WE ROAR Issue 02 - Flipbook - Page 11
HE'S KNOWN FOR HIS STYLISH JACKETS, ENTREPRENEURIAL
SAVVY & FOR BEING AN EXCELLENT ALLY...
Lee Chambers is the chief psychologist
and founder of the inclusive well-being
agency Essentialise, based in Preston.
He is a Kavli Fellow of the National
Academy of Sciences and speaks
globally on allyship, intersectionality
and health inequity.
Why did you start your company?
There are a number of reasons why I
started Essentialise. Firstly, I’ve had my
own challenges with my mental and
physical health. I struggled with my
mental health, which led me to drop
out of university and only accessed
therapy in 2016, 11 years after my
struggles started. I also had to learn to
walk again in 2014 after being
impacted by an autoimmune condition,
which I still have to manage today. My
health being impacted has given me an
understanding of how important it is,
and my own recovery journey has
made me passionate about finding
ways to empower and enable others to
prioritise their health and navigate
their challenges.
Secondly, I studied psychology but
was unable to pursue a career due to
coming from a deprived background
and having to take a higher paid role
after university. I’d always wanted to
use this, and after completing my
master’s
and
post-grad
qualifications, it felt like time to bring
that expertise to the table and use it
to make a difference.
Finally, I had a tech business, which I
exited in 2020 when I started
Essentialise. I’d seen how impactful
well-being
was
on
business
performance but how leaders
weren’t sure how to implement it
effectively,
inclusively
and
strategically, so I set up Essentialise
to support businesses to become
healthier. One last thing that ignited
me was that there were very few
Black disabled entrepreneurs in the
space, and I wanted to give it a go,
show what was possible and be a
role model for the next generation.
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