Rebecca Burton, CEO of I Can & I Am, shares how her background in educational software and running a childcare business prepared her for leading a fast‑growing youth mental health charity.
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How did you land your current role, and what was your career path leading up to it?
I worked for an educational software company and then set up and ran a childcare business, so there’s a common theme of working with children and education. Through family and friends in education I met James Shone, founder of I Can & I Am.

My previous experiences ensured I had built up essential skills for working within the charity sector. I’ve always been hands-on, not afraid of hard work or learning new skills. I did plenty of that running my own business.

What is the most interesting part of your job?
I visit a wonderful variety of schools. One day I'm at a local primary, the next I’m at Eton, the following week I might be with young people at a Special Educational Needs school, and I meet incredible people at each setting.

We run mental health workshops for young people on our double-decker buses to ‘inflate’ their self-belief and equip them with tools to be resilient and confident. It’s rewarding to see the impact our facilitators have on anyone who steps onto our buses, regardless of age, location or background. The challenges they face are universal. We’ve now had more than 32,000 visitors on our buses.

What would be your alternative career?
I would be working in the music industry. I love live music, particularly rock, and had a pipe dream of being involved in Glastonbury festival. My son is a musician so I’m now experiencing live music through him!

What inspired you to work in the charity sector?
James has been an inspiration since I first met him years ago. It was an easy decision to join him in 2017 to help bring his new charity to life - the result of a brain tumour diagnosis in 2012 which cut his teaching career short and resulted in him losing his sight. James was pouring his energy into ‘I Can & I Am,’ designed to support young people with their self-belief and together we’ve grown this charity over the last 10 years. We now have a team of over 20!

What challenges do you face in your day-to-day work?
Managing demand and money. We travel to hundreds of education providers every year, but with such high demand we have to choose which schools to support. It’s never nice having to say ‘no’.

Financially, we’re lucky to have many loyal supporters, including long-standing corporate partners, but we always need more which takes time and resource.

What would make the biggest positive difference to the sector right now?
Streamlining funding applications to make them as quick and fair as possible. Filling in applications can take hours, with the likelihood of getting a simple ‘no’ back. There is never a guarantee that time spent will be worthwhile, but time is a resource as limited as funding for charities. There must be a more time-efficient system for matchmaking funding pots.

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