years, I have built something extraordinary with an incredible team of people.
We have put in the work.The long days.
The late nights.The applications.
The meetings.The community engagement.
The partnerships.The events.
The difficult conversations.The setbacks.
The problem-solving.The learning.
The resilience.The professional relationships.
The countless hours that nobody sees.
That is the story of Pride of Romany.
My father gave me the foundation and the inspiration.
But he did not build Pride of Romany.
We did.
I did.
My team did.
The people who have consistently turned up, contributed, believed in the vision and worked tirelessly alongside me did.
And I will always honour my father's place in our story without allowing anybody to rewrite the story of the work that came afterwards.
Legacy can be inherited.
A legacy of work has to be built.
And I am incredibly proud of what we have built.
I have also learned something else along the way.
Not everybody's opinion should matter to you.
People are entitled to their opinions.
But an opinion is just that — an opinion.
Someone else's opinion of you is not necessarily a reflection of who you are, what you have achieved or the truth of your journey.
Professionally, I have learned to distinguish between constructive challenge and simply being noise.
Constructive challenge makes you think.
It can make you better.
It can make you look at something differently.
But attempts to gaslight, condemn or belittle years of hard work do not change the work that has actually been done by myself and my team of incredible individuals.
They are simply noise in the background.
And I have become very comfortable with turning the volume down.
Because when you have spent seven years building something, you don't need to spend your time arguing with people who are committed to telling you that you haven't.
The evidence is in the work.
The people we have supported.
The opportunities created.
The relationships built.
The doors opened.
The conversations that have happened.
The spaces our community has been able to enter.
The heritage we have worked to preserve.
The voices we have helped bring forward.
That is the reality.
And then there are the people who have chosen to stand beside me.
My husband and my children, who have continued to support me and the work I do.
My youngest sister Roma and her little family.
Some cousins and family members who have stood up and supported me not all I make that abundantly clear
Community members who have shown up, spoken up, and believed in what we are doing.
And the incredible Pride of Romany team who have put their own time, energy and expertise into making the vision a reality.
I will never take that support for granted.
It has taught me that people don't have to share your blood to share your values.
And sometimes the people you least expect become the people who stand beside you when it matters most.
At 47, I am increasingly interested in actions rather than words.
In contribution rather than proximity.
In integrity rather than recognition.
In building rather than claiming.
And in results rather than opinions.
Pride of Romany has taken me into rooms I never imagined I would enter.
It has allowed me to build professional relationships I could never have imagined.
It has given our community opportunities to have conversations, preserve heritage, challenge perceptions and participate in spaces where our voices matter.
But perhaps the most important thing it has given me is a deeper understanding of leadership.
Leadership isn't about everybody liking you.
It isn't about everybody agreeing with you.
And it certainly isn't about allowing somebody else's opinion to define you.
Leadership is knowing why you started.
Knowing who you are accountable to.
Knowing the difference between criticism that can help you grow and noise that simply needs to be ignored.
And having the resilience to keep building.
So when I look back at the woman I was in 2019 — grieving her father, experiencing racism, working a job she never wanted to return to — I could never have imagined the journey ahead.
Seven years later, I can look at Pride of Romany and say:
We did this.
My daddy gave me the foundation.
The Almighty gave me the purpose.
But the work, the dedication, the resilience and the success belong to me, my team and the incredible people who have built this with us.
That is something I will always be proud of.
So, 47.
I am grateful for the lessons.
Grateful for my husband and children.
Grateful for my youngest sister and her little family.
Grateful for my cousins, family and community members who have stood beside me.
Grateful for my team.
Grateful for the professionals and organisations who have opened doors and worked alongside us.
And even grateful for the noise — because it has taught me how little of it I actually need to listen to.
Seven years ago, I lost my father.
Today, I can look at what we have created and know that his foundation did not go to waste.
It became something much bigger.
It became work.
It became purpose.
It became community.
It became legacy.
And it became Pride of Romany.
47 years old.
Still learning.
Still building.
Still standing.
And absolutely no intention of stopping.
The foundation was my father's.
The work is ours.
And the legacy we are building is ours too.
Lots of Love
Charmaine Pride of Romany CEO
