New leadership team at The FLIP as co-founders step down

Cassie Rocks, Farzana Khan, Hannah Beeson, Omara Elling-Hwang (pictured) and Yanmin Zhuchen will take over the running of The FLIP (Female Leadership in Publishing) platform later this month.

The announcement comes three months after Ella Horne and Helena Gonda, who co-founded the platform with Sophie Christopher, announced they were stepping down "in order to allow new voices to shine". The new leadership team met through their careers in publishing and during their time on the SYP London Committee—where their tenure is ending later this month—while holding various roles across both academic and trade publishing. They will take over from 29th January 2022, the third anniversary of the launch of The FLIP. 

Rocks (pictured right) is a campaign manager at Collins and self-published crime author, who founded the HarperCollins Grow network group. Khan is a production controller at Hachette Children’s Books and currently co-chair of SYP London while Beeson is a marketing executive at Hodder Education and the head of events for SYP London.  

Joining them is Elling-Hwang, the founder of non-profit WriteUnite, who was previously an assistant editor at HarperNonFiction. She is also the co-chair of SYP London. Zhuchen (pictured below left) is the co-chair of ELEVATE, HarperCollins’ BAME network, and currently works as the international campaign manager for Collins. She is also the treasurer for SYP London. 

They said: “We have been admirers of The FLIP since Helena, Ella and Sophie started in 2019. The platform has helped all of us feel more connected to other women working in publishing as we are building our careers. We are so excited to be entrusted with shaping it for the future and building on its strong foundation.” 

The current leaders paid tribute to the new team. Horne said: “It has been an enormous privilege to build The FLIP over the last three years, connecting with pioneering women in publishing and sharing their advice with our community. We are confident that we are leaving The FLIP in safe hands.” 

Gonda commented: “We were blown away by the level of interest and calibre of applicants we received to our call out, but we know that in these five women we’ve found the perfect team to steer The FLIP into its next phase. I for one can’t wait to see what they will go on to achieve.” 

Horne and Gona, who both work at Penguin Random House, explained in October that the loss of FLIP co-founder Sophie Christopher, who died in 2019 at the age of 28, had made it difficult to "keep building on what we started". The pair have since dedicated their time to running The FLIP in memory of Christopher. “The FLIP started because of Sophie, and will always be a part of her legacy,” they said. 

For more information, contact the new team at flip.contact.us@gmail.com.