Rachel’s background is originally in sports development which she moved to Leeds to study in 2000. She held a number of different sport, youth and community work positions before going to work supporting the development of BME community groups, first in Doncaster then in Bradford at a local Voluntary Sector infrastructure organisation. The remit of her post then shifted and she worked for four years providing commissioning support, representation and communications for the Voluntary Sector health and wellbeing organisations across Bradford. In 2009 Rachel went to work with Leeds Older People’s Forum (LOPF) as a Development Officer. LOPF is an umbrella organisation with a membership of 120 groups and organisations to whom it provides representation, information and development support.