Abbie Cooke
Inspiring Speaker
Abbie delivers dynamic training courses, workshops and events, and constantly develops her passion for enterprise, leadership and creativity – and for making a difference in the community.
Abbie works with companies and charities of all sizes in a wide range of business sectors from care homes to corporations. She will help your organisation transform. She will inspire, motivate and train your team and will help you find creative solutions to enhance your brand.
Experience
Abbie Cooke MSc MBA is an award-winning social entrepreneur, sculptor and speaker. She runs dynamic workshops and interactive events themed around her vision to help you “Set Free Your Creativity” via her company Brand Cooke and her charity Gig-Arts based in the Cotswolds.
Abbie’s work bridges both business and the arts. Fascinated by the visual and performing arts, she has a degree in the History of Art and Design and a London City and Guild School of Art Diploma in wood carving and gilding. Equally committed to business, marketing and social entrepreneurship, Abbie gained a CIM diploma in Marketing, an MSc in Entrepreneurship with distinction from BCU, and in 2022 an MBA with distinction from Oxford Brookes Business School. She continues to take a keen interest in research in the context of the Creative Industries associated with well-being and inclusion.
Early in her career, Abbie worked in marketing financial services at accountancy firm PwC in Manchester and then in London at Moore Global (previously Moore Stephens) leading accountants to the shipping industry. Abbie embraced Maritime London and rediscovered her interest in nautical art pursuing her passion, to become “Britain’s only female ships’ figurehead carver”, which led to a position as artist-in-residence / ships’ carver onboard London’s landmark museum battleship cruiser HMS Belfast.
Abbie also went on to launch her own international art agency business for the shipping industry and became Britain’s largest supplier of artwork for Cunard’s prestigious Queen Mary 2.
In the rural Cotswolds, Abbie’s ships’ figurehead carving gained a second revival with the opportunity to inspire school children to appreciate traditional arts and crafts and the beneficial role the arts play in nurturing wellbeing in society.
Building on her passion for large events, Abbie set up a professional speakers bureau. Her clients ranged from Cunard and ITV and DeVere Hotel Group to Borough Councils and Universities. In 2009, she embarked upon a highly successful European Tour with the Institute for Management Studies delivering full one-day training events in London, Edinburgh, Brussels and Amsterdam.
Abbie also enjoyed curating and organising art exhibitions and worked with BT Wholesale to promote the work of highly talented disabled artists with exhibitions and presentations at BT, NYK Shipping, N-Power and the British Paralympic Association. A highlight of her art career has been co-curating an exhibition at Tate Modern on London’s Southbank.
In 2005, Abbie co-founded Gig-Arts that became a registered charity in 2013. The Gig-Arts charity helps aspiring artists with dis-ABILITIES to shine. Abbie was honoured to win two awards for the founding of Gig-Arts – The Association of Business Schools ABS UK Business School Student of the Year for Corporate Social Responsibility, and a British Female Inventor Innovator of the Year award. In order to effectively fulfill her role at Gig-Arts, she attended the chief executive course at the University of London’s Centre for Charity Effectiveness. The year 2025 marks twenty exciting years of celebrating the charity’s creativity in the community and a series of special events are scheduled for artists of all abilities.
