Meet our newest teamsters: Sarah, Russell and Gethin

There've been a few changes over at IC HQ lately, and we're really pleased to have three new team members on board! We'll let them introduce themselves :)

Russell Todd - Connector for South East Wales

I join Indycube off the back of the Communities First programme in Wales coming to an end where for almost nine years I supported the learning of that programme’s workforce at Wales Council for Voluntary Action. Prior to this I worked in community development roles in post-industrial communities in the Gwent valleys, Merthyr Tydfil and Wrexham.

The principal thing about Indycube’s work that attracted me to the organisation is its fierce independence and willingness to challenge orthodoxies, many of which stereotype and re-enforce unfair narratives about the very communities I have spent time in. Indycube’s mission to develop a mutually-supportive and empowered community among the UK’s freelance workforce that can help shape the future of work chimes with community development principles that posit that communities can be arbiters of their own futures.

I have recently set-up Valleys Ale Trails which provides historic and interesting pub tours around the rich canvas that the south Wales Valleys offer. I run two podcasts – one about community development and the other about the Wales football team – and provide support and training to new podcasters, including teaching on Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Sports Journalism Masters. I have learned Welsh to fluency.

Outside of work I spend my time with my three children, cycling and (badly) playing the bass. Catch up with me on @Indycube_Russ.