How It All Started
When I was a child, my dad would leave letters and notes around the house for me to find; colourful envelopes filled with advice, love and encouragement. On Valentine’s Day, more often than not, I’d find a hand-drawn card on my bedside table: a small piece of paper which left me feeling ten feet tall.
Banjo Robinson was born from wanting to create these special moments for other children. Banjo sends letters, stickers and surprises all year round, introducing curious minds to the wonders of the world, and encouraging them to pick up a pencil and start writing (or drawing) a reply.
My hope is that Banjo’s enthusiasm for travel, humour, kindness and compassion will be a little bit contagious.
Kate Boyle, CEO and Founder
Kate Boyle
CEO & Founder
Kate’s background in story development, time spent living abroad, and love of animals led naturally to the creation of a globetrotting cat who likes to chat.
Alan Thompson
Director of Operations
Alan has 20+ years of global management consultancy experience across a wide range of businesses focussing on finance, economics, regulation, pricing, customer engagement and awareness, sustainability and renewable energy. He’s in charge of growing Banjo Robinson sustainably and setting our cat up for enduring success across the globe!
Jon Cell
Chief Operations Officer
At Banjo HQ Jon manages special projects ranging from international expansion to supply chain optimisation to process improvement. He has 15 years of experience managing global teams and operations on three different continents; he earned an MBA degree from Harvard Business School. One day he hopes to be as well-travelled as Banjo.
Ruki Mano
Creative Director
Ruki is a full time mum, part time cooker and all round colourful character. She is in charge of everything connected with creativity, illustration and design at Banjo HQ. She is responsible for bringing Banjo’s world to life. Her dream is to buy a barn and transform it into a house for her family and their dog!
Emily Hogan
Head of Content
Emily spent 20 years working at brilliant organisations which support young people. At Banjo HQ, she writes and edits content, thinks about adventures and names animals. Banjo is her first cat.
Kay Leathers
Illustrator and Mid-weight Designer
Kay is our paw-some Illustrator and Designer here at Banjo HQ. She creates the colourful, cute and quirky characters which make up our beautiful Banjo universe! Being a former Primary School Teacher, working at Banjo Robinson is just the perfect combination of her passions: teaching and illustration.
Allie Walters
Director of Product Design
Allie is our ux-ui design specialist, entrepreneur and creative explorer. As a previous founder, she has built her very own award-winning designtech platform, working with blue-chip and not-for-profit clients. At Banjo HQ, she combines her love of innovation, product design, animals and outdoor adventure to develop pawsome Banjo products.
Alex Blanc
Lead Developer
Alex is the techno-cat technocrat at Banjo HQ, responsible for keeping things purring under the hood. He has over 20 years experience in developing award winning software in the education space.
Dory Horvath-McHugo
Customer Happiness
Dory looks after the Banjo community at Banjo HQ, empathy defines her and she ensures that all customer queries are being responded to in a timely manner, customers’ voices are being heard and that they are well looked after. Animals mean the world to her, and her own dog, Lily, is a little helper at Banjo HQ – she posts lost letters out again to Banjo’s little penpals!
Lara Melendez Sanchez
Operations Executive
Born and raised in southern Spain, Lara has continuously contributed to private and public organisations that help young people. At Banjo HQ she ensures that the Cat Mail service never pawses and measures how much everyone loves being Banjo’s friend.
Divinia Knowles
Board Director
Leadership & team coach, angel investor, startup advisor across a range of business including some of the most exciting children brands and products in the market. Ex CXO & Director Moshi Monsters & Pact Coffee, now loves helping startups and their people to grow and develop whilst developing three lovely small girls of her own.
Andy Evans
Board Member
A father of 2 boys, Andy has founded and sold three publishing/marketing businesses. He’s an adviser, mentor and investor and loves travelling the world, just like Banjo!
Marina Gorey
Board Member
Co-founder of kidtech pioneer SuperAwesome. Passionate about empowering individuals to reach their full potential and collectively succeed. Leads People Ops at Seedcamp, Investor at The Fund. Mother to one of Banjos’ biggest fans.
Anna Kemp
Writer in Residence
I have written picture books about dogs (Dogs don’t do Ballet), frogs (Sir Lilypad), rebel royals (The Worst Princess), and monsters (Dave, the Lonely Monster) but, until recently, no cats! So I am thrilled to be prowling and yowling with Team Banjo.
I’m not allowed to have a cat of my own – too many sneezers in my house – but if I did, I’d want one that shared my love of travel, languages, stories, and, of course, stickers. I’d want a cat just like Banjo. Wouldn’t you?
Sylvia Bishop
Writer in Residence
I’m Sylvia Bishop, and I write children’s fiction of all shapes and sizes. I’ve written about globe-trotting adventures (The Secret of the Night Train), characterful animals (Erica’s Elephant) and the joy of sharing stories from our lives (A Sea of Stories) – so it’s a treat to combine all three with Banjo! I had five cats of my own growing up, all lovable eccentrics, and I’m delighted to be putting this intensive education in bonkers cats to good use.
Kit Boss
Writer in Residence
Kit has a long history raising animals (mostly dogs, rabbits, and sheep) and a shorter one writing and producing American television. His credits include Bill Nye the Science Guy, Bob’s Burgers, and a U.S. version of the Aardman Animations classic, Creature Comforts. And if those animals could talk, who’s to say that cats can’t write?
