Meet The Team
Nicky Wake
Founder & CEO
Nicky Wake is a multi-award-winning serial entrepreneur, TEDx speaker, and community builder who has spent over 20 years creating world-class events. However, her most meaningful work began after a life-altering tragedy.
In 2020, Nicky lost her husband and soulmate, Andy, to COVID-19 following a heart-breaking three-year battle with a catastrophic brain injury. Navigating the "new normal" of widowhood while raising her son, Finn, Nicky quickly realised that the support systems for bereaved partners were often filled with platitudes and pity rather than the practical, raw, and honest connection she craved.
Driven by her own lived experience, Nicky turned her grief into a quest for a "million happy endings." She first launched Chapter 2, the UK’s first dating app specifically for widows and widowers, followed by WidowsFire, a platform acknowledging the human need for intimacy after loss.
With the launch of The Widowed Collective, Nicky has come full circle. As a Not-for-Profit Community Interest Company (CIC), the Collective is her commitment to ensuring no one has to walk this path alone. Her philosophy is simple: widowed people have already paid the highest price for membership, so the support should be free, peer-led, and entirely authentic.
Whether she is speaking on global stages about resilience or hosting a local social event, Nicky’s mission remains the same: to provide a safe, vibrant space for the widowed community to find hope, solidarity, and a second chapter worth writing.
Natalie Bolton
Chair of the Board and Director
Natalie Bolton is a senior leader at BBC Studios Kids & Family and Chair of the Board of The Widowed Collective. A passionate advocate for authentic, peer-led support, Natalie brings both professional expertise and lived experience to everything she does.
In 2021, on Mother’s Day, Natalie lost her husband Jonathan — the amazing dad to their twin daughters, Amelia and Isobel, who are now 18. Navigating life after such a profound loss while supporting her girls through their own grief reshaped Natalie’s perspective on community, resilience, and the importance of truly being understood.
Through her own journey, Natalie discovered the power of peer-to-peer connection — a space free from platitudes, where honesty, strength, humour, and heartbreak can coexist. It was through this community that she met her best friend, Nicky, a connection she is grateful for every single day.
Now, as Chair of the Board for The Widowed Collective, Natalie is committed to building a support network that is inclusive, accessible, and rooted in shared understanding. She believes no one should have to navigate widowhood alone, and that meaningful connection can be life-changing.
Whether leading in the creative industries or helping to shape safe spaces for the widowed community, Natalie’s mission remains the same: to foster belonging, champion compassion, and ensure that support is available to all who need.
Sam Leonard
Sam lives in East Lancashire and is originally from near Manchester. She has one son, aged 23, and was recently widowed following the loss of her husband, Chris.
She loves travelling, house music, good food, and learning new things.
Sam works as a National Director for an advocacy, equality, and inclusion charity.
She is passionate about working with others to make a difference and lives her life with kindness and compassion, prioritising empathy in every interaction.
Rosie Moss
Rosie Moss is the founder and host of Widowed AF, an award-winning podcast amplifying the voices of widows and widowers. Widowed at 37 with three young children, she speaks openly about grief, parenting and rebuilding after loss.
Through her podcast, writing and public speaking, Rosie challenges outdated narratives about widowhood and champions honest, stigma-free conversations. She brings lived experience, media insight and a strong commitment to community support to her role as a board member of The Widowed Collective.
Heather Smith
Heather is based in Lancashire and was widowed in 2021 after losing her husband, Stuart, to kidney cancer.
“After meeting at work in 2011 and marrying in 2013, together we built a family life full of happiness and laughter. Stuart spread warmth wherever he went. He was a devoted father and the joyful centre of our family. Losing him was utterly devastating, and the future we had planned disappeared quite literally overnight. Aged 33, I found myself navigating profound grief whilst raising two young children alone.”
Heather found young widowhood to be incredibly isolating, but the sense of shared understanding she gained through connecting with others in similar circumstances via a young widowed group proved to be a lifeline. Shocked to discover there was no national, free peer-to-peer support service for widows and widowers in the UK, Heather became involved in establishing The Widowed Collective. She is deeply committed to ensuring that no widow or widower has to face grief alone and is a strong advocate for peer-to-peer support.