So nice to meet you! We’re Sally and Helen.
Sally’s an environmentalist, writer and award-winning founder. She’s also guaranteed to be the shortest person in any room.
Helen’s an educator, designer and award-winning author. She’s also a gold-level clumsy noggin who’s guaranteed to be the one who face-plants on entering that room.
We’ve both got kids in our lives: Sally has a son and Helen has a nephew. And we want them to have a brilliant future on this amazing planet.
We’re great believers in imperfect environmentalism. No one can get everything right all of the time. And trying to is just a highway to paralysis.
It’s about finding actions that fit in with you and your family. Creating small ripples of change that’ll help us all ride a growing wave of action*.
* As a business based partly in Australia, we’re legally obliged to use at least one surfing analogy per 1,000 words.
How we built Be The Future
Our business started with a hashtag, evolved with an email, and now runs almost entirely on an intricate understanding of UK-Australia time differences.
Before we met, we were both living in the UK and working for #tacklethecrisis, a campaign about spreading climate positivity.
Because we’re both pretty sure that’s what the world needs.
Something to counter the doom-and-gloom stories that make us want to stick our fingers in our ears and assume the fetal position because it’s all too much.
So there we were, being ambassadors for this hashtag, when Sally spotted Helen’s logo for her other business: Unlikely Genius.
She figured there had to be an interesting person behind that name (spoiler: there was). So in December 2020, she wrote Helen an email:
I’m looking for a witty, funny, smart copywriter and designer to help me with my idea. And you seem kind of perfect.
Helen jumped on board right away. Phew.
We got to meet in person a couple of times between lockdown ending and Sally moving back to Australia (could this founding story *be* any more pandemic?)
Sure, running a two-woman business between Yorkshire and Sydney isn’t always the easiest way to do things…
But thanks to the wonder of Zoom, Trello, and our ability to reliably set alarm clocks, everything’s working out pretty well.
Which is lucky, because we adore what we do:
Harnessing the magic of play, solutions and interactive technology to empower children (and their adults) to help rewrite our climate story.
We know how tough it is to find your place in climate action. The mountain often feels too big to climb. So when people get in touch to tell us we’ve inspired them or lifted them out of a climate slump, we’re honestly chuffed to bits.
It’s why we get up in the morning (nine/eleven hours apart).
⬇️ If you love our story and our mission, check out some of the things you can get involved in! ⬇️
TOGETHER (UK)
An immersive and interactive experience containing 7 climate solution themed zones, plus accompanying touring and digital experiences.
Our pilot featuring the first theme - rewilding & nature-based solutions - is now LIVE.
Future Makers (AUS)
Interactive climate play experiences to engage and empower young minds for early learning centres, primary schools and governments.
Nature-based solutions, food and circularity themed experiences available now.
100 Days of Climate Play
Sally just completed 100 playful climate challenges over 100 days!
Have you heard of food waste eating maggots? Or edible indoor flower farms? Or tiny solar homes? ✨
A bit more about us…
a.k.a. the ‘official’ bios, sans bad puns 😂
-
![Woman standing smiling]()
Sally Giblin
Sally is an award-winning founder, podcast co-host, environmentalist, writer, and parent. Her purpose is to inspire others to take dramatic action on our climate and biodiversity crisis - the most important issue of our lifetime.
She’s spreading the word about environmental action through writing for media publications and speaking at events.
Sally is a Greenpeace Australia Pacific General Assembly Member, an Australian Parents for Climate Action spokesperson, and a Climate Reality Leader. She’s also a startup mentor for Founder Institute, the world's largest early-stage accelerator. She’s been at the forefront of many social impact initiatives over the years, with organizations such as Young UN Women and Social Good Summit.
She previously CoFounded Pure Bundle, a circular fashion startup, and worked as a Management Consultant at PwC.
-
![]()
Helen Hill
Helen is a self-confessed creative addict and excitable business owner. At Be The Future she loves nothing more than to get giddy with ideas for books, games, activities and mischief, bringing in her 20+ years of working in education and the design industry. She is also our in-house designer and tech guru.
Helen is also the owner of UnlikelyGenius™️ Ltd where she specialises in producing playful design and concepts for creative educational resources and book illustration, focusing on teaching tough topics. Working predominantly in wellbeing, mindset, personal development and the environment, she has a strong focus on helping people and planet to thrive.
In addition to a level 2 coaching diploma and ICF ACC status, Helen is also trained in Climate Change Coaching, Embodied Transformation and Positive Psychology to help build stronger connections between body, mind and planet.
