In 2026, seventeen City St George’s and Bayes alumni were recognised in the King’s New Year and Birthday Honours for their considerable impact on the causes they champion. To showcase some of the achievements and with The Edit’s theme in mind, we spoke to barrister Kate Aubrey-Johnson OBE and Chief Executive Naomi Hulston MBE about their respective careers and how it enables them to help care-experienced young people find meaningful work.
“The world in which we live is complex, right? And within that complexity, you’ve got young people who are growing up in situations where they don’t necessarily have access to some of the generational knowledge that might come from traditional setups and traditional families,” Naomi Hulston MBE (MSc in Executive Leadership, Business Administration and Management, 2021), says.
Naomi is Chief Executive at Catch22, a wide-ranging not-for-profit that builds resilience and aspiration in people and communities, including care leavers. Going into adulthood, young people who grow up in care often navigate a multitude of challenges and finding meaningful work is one.
“Some of those young people are the furthest away from the labour market any young people will ever be. So how do you help them bridge the gap?”
Care leavers have often experienced trauma, a disjointed education, lack of access to financial and emotional support and beneficial networks. To improve their wellbeing and opportunities, Catch22 offers a range of services, including coaching, peer mentoring, workshops and insight into what work really looks like at collaborating businesses.
“It’s about creating environments for young people where they can get a taste of the real world and understand how the work that they do will contribute to looking after themselves and caring for themselves, and also how it contributes to society and how they can make a difference.”
Naomi joined Catch22 almost 20 years ago and became Chief Executive in 2022. Wanting to excel in a role that had a strong focus on leadership and administration, she completed the MSc in Executive Leadership, Business Administration and Management at Bayes Business School in 2021.
“By background, my degree was in youth and community work, so that’s a practise-based degree. The idea was to bring my theory up to the same level as my practice and make sure that my decisions were rooted in theory and in the discipline of leadership and management.”
With in-depth knowledge at every level, Naomi is highly aware of how vulnerable many care-experienced young people are. She believes it is important they understand the dangers they might face if they do not develop resilience and find purpose in their everyday lives.
“They need to be told you are at risk of people trying to hurt you, but the way to get out of that is to do this, this and this and also, to move into work, to move into employment, to move into education and do something positive.”
Naomi also stresses the importance of children and young people being taught their rights and having people they can turn to if they are mistreated.
Barrister Kate Aubrey-Johnson OBE (Bar Vocational Course, 2001) has spent much of her career fighting for the rights of children.
“When I graduated from my first degree,” Kate says. “I went and worked for a national children’s charity and did youth work, which I loved. But what I didn’t like was not having agency and not having a voice because it wasn’t considered a high-status job.”
Kate decided to train as a lawyer and completed the Bar Vocational Course at The City Law School in 2001. She went on to become a barrister and mediator at Garden Court Chambers.
“As a criminal lawyer, I have been advocating for over a decade that we need specialist training for those who represent and prosecute children in the justice system,” Kate says. “It should be seen as the most challenging and complex area of work rather than the most junior. It’s shocking that for years the Youth Court has been considered a training ground for newly qualified barristers.
“One of the areas that I knew for a long time was important for criminal lawyers to know about was care-experience and what it means to be care-experienced. This is the only way we are going to reduce the overcriminalisation of care-experienced children.”
Kate became a champion of care-experienced, aspiring lawyers somewhat by chance. In collaboration with Dr Laura Janes KC, Kate worked with a group of care-experienced young people to write a guide for criminal lawyers. On reading the guide, Lucy Barnes, care-experienced herself and about to start her pupillage, got in touch to find out about opportunities to get involved. Kate explained to Lucy, “This is not new law. It’s been there, theoretically protecting this group of vulnerable people, but it’s just not known. It’s like a nice to have. It’s not in our DNA. The only way it’s going to change is if we have care-experienced lawyers and if we have care-experienced judges. And that was the genesis of Lawyers Who Care.”
Co-founded by Lucy and Kate, Lawyers Who Care is a charity committed to breaking down barriers for care-experienced aspiring lawyers through long-term mentoring opportunities, workshops and resources, networking and a community that aims to erode stigma.
“One of the challenges for the care-experienced community is the stigma associated with being care-experienced,” Kate explains. “Traditionally it’s seen as a negative and something that maybe would make them a less attractive employee. Part of our work at Lawyers Who Care is for lawyers recognise that these young people entering the workforce have many skills and aptitudes that they’ve had to acquire to be resilient and resourceful and multitask.
“The dream is to have openly care-experienced lawyers and judges; with the wider legal community celebrating diversity amongst legal professionals as well as the judiciary.”
Naomi Hulston’s and Kate Aubrey-Johnson’s extensive work in their respective fields was recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours list 2026. Naomi received a Members of the Order of the British Empire for ‘services to young people’ and Kate an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for ‘services to children and the youth justice system’. Asked how they felt about the recognition, they both expressed surprise but also gratitude.
“For me it felt more meaningful that it was from the community in which I’d helped and supported,” Naomi says. “To be recognised for my services to young people for the past 25 years, that was super special.”
“My immediate reaction was just one of surprise and of course it was huge to receive recognition for the work I have been doing for over a decade, much of which has been voluntarily after a full day’s work,” Kate says. “And it was also recognition that children’s rights are finally being properly understood within the criminal justice system.”
City St George’s UniCares provides dedicated support to students who are care-experienced, estranged from their families, young adult carers, or forced migrants. Ali, a final year BSc Aeronautical Engineering student, lost both his parents at the age of ten and his time in the care system was challenging, but with the support of UniCares, he is now excelling and working hard to become an airline pilot. Read Ali’s story and learn more about the support UniCares offers.
Read the full lists of City St George’s alumni recognised in 2026:
King’s New Year Honours
King’s Birthday Honours