Sophie is an early-career, Highlands-based Creative Learning Practitioner who is building upon a practice centred on care and kindness in creative spaces. She is an advocate for the arts and the crucial skills they develop beyond the rehearsal room, such as creativity, communication, collaboration, problem solving, and empathy. Sophie's workshops focus on drama and performance skills with fun at the heart of each session. As an emerging Playwright, her artistic interests lie in autobiographical performance and theatre based on the women’s experience, using personal experiences to fuel her writing and performance. In 2020, she achieved a place in Scottish Youth Theatre's 2020 Stories writers' mentorship programme, allowing her to explore her playwriting practice with mentorship from Hannah Lavery. Sophie also obtained a position with Traverse Theatre's Young Writers' Programme, furthering her practice focusing on translating personal experiences into a theatrical, palatable format for audience members. As a Co-Founder, Artist & Community Officer for Vivid Roots Collective (VRC), Sophie manages the artists’ journeys with the company from application through to a six-month phase-out. She leads on artist engagement, wellbeing, and support. Within this role, she leads on workshop delivery and is the Artist Liaison for all projects (a new role designed by VRC, in response to the lack of support for emerging theatre-makers when entering the creative industry). Sophie facilitates Budding Collective, a new strand of the company where emerging theatre-makers of any age can come together and work on their creative development and co-create a performance for ROOTS Festival. Training and Experience: University of the Highlands and Islands - BA (Hons) Drama & Performance - First Class - 2016/20 North East Scotland College - NCFE Level 2 Equalities and Diversity - 2022 Mental Health First Aid trained (2022) First Aid at Work trained (2022) PVG - with LAC, Wonder Fools & Traverse