The Uninvisibility Project, WPP and Brixton Finishing school are helping midlife women enter the ad industry

Brixton Finishing School – an accelerator programme that helps creative, advertising and tech industries recruit talent – and The Uninvisibility Project – an agency bringing older women into the spotlight – have launched VisibleStart, a free training programme for midlife women that will launch in London, before heading nationwide in 2022. The programme aims to support women over the age of 45 enter the advertising industry, and is backed by WPP’s media agency MediaCom.

The programme comes after the launch of the publication Invisible to Invaluable – Unleashing the Power of Midlife Women, co-authored by Jane Evans, founder of The Uninvisibility Project. The book’s goal is to champion midlife women, build confidence, nurture talent and change the narrative of midlife women in advertising and, in a broader context, the workforce. Transferring the mission of The Uninvisiblity Project into its new programme, VisibleStart will train participants in digital media skills such as programmatic, search, SEO and paid social. There will also be a series of live “confidence-building” events plus an online learning platform; additionally, WPP aims to employ 20 women who complete the course.

Jane, the founder of The Uninvisibility, says in a release: “There is an epidemic of joblessness for women over 50, and almost half of women in this age bracket have no retirement savings at all. If we don’t act now, half a generation will retire in poverty. Both myself and Jacquie Duckworth, with who I set up The Uninvisibility Project, are determined to stem the tide. The VisibleStart programme offers women who are already graduates of the best school, the school of life, the chance to retrain in high-demand areas and fill skills gaps that many agencies are facing.”

Ally Owen, the founder of Brixton Finishing School, says: “Our ethos is employment equity for all talent, so we jumped at the chance to collaborate and deliver VisibleStart with The Uninvisbility Project and WPP. We will bring our award-winning expertise at transforming the confidence, competence, and employability of talent marginalised by age prejudice. I founded Brixton Finishing School as a midlife woman. I feel I’m only beginning to build to the peak of my potential and I am determined that other midlife women reach their potential too.”