Everyone’s Invited is officially five years old. A few days before our anniversary event, I wrote a poem capturing the early days, the campaign, the national movement, and the conversation we sparked. Writing and rehearsing it was intense; every time I read it, it was hard to hold myself together.
The event itself was deeply intentional. We wanted everyone to feel the warmth and vitality of what we’ve built. In a surreal full-circle moment, I both interviewed and was interviewed by Emily Maitlis, a woman who needs no introduction and a force in journalism and advocacy.
Our work, sharing survivors’ stories, shattering shame, and breaking taboos, is inherently life-saving. Shame and silence are the biggest barriers to ending rape culture. We support young people with education that prevents violence and equips them to navigate the harms, misogyny, and extremism they face online and offline.
In five years, we’ve changed policy, transformed practice in schools and universities, collected 52,000+ stories, reached over 20 million people, and delivered our programme to 67,000 young people. We registered as a charity, grew to a full-time team of ten, doubled our budget to £600k, and raised over £1 million so far. Now, we’re focused on delivering our five-year strategy and raising the next £5 million.
This journey has been a baptism of fire: intense, demanding, rewarding. As a founder, you end up doing a bit of everything, from media to strategy, safeguarding to fundraising. It’s exhausting and not for the faint-hearted, especially in a sector dealing with trauma every day. But we keep going.
Thank you to everyone who has supported us: volunteers, our team, our board, funders, mentors, advocates, schools, and our community. This work is and has always been a collective effort. We began with the voices of survivors and young people, and they continue to lead us. ❤️❤️❤️🎉🎉🎉
This is a personal piece that feels a bit daunting to share. It’s a topic I’ve struggled to explore in my own writing and also speak about generally and publicly. It’s something that I’ve been able to delve into with some distance, time, and healing. Originally, I wrote two separate pieces that I have now merged, one about my mum and the other about an incredibly visceral dream that I had. I have also published this on my Substack! Which I will be linking in my bio. Sending love to anyone who connects or relates to the topic in whatever shape or form ❤️
“Imagine what we could do if the sector were fully funded and resourced.” -@SomaSara spoke at #WMMSummit2025 about her experience transforming the trauma of sexual abuse into a global movement rooted in survivor leadership, with @everyonesinvited .
When Soma Sara began speaking out about sexual violence in schools in 2020, her message quickly captured media attention. What she did with that attention made a critical point: when asked about her personal story, her response was that there was nothing unique or exceptional about what had happened to her—it was universal, a reflection of how widespread the issue truly is.
She joined @ebcphillips of the Phillips Foundation, Daniela Ligiero of @togetherforgirls and @mona_sinha of @equalitynoworg to call for more funding and collective action to address child sexual abuse.
“We have the solutions. We have the evidence.We can and we will end childhood sexual violence.”
#OurFutureIsCollective
🌍Last week, at the International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect Congress, our Founder and CEO @somasara delivered a keynote speech highlighting some of the biggest challenges we face in the fight to end childhood sexual violence, and the urgent need to build a truly global movement for change. 🌟
Despite the scale of harm, this issue remains critically underfunded in both the UK and globally. Prevention, education, and holistic support for survivors continue to be limited by a lack of resources and political will.
For too long, sexual violence has been seen as too uncomfortable to face - easier to look away than to confront. Silence feeds stigma, allowing myths and misconceptions to persist: that abuse is inevitable, that perpetrators are “monsters” or strangers, that it’s not our problem. But this is everyone’s issue.
Whether we call it child sexual abuse or rape culture, it affects us all - and it demands collective responsibility. Globally, we are witnessing a rise in online extremism and far-right rhetoric. Fundamental relationships and sex education is being increasingly politicised. Meanwhile, the online world - from violent pornography to AI-generated content - is shaping the sexual landscape for young people in dangerous ways. Too often, children are left to navigate these new and emerging forms of violence alone.
Our priority is clear: to galvanise a global movement - one that builds the will, urgency, and collective power to end childhood sexual violence once and for all.
