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Our ambassadors

Credits at foot of page. Montage. Copyright: www.realbreadcampaign.org

Credits at foot of page. Montage. Copyright: www.realbreadcampaign.org

While all Real Bread Campaign supporters are encouraged to fly the flag for our charity’s work, in October 2024 we accepted offers from these 14 people to be more visible and vocal champions over the next few years.  

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Who they are

We asked each ambassador to write a brief introduction and have invited them to write longer articles that we can publish in True Loaf magazine and on our website.

Rebecca Bishop is a self-taught baker, food writer, award-winning bakery founder and teacher. After years working as a secondary school art and textiles teacher, her love for making and eating long-fermented bread led her to found Two Magpies Bakery in Southwold, Suffolk in 2013. The growing interest in making Real Bread eventually led her back to teaching baking classes as part of the Two Magpies business. Rebecca moved on from Two Magpies to open The Next Loaf baking school from her Suffolk home in April 2023, and in the same month Headline Home published her first book: Two Magpies Bakery – stories and recipes from East Anglia. 

After working with Henrietta Inman at Wakelyns Bakery in Suffolk, Rebecca discovered a passion for working with wholegrains, regenerative farming methods and the importance of sustainability in local food networks. This led her to embark on a MSc in Food Policy at City, University of London. www.thenextloaf.co.uk @thenextloaf

Giovanni di Sarno is a fourth-generation baker from Naples in Italy. After graduating at 18 from a cookery academy, he worked full time in his family’s bakery until he was 22. He then began traveling the world, baking along the way. Giovanni has now been living in the UK for almost 10 years, during which time he has worked at independent bakeries in Essex and Suffolk. He runs Real Bread classes, suitable for people of all abilities, around Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk and London. www.facebook.com/100067078082230 @giovannonedisarno

Neil Holland took the leap into professional baking at Loaf Bakery and Cookery School in south Birmingham when he was 40, after spending too many years behind a desk. Loaf was where he’d initially developed a love of Real Bread, first being a bread club subscriber picking up a freshly-baked loaf every Friday, then taking a baking course, and eventually volunteering in the shop. He has a passion for teaching breadmaking, sharing the knowledge and skills for people to make their own Real Bread at home. www.loaf.coop @nebolland

Hannah Frost learnt to make sourdough bread and hand-laminated viennoiserie with a small team in a woman-led neighbourhood bakery whilst living in Northern Ireland. She's now a head baker, running a team at Pump Street Bakery in Orford, Suffolk. Her life revolves around feeding people, celebrating local ingredients and encouraging conversations about how to make the production of food more accessible, affordable and planet friendly. @han.the.baker

Marcia Harris is a primary school child and family support practitioner, and founder of The Flour Union, dedicated to offering inspiring workshops for families focused on the art of baking. This social enterprise’s flagship programme, Bread that Bonds, is a unique therapeutic bread-making experience that encourages and strengthens the bond between parents and children. With the help of specially-designed resources, each parent is empowered to create a special time and space to connect with their child on a one-to-one basis. This helps the parent to develop skills to enhance their child's social-emotional literacy. Marcia’s work at the school includes a Bake Your Lawn project and overseeing installation of a bread oven. Ambassador profle (2022). www.theflourunion.com @theflourunion

Rom Jedlovec is the founder and head baker of Flour and Spoon artisan bakery in Essex. His passion for baking developed while working for Jumeirah Hotels, Claridge's Hotel and Rocco Forte hotels. In 2015 he decided to leave his hospitality career and to open a microbakery. His first pop-up at Old Street in London showcased a diverse array of freshly baked breads and cakes, all displayed on a beautifully handcrafted cart. In 2018, Rom and his partner Nick opened Flour and Spoon’s first branch in Leigh on Sea. Accolades soon followed, including being recognised as the best bakery in Essex and in east England by The National Bakery Awards, plus a Great Taste Award for their stonebaked Wildfarmed sourdough. The journey continued in 2023 with a new branch in Chelmsford. Rom also proudly spreads the love for Real Bread at both bakeries by running sourdough baking classes. www.flourandspoon.com
@flour_and_spoon_bakery

Frances Logan is usually either reading about, talking about or thinking about baking. Having studied Politics and Public Policy, she became fascinated by how our food system is closely connected to the health and wellbeing of people and nature. Frances is also secretary of Slow Food Glasgow and says: “For me, Real Bread is a key building block of a fairer, healthier and more sustainable food system.” www.linkedin.com/in/frances-logan-85442696 @franceslogan12

Camila Marcias is a Chilean pastry chef, baker, and food grower, currently working at E5 Bakehouse in London. She holds an MSc in Food Policy, focusing on agricultural policies and the de-commodification of food value chains. Camila has self-published three eBooks on pastry and sourdough baking. She is also the co-founder of De La Raíz al Plato, an online platform focusing on sustainable food systems. Her goal is to connect people with the origins of their food. She regularly writes about Latin American food systems and her journey in making desserts more sustainable on her Substack, Latina Cooking. www.substack.com/@latinacooking @camila.marcias

Paul Raddan has spent his entire working life in the food industry, starting as a chef and restaurant manager. In 2013 he started Rugby Real Bread, a microbakery and education provider. Paul believes that cooking and baking sessions give people a deeper understanding of what they eat as well as the opportunity to acquire new skills, improve their diet and positively impact their mental health. This belief has seen him teaching in a wealth of settings, among them food festivals, schools and charities like The School of Artisan Food. www.facebook.com/rugbyrealbread @rugbyrealbread

