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.
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.