Gabriella Weekes

When Sleek Events created a temporary sustainability post in late 2023, Gabriella Weekes inherited a blank page: no formal strategy, no baseline emissions data and no governance framework. In less than two years, she has turned that short-term remit into one of the agency's defining business functions. Drawing on her background in live event delivery, Weekes engineered a sustainability roadmap that reaches far beyond policy-writing, threading practical ESG thinking through procurement, production, reporting and post-event review. The judges found the pace of progress impressive, with one describing it as "a standing start".

In her time, Weekes has worked with a broad brush. She led the development of Sleek's first materiality assessment and sustainability strategy, built around People, Planet and Partners, with targets aligned to a 52% emissions reduction by 2030 and net zero by 2040. She introduced isla's TRACE platform as the company's event carbon measurement tool, secured board approval for sustainability investment, and then accelerated dual ISO 14001 and ISO 20121 certifications, achieved through BSI in just four months, after client demand accelerated the timetable. To keep momentum going, she rolled out company-wide training with 100% full-time employee completion, launched a cross-department Sustainability Champions network and embedded sustainability targets into the annual bonus scheme, creating accountability at every level.

However, just as important is that Weekes has widened the conversation beyond Sleek's walls. She has begun auditing suppliers, advising clients on lower-impact event planning and helped shape the agency's external sustainability communications. The outcome is not that of a green narrative, but a credible operating model with internal, client and peer influence. As one judge put it, this is "sustainability transformational change across the company's operations, team and event delivery".