A long term activist and trade unionist, Yvette Williams has lived in Notting Hill for over 35 years. She worked with the
Mangrove Community Association and served as a Trustee for the Tabernacle Community Centre and the Pepper Pot Club (for Caribbean elders) in Notting Hill.
She is a founding member of Operation Black Vote. Yvette was head of Equality and Diversity for the Crown Prosecution Service in London for14 years, developing hate crime prosecution policies and community engagement strategies. She was awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours list in 2012 for services to criminal justice, highlighting her role as part of the prosecution team that secured the two convictions for the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence.
She is a co-founder of the Justice 4 Grenfell Campaign, and witnessed the fire on the night with her daughter after receiving a phone call from a friend who had been evacuated. The campaign has used a variety of media to ensure that the Grenfell Tower disaster remains in the public consciousness, and to remember the 72 men, women and children who lost their lives.
Yvette has been a key speaker at many events including the Women of the World festival, the Justice Lecture at the GMB union conference and TEDx London. In October 2019 the Justice 4 Grenfell team won the Significant Contribution award as Woman of the Year, and in April 2020 the Campaign won the Education Category at the New York Film festival for the film ‘Grenfell and Social Murder’ which was co-produced with the Open University and Hamlett Films.
Yvette has written for and featured in a number of publications. She has recently been appointed as a trustee for Ruskin College, Oxford and currently sits on the TUC Race Taskforce. In September 2020, Yvette featured on an iconic front fold out cover of British Vogue as one of 20 international social justice activists.