Lydia Amoah is an award winning business coach, visionary entrepreneur and one of Britain’s leading authorities on growth, transformation and cultural change. As the Founder and Chief Executive of Backlight and the Black Pound Report, she has become a highly influential voice in advancing equity within business and the creative industries. Her pioneering work includes designing the STOPIT Protocol, an anti discrimination framework adopted across multiple sectors.
Lydia’s career began in project and consultancy roles with organisations such as MICE International, August One, Goose Communications and the NFL, where she developed expertise in stakeholder engagement, organisational development and impactful communications. She went on to hold a series of talent, coaching and learning roles across major media organisations, including the College of Northeast London, Media Trust and Telegraph Media Group. In 2012 she joined Channel 4 as an in house Talent Coach and Workshop Leader and was appointed a Diversity Patron for Show Racism the Red Card. That same year she founded Backlight to support organisations in building inclusive cultures and unlocking diverse talent.
Her influence expanded significantly with the launch of The Black Pound Report in 2018, the first major study capturing the economic power and consumer behaviour of Black communities in the UK. Lydia later served as Cultural Transformation Consultant for Creative Equals and became the Head of Black at Cannes UK. She continues to shape thinking at the highest levels, working with Ofcom, the BBC, NHS, The Bank of England, P&G, NFL, News UK, Channel 4, the Financial Times and EY, and teaching MBA students at the University of Oxford.
Lydia’s impact has been recognised through numerous honours, including the Driving Force Award at the FFinc Awards, the Market Research Society Liz Nelson Award for Social Impact and Entrepreneur of the Year at the City AM Dragon Awards. She has also been named on Performance Marketing World’s Powerlist 100, the UK Black Business Show’s Top 25 Black Entrepreneurs to Watch and the African Business Chamber’s Top 100. A respected commentator and speaker, she has appeared on BBC News, BBC Two and BBC Radio Four, spoken at Microsoft’s Cannes Lions event and hosted HSBC’s Black Female Founders Event.