We all have a role to play. We all have the power to make a difference, whether it's small or large. We all have a place in this movement. Dm us to get involved💙
For two years, I could not write. The words would not come. I tried everything to summon them. These days, they fall from my mind to my mouth like compulsion. Something gave way, and now I cannot stop.
I think the words have arrived because what I am trying to write is something real. They are the things that are happening in the world and in my life, and I am trying to tell the truth.
In the past, it was hard to tell the truth.
I often cry when I write and when I read, and when I share ❤️
P.S. I have also made a Substack to share my work. Subscribe if you’d like to read more xxx
Stills I took from our lino cut workshop for writers at the Mendocino Art Centre as part of the Blair House Writer’s retreat. Ollie @ojac_ gave a little talk on logosyllabic languages and the relationship between visual and verse. Zora @apokrify showed us how to carve our desired image onto rubber using small blades and how to print the stamps on paper using black and red ink.
I loved the slow, methodical practice of carving which calmed my mind. I modelled my first stamp of a Yi eagle (slide 5), taken from a large piece of a traditional silver hammered necklace. The Yi eagle is symbolic for strength in womanhood in Yi culture. My second stamp is a character from Yi script meaning ground or earth (which I also have tattooed!). @blairhousemendo
Applications are now open for our Summer Writers Residency at the Historic Blair House Inn in Mendocino, California — a Victorian gem nestled between rugged cliffs and ancient redwoods. Join us for workshops led by poet Ollie Cowley and author Soma Sara, designed to deepen your practice. Applications close May 18th — more information at the link in bio.
#writersretreat #writersresidency #mendocino #mendocinocoast #artistresidency #opencall #victorianhome #murdershewrote #angelalansbury
My first overnight trek 😅 and first Nepalese summit Kyanjin Ri 4700m !!! 💗💗💗
After 5 days of walking through Lang Tang valley visiting the Tibetan and Tamang people we summited at sunrise, waking up at 4:00am to climb the mountain in the moonlight ✨🌕
This was one of the hardest but most rewarding experiences. When your body taps out it’s purely a mental game, blown away by the power of the mind. I was so slow 😂 but all that mattered was putting one foot in front of the other and to keep going!!!
This place is unbelievably special, breathtaking, and beautiful but the people THE PEOPLE were some of the kindest, most resilient and welcoming I’ve ever had the privilege of meeting ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you NEPAL 🇳🇵 💗💗💗 your beauty is insanity!!!
These moments are the moments that have marked me over the last two days in Bogota, Colombia at the first-ever Global Ministerial Conference to end violence against children. I am here to represent @everyonesinvited and champion the work of To Zero, an initiative working to end all childhood sexual violence within a generation. Over the past year, To Zero has interviewed over 350 stakeholders from around the world from civil society leaders and practitioners to survivors, researchers and donors to create the field’s first-ever global vision and roadmap to end childhood sexual violence.
Violence against children in all its forms is a problem so vast, so staggering it is impossible to comprehend the scale. Over half of the world’s global population of children experience violence. 1 in 5 girls experience sexual violence in childhood. Every second 3 girls and 2 boys face sexual violence. The UN has verified the details of 8,119 people killed in G*z* from November 2023 to April 2024 and its analysis found that 44% of the verified victims were children and that the ages most represented among the dead were five to nine-year-olds.
I feel a tightness in my chest, I feel a shortness in my breath, my head is heavy and my heart is broken. But now is the time to be brave, to embrace the discomfort, the unthinkable and the unimaginable.
This is a life long commitment. We heal and we act and we heal and we act and we heal and we act. But we are together, we are an echosystem, and we will find our way forward.
All my love - Soma
Resurfacing from hibernation for an obligatory birthday post and to share some random special moments from the year of 25…
Operating from a baseline of anxiety and paranoia is a debilitating and impossible way to muddle through the world. My mental health is no longer in the gutter for the first time since my early teenage years. I think that is something to really CELEBRATE. Peace in my mind health in my body free in my spirit love in my heart 💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕🥲
More pics from Thursday night at @sohohouse / works Future 50 awards ❤️ who generously support @everyonesinvited in a probono capacity.
I accepted the best non profit award on behalf of @everyonesinvited swipe for my speech which was dedicated to the EI team & survivor community ❤️
