Charlotte Hill

My Graduate Story

My name is Charlotte Hill and I completed a BA in Philosophy and Political Science from the University of Birmingham.

I'm the CEO of The Felix Project where we rescue surplus food and get out to over 1200 charities across London. In 2024 we delivered 38 million meals to those most in need with the help of 13,000 volunteers.

A Day in my Life

As CEO for the Felix Project every day is very different. We run 4 warehouses across London where we rescue, sort and distribute surplus food, and also Felix's Multibank and Felix's Kitchen plus our Green Scheme program. Whether in a depot, out in one of our 60 Felix vans, raising funds, working with a good supply partner, it's an inspirational place to work - just an amazing community of people.

My Journey to the Felix Project

Whilst I was studying at Birmingham I volunteered with a local MP initially and then got a role with a local MP and that led onto me then getting a job in Westminster so I worked for various different people under the Labour Government and ended up being an advisor under the Labour Government to a minister, before hopping across to the voluntary sector, doing some work heading up policy and public affairs at the NSPCC and then living abroad for a few years. So I did lots of policy and communications work in various countries overseas before coming back and working in the voluntary sector doing a couple of different Chief Executive roles now. Political Science was the reason I worked for Richard Burden MP during my 3 years at Birmingham and that led to my whole career. I am now in my 3rd CEO job.

My Birmingham Experience

I chose to study Philosophy and Political Science because I loved doing essays and thinking through issues at school and also I had a really inspiring Politics teacher who really made me think I could change the world, and so that's why I picked it. Actually it's led onto amazing things in my career for me.

Birmingham has got so much to offer as a student. I think every student is going to want to get different things out of university and have different interests and different activities. My top tip would probably be don't just stay within the university campus, the city itself has got so much to offer in terms of the communities and the neighbourhoods, so I did some amazing volunteering out in the community whilst I was there for three years and that's probably what I got a huge amount out of. So don't just stay on the campus, get out and meet the rest of the community in Birmingham.

The best things about my course were the people I met, the discipline I learnt around self-led study, and how to present and manage information.

Birmingham's Impact

Birmingham played a huge role in where I am today.

I received a grant from my local authority plus a hardship grant from the University. I had no financial support from my parents, so this was the only way I could afford to be at university.

I was from a relatively small town in Kent and I really wanted to go to a big city but I didn’t want to go to London and Birmingham was just the most brilliant city to go to, but also I wanted a campus university and it had the most beautiful campus and of course, an amazing course to do.

Advice for Students

My top tips for students graduating today:

• Volunteer
• Say yes to opportunities
• Invest in your network
• Ask for help!
• Use social media to your advantage