who we are

We are passionate about boosting opportunities for those in the business of education and who have all enjoyed the experience of benefits of the international education sector. Our mission and vision is clear. We want to empower women and those underrepresented to break down the barriers at the top in organisations across the education sector globally.

Meet the Team

  • A woman with red hair standing on a beach with sand and ocean waves, distant hills under a blue sky.

    Briony Richter

    CO-FOUNDER

    Bri brings over a decade of media and comms experience to our community. At Nexus Media Group she specialised across education sectors and hosted networking events throughout the year. She is passionate about improving EDI across the sector. As a journalist she developed a passion for storytelling and crafting compelling narratives that engage and inform audiences. Previously she has worked across technology, business, finance and politics as both a media officer and editor.

    LinkedIn
  • A man in a blue suit and glasses is speaking at a podium with a microphone, gesturing with his hands, at an event with a backdrop displaying the University of Mississippi logo and a sign with the Google G2 logo.

    Girish C. Ballolla

    CO-FOUNDER

    Girish is passionate about the international education sector and has dedicated much of his career to enhancing opportunities for the next generation of leaders. Before working in education he spent over 13 years in HR, sales and marketing and operations, across a variety of industries in the US. As founder and CEO of Gen Next Education, Girish brings decades of experience as a social entrepreneur, along with his innovative community platform, to our global network.

    LinkedIn

  • Simone rensch

    CO-FOUNDER

    Passionate about helping women accelerate in their career, Simone brought expertise in setting up, growing and engaging global education communities and working towards a more diverse sector. She set up and led the Business Women in Education network to address challenges facing women during her tenure at EducationInvestor Global, before joining The PIE.

    LinkedIn

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Our story as founders was in many ways a long time coming, but once we met each other, it all made sense. We want to empower women and those underrepresented to break down the barriers that are holding them back to get to the top.


To cut a long story short, Simone started writing about education in 2019 and quickly decided it was time to bring something new to the (male-dominated) business of education, so, with the support of a strong network of female leaders in the sector, she launched Business Women in Education during her time as deputy editor of EducationInvestor Global (owned by Nexus Media Group). 

There were some hesitations amongst management on the future success of such a network, but it continued to grow into a global network.

Nexus is where Simone met Bri who was a fellow education editor. Although lockdown kept everyone out of the office, Bri and Simone developed a strong friendship and when it was time for Simone to take her maternity leave, she asked Bri to take the reins. 

All good journeys start written on a napkin right? Nope, not a metaphor that is exactly how it began one evening after Simone and Bri met up at an event and spoke about the lack of diversity of speakers and what was needed to change this. 

Over the next few weeks those couple of words on a napkin expanded into an actionable business plan. One afternoon, sitting in a Leon in central London, the name just came to Bri and our brand, EDI-T Network was born. Our team started with two journalists who have a passion about all things diversity and promoting it across all levels for those working in the business of education. 

As journalists we’ve had our fair share of ‘editing’ and experience of working in companies that don’t even consider diversity and equality a priority, let alone a top one. We knew that there was a vast number of people who are not represented fairly and not given the same access to equitable opportunities. It was time for us to branch out, find them and build our network to drive change.

Around the same time, Simone was invited on a podcast to discuss her career in international education. One of the hosts of Destiny Benders, was intrigued by what led to BWiE and the two had a follow up call. In less than an hour, Girish Ballolla joined Simone and Bri’s journey bringing decades of experience as a social entrepreneur in the sector - and his amazing platform which would bring the vision to the next level. Just like that, the EDI-T founding team of three came together.

And this just proves that, as they say, it truly is all about who you know, not what you know.