Elaine Clarke
In 1984 Elaine Clarke began working as a waitress at her aunt’s café, called Tabac, in Liverpool. Leading on from that she became assistant manager at both Birdy’s Bar and Kelly’s Wine Bar as well as continuing to manage Tabac. She was headhunted in 1991 to work as the General Manager of Baa Bar’s founding site. At the time Baa Bar had been floundering toward closure, but over the years Elaine has been able to make the project work to become a strong business with clear market position and cult status. She has won an astonishing number of awards (8 personal and 19 for the company). She was also chosen as one of the 366 most influential Scousers on the planet (Liverpool Echo – Jan 08)! “I believe I have proved that being black, a Liverpudlian, a woman and a single mother are not insurmountable obstacles in the world of business!” When she does manage to get some free time, she spends it with her son, Oliver.
Tom Lang
Tom is the director of Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, chairman of Sense of Sound, and the managing director and rotational chairman of 3345 Ltd & Parr Street Recording Studios. From 1986-1990 he worked as a recording artist and writer at Sony Records (Epic) where he recorded two albums. In a live capacity, he performed with such artists as Nina Simone, Jools Holland, Alison Moyet, Suzanne Vega, Black and Ruby Turner. Between 1990-1994, he set up Dry Communications, of which he worked as managing director. and released a further 3 albums. Between 1994-1996, he worked as executive producer and recording artist for Nippon Columbia. During 1996-2000, he worked in a voluntary capacity, setting up an annual fundraising music event as patron of Merseyside AIDS Support Group and Mersey Body Positive. From 1997-2001, he was director of River Media, producing Liverpool’s Capital of Culture 2008 video bid.
Born in Grenada in the West Indies, Mike has lived in the North West of England since 1968. He began his broadcasting career as a freelance presenter at Piccadilly Radio in 1978 where he became Head of Music in 1993. Mike joined BBC Radio Manchester as a soul music presenter in 1987 & co-presented BBC1's ‘Open Air’. While at the BBC, Mike set up the Sunset Radio group which won the Incremental Licence for Central Manchester. He became the managing director and programme controller at Sunset in 1989, a station aimed at ethnic minorities in Mcr. He also worked for 3 and a half years as lead commentator for Sky TV covering British Basketball. In 2000, he worked as series editor of the Dream on TV for the GOD Network. During the summer of 2002 Mike was invited to present Breakfast and to look after the music at BBC 2002 - Commonwealth Games Radio in Manchester. Following its success, Mike successfully applied for a post as assistant editor of BBC GMR. He continues to present the Multi Faith Sunday Breakfast show on BBC GMR.