Meet the team
We are Jeffrey Boakye and Sophie Hostick-Boakye, husband and wife and business partners. We work together to deliver training, talks, events and journalism on race, masculinity, education and popular culture.
Jeffrey also co-hosts BBC Radio 4’s double award winning Add to Playlist, and appears on numerous other radio shows and podcasts.
Jeffrey is also an occasional journalist, writing for numerous publications including Writer’s Mosaic, The Guardian and The Financial Times, and publishes a very popular Substack newsletter - Are You Sitting Comfortably? - which grapples with the realities and intersections of identity politics: race, gender, socio-economics, ethnicity. Subscribe here.
Jeffrey has been nominated, longlisted and shortlisted for numerous awards, including the Carnegies, the Week Junior Book Awards, Bread & Roses Award for Radical Publishing, Schools Library Association Information Books Awards, and the Jhalak Prize. He has won The Quiz writer’s Choice Awards 2023 for Secondary Non-Fiction and the UKLA Information Books 3- 14+ Award. In 2025, Jeffrey was shortlisted for the ALCS Ruth Rendell Award, which recognises the writer or author who has had the most significant influence on literacy in the UK over the past year. He has also acted as a judge for the Inclusive Books for Children Awards, The Week Junior Book Awards and the Faber FAB Prize.
In January 2023, the University of Leicester bestowed the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters on Jeffrey, recognising his work in equality, education and writing (watch his speech here). He is also a primary school Governor and is proud to be a Patron of The National Association for Teaching of English (NATE) and an Ambassador of The PTI.
Jeffrey
Jeffrey Boakye is an ex-teacher turned writer, speaker and educator, known for weaving together complex issues of our time in an accessible and engaging way.
With a particular interest in issues surrounding race, masculinity, education and popular culture, Jeffrey uses his charisma, energy and talent for the spoken and written word to write and educate.
Jeffrey is the critically acclaimed author of:
Musical Truth: A musical journey through modern black Britain
Musical World: Modern World History as You’ve Never Heard it Before
Hold Tight: Black masculinity, millennials and the meaning of grime
What is Masculinity? Why does it matter? And other big questions (co-authored with Darren Chetty).
Jeffrey draws on his insights as an English teacher of 15 years, first in West London, then in establishing a successful English department in East London, and then finally teaching in East Yorkshire, to provide training to schools, universities, Multi Academy Trusts, charities and businesses. Jeffrey also keeps his hand in in the classroom by delivering sessions and workshops to school students. He is also a Senior Teaching Fellow at Manchester Institute of Education, helping to train new teachers.
Sophie
Sophie is Director and Business Manager at Jeffrey Boakye Ltd, and is the first port of call for enquiries to work with Jeffrey.
With a particular interest in social inequality, community engagement and representation, Sophie uses her organisational skills and passion for equity to co-ordinate Jeffrey’s engagements.
Sophie’s background in research, social inequality, project management and community engagement in local government, the charity sector and the corporate sector makes her the ideal person to lead the business. In her managerial role, Sophie liaises with schools, contacts within UK publishing, independent bookshops, libraries and businesses.
Sophie is also Awards and Book Box Co-ordinator for Inclusive Books for Children, a charity with aims close to her heart.
An avid reader herself and with her two sons, Sophie is interested in ensuring books that are representative of marginalised communities are accessed by children and families of all backgrounds. She has supported her sons’ school to improve their selection of books for the curriculum and reading for pleasure.
Sophie is also an amateur printmaker: @SophieKingo_Prints.