Eddy Sleiman is the founder of Ed Baker in Hither Green, London. He is a self-taught baker, who started his bakery journey during the lockdown of 2020, having decided to leave his old trade as chartered marketer and pursue his passion for producing good food. His travels tend to be food-destination-centric as research to help him deliver unique culinary experiences. Eddy has always embraced the values of Real Bread and is committed to producing genuine sourdough bread. He received five Great Taste Awards in 2023, including the coveted 3-stars for his white sourdough, and two more Great Taste Awards in 2024. Eddy’s community supports his business, which won Best New Business 2022 and Best Food Retailer 2023 in the Mayor of Lewisham Business Awards. Ambassador profile (2022). www.iamedbaker.com @iamedbaker

Utako Tanner was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan. At the age of 18, she moved to the UK to pursue her education. After completing her studies, Utako went back to Japan but, in 2002, returned to the UK, settling in London where she has lived ever since. After nearly 30 years in the finance industry, Utako’s life took a dramatic turn in 2018 when she appeared on BBC2’s Top of the Shop with Tom Kerridge. This pivotal moment ignited a passion for baking that led her to a new career path. Utako became a bakery school instructor at Bread Ahead in London, where she honed her craft. Today, Utako runs her own microbakery and offers personalised baking and cooking lessons, specialising in Japanese bread, blending her rich cultural heritage with a deep love for culinary arts. www.petit-bonheurs.com @petit_bonheurs 

Nelly Trevelyan and her husband Philip bought Hill Top Farm in Spaunton, North Yorkshire in 1974 and founded Yorkshire Organic Millers in 2005. They use four modern Astrié stone mills to produce about 350 tons of flour a year, from grain grown on their own 100 acres and from other organic farms in North and East Yorkshire, which they supply to artisan and home bakers. Nelly says: "We aim to minimise waste and food miles, whilst maximising nutrition and communication within the whole system, from farmers to consumers." www.yorkshireorganicmillers.com 

Liz Wilson runs Ma Baker, an award winning microbakery and bread school. She started baking from her London home in 2014 and has since moved to North Wales where she now has a shopfront and dedicated teaching space. She says, "I'm in the business of making people happy, myself as well as others.” www.mabaker.uk @mabakerbakes

Boudicca Woodland runs One Mile Bakery Exeter. This home-based microbakery offers artisanal Real Bread, soups and preserves, delivered within a one-mile radius. She also runs home-based bakery classes for people of all skill levels, providing a welcoming space for everyone to learn, connect and share in the joy of baking. Boudicca champions the therapeutic benefits of baking, emphasising how the process fosters mental health and wellbeing. In 2020, Boudicca wrote this article for True Loaf magazinewww.onemilebakery.com/exeter @ombexeter

The role of Real Bread Campaign ambassador

We appoint official ambassadors to wave the Real Bread Campaign flag harder and higherthan our other supporters.

Our ambassadors aren’t necessarily professional bakers or what you might think of as ‘experts’. Our key considerations when choosing ambassadors in 2024 were people who:

  • love Real Bread
  • broadly share and agree with the Campaign’s beliefs and aims
  • are ready, willing and able to be the ‘faces’ of Real Bread and to spread the word

Download the detailed role description

Representation and inspiration

While it’s not possible for a small group of people to fully represent the wide range of people in the Real Bread movement, we aim for each batch of Campaign ambassadors to embody a range of backgrounds, identities, lived experience, skills and knowledge. 

Collectively, our ambassadors bring a variety of perspectives and provide a snapshot of the people in our current network. We also hope our ambassadors will help more people who make and love Real Bread to identify that they’re part of its rise, feel that they will be welcomed in the movement, and be inspired to join the Campaign.

We invited applications from everyone across the UK who fitted the bill. Within this everyone, we strongly encouraged applications from people of backgrounds and identities not well represented in and by the Campaign’s work and network. This included people who are: under 25; Black; of Colour; with a first language other than English; LGBTQ+; neurodivergent; living with a disability; of an ethnic minority; and from lower economic backgrounds.

(When reviewing applications, we found that all but one were from people in England. We extended the deadline to highlight that we also wanted ambassadors in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.)

Why?

Because the Campaign is as much about people as it is about food, notably the people who grow and mill grain, people who craft flour into Real Bread, and the people for whom all of this is done – everyone who eats it.

We are always very clear: this is about including, representing and inspiring a wider range of people, rather than excluding anyone.

The next batch

The ambassador role is reviewed every 2-3 years. If it is decided there is a need to continue having them,  the spec and appointment process is also reviewed.


Photo credits: Boudicca Woodland © Alex Jenkins Photography, Nelly Trevelyan © Matthew Trevelyan, selfie © Utako Tanner, Camila Marcias © Charlotte Griffiths, selfie © Paul Raddan, Eddy Sleiman © Nic Crilly Hargrave, Marcia Harris © Markus Drayss,  Giovanni di Sarno © Angelique Henday, selfie © Hannah Frost, selfie © Rom Jedlovec, selfie © Frances Logan, selfie © Liz Wilson, selfie © Neil Holland, Rebecca Bishop © India Hobson. Montage © the Real Bread Campaign. 

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