Acorn winner 2007: Astrid Wears-Taylor

Age: 29
Position: Fundraising and marketing manager, Hospitality Action

Career to date

Wears-Taylor joined Hospitality Action in 2002 as a fundraising executive and was promoted to her current post the following year. In addition to her core duties of marketing and fundraising, she is also responsible for PR, events and publications and manages three staff. Before joining Hospitality Action, she worked as an administrator at the British Red Cross Society and taught English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Italy for a year.

Why is she a winner?

Wears-Taylor has had a massive impact on industry charity Hospitality Action (HA), and her flair for fundraising has helped provide the cash to support the efforts of the 10-strong team in improving the lives of former hospitality workers who have fallen on hard times.

Since joining HA, Wears-Taylor has gained the charity a number of influential supporters and is personally responsible for nearly quadrupling the net contribution of the fundraising department from £184,000 in 2002 to £693,000 in 2006. Over this period she also tripled the number of companies adopting HA as their charity of the year from eight to 24.

Wears-Taylor has also impressed in her stewardship of the charity's events, most notably the Hospitality Industry Ball, with revenue up by nearly 10% last year compared with the previous ball. And her work on a recent advertising campaign featuring top chefs has helped to raise awareness of the charity to new heights.