Jimmy Wales and Mark Zuckerberg face to face

Kate Roberts is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

human rights advocate and humanitarian. She works on a global scale to develop programs and services which target malaria, child survival, HIV/AIDS, gender equality, reproductive health, and

non-communicable disease A non-communicable disease (NCD) is a disease that is not transmission (medicine), transmissible directly from one person to another. NCDs include Parkinson's disease, autoimmune diseases, strokes, heart diseases, cancers, Diabetes mellitus, diab ...

. She is the co-founder of Maverick Collective, together with

Mette-Marit, Crown Princess of Norway Mette-Marit, Crown Princess of Norway (born Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby, , on 19 August 1973) is a member of the Norwegian royal family. She is married to Crown Prince Haakon, the heir apparent to the Norwegian throne. A Norwegian commoner ...

and Melinda French Gates, The Body Agency, and YouthAIDS and Five & Alive, subsidiaries of

Population Services International Population Services International (PSI) is a 501(c)(3) registered nonprofit organization, nonprofit global health organization that began as an international not-for-profit provider of contraception and safe abortion services, and has evolved int ...

(PSI), where she served as Senior Vice President. Roberts hosts the podcast show; Sex Body and Soul.

Early career

Roberts is originally from

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, where she graduated from Southport College of Art and Technology with a

City and Guilds The City and Guilds of London Institute is an educational organisation in the United Kingdom. Founded on 11 November 1878 by the City of London and 16 livery companies to develop a national system of technical education, the institute has bee ...

in Hotel and Catering Management. She started her career with the hotel group, Relais et Chateau. She speaks five languages including Russian, Dutch, and Romanian. She is also an accomplished contemporary artist and interior designer. In the early 1990s, Roberts moved to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, where she worked on launching the Russian version of ''

Cosmopolitan Magazine ''Cosmopolitan'' (stylized in all caps) is an American quarterly fashion and entertainment magazine for women, first published based in New York City in March 1886 as a family magazine; it was later transformed into a literary magazine and, sinc ...

'', before moving into work in

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

and

marketing Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...

with Saatchi & Saatchi. Her work then took her to

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

where she created this country's first HIV/

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

prevention marketing campaign that, Roberts said, "increased condom use by 100 percent in the first year". On holiday in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

she became aware of the scale of mortality being caused by AIDS in the country and realised that the work and strategies she had put in place in her Romanian campaign could be applied to the rest of the world. This led her to create the YouthAIDS campaign in 2001.

Programming development

The Body Agency

Kate Roberts founded The Body Agency in 2020 to revolutionise access to female health products, services and education eliminating all shame and taboos. Its foundation and 501c non profit was launched in 2022 providing these services to the marginalised as well as leading the BodyNEXT campaign.

Sex Body and Soul Podcast

The Sex Body and Soul Podcast is the official podcast of The Body Agency. It takes a scientific approach to issues affecting the body, integrated with pop culture and currant affairs. Guests include medical professionals and celebrities.

YouthAIDS

Kate Roberts founded YouthAIDS in 2001 as an educational and prevention campaign for the charity

(PSI). YouthAIDS is based in

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

, while being active in around 70 countries.

Five & Alive

After the success of YouthAIDS, Roberts started another PSI campaign, Five & Alive, to raise money and awareness for PSI projects which target preventable disease in children under five years old.

References

External links

Kate Roberts on YoungGlobalLeaders.org

Kate Roberts on weforum.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Kate Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century British people 21st-century British women British advertising executives British HIV/AIDS activists People from Southport