By 
Founded in 2012 following the loss of their mother, BelEve has grown into a London charity championing social mobility, female leadership and equal access to opportunity.
Some organisations begin with a business plan. Others begin with a deeply personal mission.
For sisters Marsha, Chyloe and Rochelle Powell, the idea behind BelEve emerged from one of the most difficult experiences of their lives: losing their mother, Delores Diana Hay, to a rare form of cancer in 2011.
Determined to honour the influence of a woman who had instilled in them courage, confidence and a belief in their own potential, the sisters founded BelEve the following year.
Their ambition was to ensure other girls could benefit from the positive female role models, guidance and encouragement that had shaped their upbringing.
Today, that mission has grown into a social mobility charity that has supported more than 30,000 girls and young women, demonstrating how a deeply personal purpose can develop into an organisation creating lasting community impact.
Marsha Powell, Co-Founder and CEO of BelEve, reflected:
“When our mother died, we had to decide what to do with the love, courage and belief she had poured into us. BelEve was our answer. It began as a way to make sure other girls could experience positive female role models and the confidence to use their voice.”
Since its launch in 2012, BelEve has delivered 18,758 workshops and sessions, with 1,320 girls receiving mentoring and guidance. Across its work, 91% of girls report feeling positive about their future.
Based in Brockley and operating across London, the charity supports girls aged 8 to 22 at different stages of their development, from navigating school and friendships to making educational choices and exploring future careers.
Through mentoring, leadership programmes, workshops and workplace experiences, BelEve helps young women develop the confidence, skills and professional connections to shape their own futures.
Its work is guided by a belief that girls are not problems to be fixed, but potential to be invested in.
That philosophy has helped the organisation build relationships with schools, communities and businesses, including Meta, Untold Studios, Artemis Investment Management, Kerv and the Fast Stream Gender Equality Network.
These partnerships provide girls with access to professional environments, mentoring and career opportunities that may otherwise be outside their immediate networks.
For the Powell sisters, however, the organisation’s success is about more than the numbers.
As BelEve has grown, so too has its ambition to challenge the structural barriers that can limit young women’s opportunities, particularly those relating to social mobility, professional networks and access to positive role models.
Rather than relying on one-off inspiration, the charity advocates sustained support from childhood through adolescence and into early adulthood.
Fourteen years after its founding, BelEve is now calling on more businesses, funders, mentors and community partners to help extend its reach.
What began as three sisters’ determination to honour their mother’s legacy has become a growing movement for female empowerment.
And at the heart of it remains the same belief that inspired its creation: every girl deserves the chance to recognise her potential and become a leader of her own world.
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