Turning personal loss into professional impact: Rachel’s story

September 2025

When WAY Ambassador Rachel had the chance to put WAY forward for pro bono support from the company where she’s a Senior Director, she jumped at the chance to give back to the charity that’s been a lifeline for her…

---

Rachel Horne, a Senior Director at the market research and strategy firm Savanta, knows firsthand how powerful the right support can be for bereaved partners. Six years ago, her husband Nick died suddenly when she was eight months pregnant. 

“At the time, I was focusing on looking after my daughter, Mabel,” she recalls. “Then I saw an Instagram Live with WAY Ambassador Orlanda – who was also widowed while pregnant. That was my aha moment. I realised I’d found my group.”

Rachel got in touch with Orlanda and they have formed a tightknit unit made up of young mums within WAY who were also widowed while pregnant. They talk about motherhood and being widowed. They are there for each other in the tough times and have even been away together with their daughters, who also benefit from spending time with other bereaved children.

---

Rachel is now an Ambassador for WAY Widowed and Young, a UK charity for people widowed before their 51^st birthday. And her daughter Mabel has just started the second year of school. But while the value of joining a peer-to-peer support network like WAY is crystal clear to people once they’ve become part of that community, it can be harder for non-members to grasp what a lifeline it can be:

“Once you’re a member of WAY, you understand the benefits,” explains Rachel. “But it’s a bit more difficult if you’re outside the charity to understand how it can help.”

Rachel saw an opportunity to bridge that gap. Each year, Savanta chooses a charity or start-up for a pro bono research project worth £25k-£30k. Drawing on her own experience of being widowed at a young age, Rachel put WAY forward to be chosen for her company’s pro bono support: 

“I can see how small the charity is, and I thought there had to be a way to help them gain engagement and traction,” she says. “I’m also time poor, so this felt like a clear way to combine my WAY Ambassador role with my professional work.”

Giving back to WAY

From March to July 2025, Savanta explored how WAY could increase awareness of the charity and strengthen its current services. They organised interviews with more than 500 young widowed people – both WAY members and non members – and shared their findings with the charity to help make sure more people find WAY’s support.

The Savanta team found the experience deeply rewarding. “They were a really great team, and I think they got a lot out of it,” Rachel says. “For many, it was their first time working on something connected to bereavement. Talking about death at work can feel uncomfortable, but it opened doors to other important conversations.”

---

For Rachel, focusing on WAY and talking about her own bereavement also changed how she was seen within her company: “Sharing my story sparked openness with other colleagues, and I think talking about death at work is super important,” she says.

Rachel says combining her professional skills with her personal experience hasn’t always been easy. “For a time, being widowed felt like everything about who I was in my personal life. So it was nice to keep that separate at work,” she says. “Whereas now I think I’m at a point where I’m fine talking about it.”

The turning point for Rachel was when she gave a talk to her company on International Women’s Day last year.

“That was the first time I’d ever talked about being widowed or about anything to do with that side of my life,” she says. “It was all senior women talking about their careers, but obviously it was kind of remiss of me to talk about my career without talking about the massive thing  that happened in my personal life – and has had a big impact on how I can work because I am parenting Mabel on my own. Everyone was really understanding and I think it helped them to understand me and the way that I am a little bit better.”

Suggesting WAY for pro bono support was a way to give back to the charity that has been such a lifeline for Rachel, while helping colleagues see the human stories behind the company’s research.

“Most companies have budgets or opportunities to support charities,” she says. “And when you really care about a cause – as we all do about WAY – you feel good about putting it forward.”

She advises any WAY members or supporters who work for a company big or small to look out for opportunities to support WAY, whether as a charity of the year or through discrete pro bono support projects like this one.

“It feels really good to be able to give back to the charity that has been such a huge source of support for me and Mabel,” she says.