Member Spotlight: Jamie Wallis, Founder, NeuroKind

Introduce yourself:

Confession time. I am a bit of a cuckoo egg in a starling’s nest, as I am not a Mancunian. I come from the same flatlands as Alan Partridge (Norwich) but have a historical connection to Manchester, with a relative who worked on Manchester Docks for 50 years. I am also related to Lal Hilditch, who was a player/manager for Manchester United in the 1920s. Poor Lal had a worse win percentage than Ruben Amorim, so maybe now it’s better the Red Devil you know!

Career highlight:

Imposter syndrome has lived rent free in my head for as long as I can remember, so I never thought I would has founded my own business in NeuroKind. Aside from that, as a kid I had a speech impediment, so talking in front of over 800 people on stage was a scary highlight. Finally, I also edited Loaded magazine (don’t judge me!) despite being the man very much least likely to do so (Cat Monthly was more my jam but the commute to Lincoln where it was based would have been a killer).

Name three words that describe your personality:

Tongue-in-cheek

What’s the best thing about pro-manchester?

When I came up with the idea of NeuroKind there was only one city I wanted to launch it in; Manchester. Why? The people are so open, have a can-do attitude and tend to have an excellently dry sense of humour. I feel akin with them. The people at pro-manchester embody this.

What are your priorities for 2025?

Only 1-3 start-ups survive. That’s the raw facts. So I want to purely sign up as many organisations as I can so NeuroKind survives. NeuroKind was created to enable all organisations to be able to access and afford a way of creating workplaces where neurodiverse employees can fulfil their potential. I truly believe that by improving workplaces for neurodiverse individuals, through osmosis, we can also improve society too.

Favourite meeting place in Manchester?

I LOVE Manchester Art Gallery – especially the coffee shop. Also, props to the Junction at Manchester Central – their lunchtime scran (am I allowed to use this word? Cuckoo!) is delicious.

Are their any particular types of businesses that you would like to meet?

I would love to meet like-minded organisations who champion neurodiversity and also those companies out there, who want to improve their workplace offering but don’t know where to start. We can help.  Power to [all] the people!