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Bethany Spain

Community Storyteller | Communications Specialist | Youth Leader | Heritage & Social Justice Advocate | Writer

Young Women's Movement 30 under 30 2025

Hi!

I'm a communications specialist and youth leader with a passion for heritage, community, and social justice. 

I’ve recently completed my MSc in Digital Media and Communication at the University of Stirling. Whether I’m leading workshops, building campaigns, or writing stories that centre lived experience, I believe in the power of storytelling to connect, include, and inspire. I current work in the Third Sector combining my love of volunteering and passion for communications.

Here you’ll find a selection of my published work, current projects, and reflections on identity, access, and creativity.

Thanks for stopping by — feel free to get in touch if you'd like to collaborate!

Explore My Site

About Me

Written Work

Digital Work

Current Projects

Work With Me

Contact Me

Skills Snapshot

Creative Skills

  • Copywriting & Editing
  • Storytelling & Research
  • Digital Content Creation

Strategy & Support

  • Campaign Planning
  • Digital Strategy
  • Social Media Management

Community Focus

  • Youth Engagement
  • Workshop Facilitation
  • Public Speaking & Hosting

Recent Articles

The Sutton Trust •

My social mobility journey: Navigating without a map - The Sutton Trust

Our Alumni Leadership Board member, Bethany Spain, writes about her social mobility journey and what she’s learned along the way.
No one tells you how to do this bit. The bit where you’re supposed to step forward (confident, qualified, collected) and say, “I’m ready.” Ready for work, for career moves, for adulthood. Ready to know what the right answer is. But what happens when no one in your family has walked this path before? When you’re the first to go to university, the first to graduate, the...
The Sutton Trust •

Unpaid work is killing class diversity in the creative industries - The Sutton Trust

The Sutton Trust has long campaigned to put an end to unpaid internships. Following the publication of the Government’s consultation on banning unpaid internships, our Alumni Leadership Board member, Bethany Spain, draws on her personal experience of working for free.
There’s a familiar phrase that floats around the creative industries like a rite of passage: “It’s all about getting your foot in the door.”. But over the past few years (between jobs, volunteering, studying, and freelancing) I’ve...
Groundwork •

BLOG: Where the Hills Are Home – Growing Up Outdoors in Clackmannanshire - Groundwork

Some people mark home by a street name or a postcode. For me, it was always the hills. 

Growing up in Clackmannanshire, you couldn’t miss them. Bold and looming, never quite the same shade twice. On clear days, they were sharp and green. On others, softened by fog or dusted with snow. Whatever the weather, they were there. They made our landscape feel bigger than any map could show.
Groundwork •

BLOG: The Space to Speak – What I’ve Learned from Youth-Led Change (and Why It Matters for Nature) - Groundwork

I didn’t grow up thinking of myself as a ‘youth voice’. At 16, I signed up to volunteer mostly to get out of the house. It was something to do, a way to meet people, and (if I’m honest) a chance to travel on someone else’s budget. I didn’t know it then, but that decision was the start of something much bigger. That one opportunity led to years of involvement in youth-led groups, campaigns, and creative projects. It taught me how to speak up, and more importantly, how to listen.


Since then, I’...
The Sutton Trust •

Don’t make me move to London - The Sutton Trust

The theme for Social Mobility Day 2025 is #ShiftMindsets. To mark this important day, our Alumni Leadership Board member, Bethany Spain, discusses why we need to challenge traditional narratives around success and social mobility.
It’s a phrase I’ve heard countless times. Both from others and, if I’m honest, from myself: “You have to move to London if you want to make it in the media.” It’s the unspoken rule, the default expectation, the supposed gateway to opportunity. But the truth is, moving...