Meet Charlotte Fiander – Head of Communications

I joined the Cobseo team in October 2018 following over a decade of working in communications and PR, specialising in membership communications. Prior to Cobseo, I led the  communications teams at The Hurlingham Club and the National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI). Whilst at the NFWI, I project-managed the centenary celebrations which
reached 1.2 billion people throughout the year and included eleven individual national engagement campaigns; a 45-episode TV series dedicated to WI skills and campaigns; and 20 individual pieces of national media across all channels for the Centenary Annual Meeting at the Royal Albert Hall, which was opened by Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

 Within the Cobseo team, I lead on all communications work – including this newsletter! – and I’m available to provide advice and assistance to Members as needed, especially to those Members who do not have a member of staff who is dedicated to communications. Over the past almost-eight years, I have provided advice to Members on a range of topics including social media  development and crisis communications responses; worked on comments to a range of media outlets and a range of government departments; and communications training sessions, to name just a few areas. I organise and run the communications forum, which has really developed over the past few years and is now a space for communications colleagues – and those seeking  communications help – can come together to share ideas and best practice, as well as ask for feedback on planned campaigns and development. We have also welcomed some great speakers and I’m always on the lookout for new voices – if there is someone that you’d like to suggest, please get in touch!

In addition to the communications work, I lead on the Confederation’s equality, diversity, and inclusion work, and recently organised our third EDI Symposium with a range of interactive workshops for Members. I have led on this area of Cobseo’s work since the first event for the membership in 2022, and I am developing our strategy to provide more support and leadership for Members across equality, diversity, and inclusion work. We are in the process of planning the next steps for this work and will share more details once they are ready.

In my “other” life, I’m a member of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (Princess Royal’s Volunteer Corps) – known as the FANY – and I’m always delighted to see Members out and about at events where we’re deployed. I’m currently the Communications Officer for the Corps and provide communications support and advice as part of the Regimental Board. I joined the Corps in 2017 and have had the privilege of being involved in a range of different deployments over the last eight years.

I am always really keen for feedback from Members on communications plans and events so please do get in touch with any thoughts or ideas here.