We believe in more cooperation, less conflict.
We are on a mission to boost the wellbeing, employability and success of young people globally.
Through social-emotional learning and personal development for young people, we are helping the world to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals: 3.4 Mental health and wellbeing; 4.4 Skills for employment; 4.7 Peace and non-violence; 10.2 Inclusion of all.
Our values support our vision of a world with more cooperation and less conflict:
- Tech for good
- Improving lives
- Personal growth
- Positivity
- Mutual respect
- Social benefit
- Communication
- Open-mindedness
- Self-control
- Resilience
- Problem solving
- Being realistic
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How we got here
Persona Education was started in the UK in 2020 by entrepreneur Pete Read and edtech thought-leader Dr Leila Khouja Walker. We wanted to make the benefits of personality insights available to young people by developing online learning solutions to help fill some of the gaps our education system can leave open. Gaps such as social-emotional skills, wellbeing and employability.
Our Theory of Change research in early 2020 confirmed the need and interest among educators and students. In May 2020 we won an Innovate UK grant to support our app development. Our flagship online learning platform Persona Life Skills was first released in October 2020.
In November 2020 we were awarded a second Innovate UK grant for R&D to further improve the Persona Life Skills web platform. This enabled us to take the platform to a new level of personalised learning. It has since been upgraded several times and the latest version is v3.1.
In September 2021 we were shortlisted as a Top 10 EdTech Finalist in the Super Connect for Good competition. And in November 2021 we were selected from among over 1,150 entrants as a Finalist in the 2021 GESAwards ‘The New Age Learners’ track, in partnership with the Center for Educational Technology.
In April 2022 we were shortlisted for the WISE Edtech Accelerator 2022/23 program, and in August 2022 invited to join the SuperCharger Ventures EdTech Accelerator 5.0 cohort. Over 270 companies applied to join the programme – only 12 were accepted.
In September 2022 Persona Education was shortlisted as a top 10 finalist for ‘Best Product for Wellbeing in the Classroom’ in the GESS Awards, and a top 10 ‘Impact Challenge’ finalist in the Super Connect For Good competition.
We were shortlisted from among over 1,700 entrants in December 2023 for the ‘Preparing for the 21st Century World’ track in The Tools Competition edtech innovation programme sponsored by Open AI.
In April 2024 Pete Read received the Most Influential CEO Award in the Social-Emotional Learning category, by CEO Monthly magazine.
We are a proud BESA Launchpad member and part of the BESA LendED program. We are also a Google Cloud for Startups member.
At the heart of all our work is our social, practical and memorable personality insights framework that young people will want to keep using – for life.
Why the ‘Persona’ brand name?
Literally, persona means ‘person’ in Latin, and in Roman times it also referred to a mask worn by an actor.
The word was adopted by the ancient Greeks and has come to mean the public image of someone’s personality, or the social role they adopt.
So ‘Persona’ refers to our underlying personality, but also the possibility of adapting our social style to suit the life challenges we encounter, and achieve positive outcomes.
We are on a mission to boost the wellbeing and success of young people globally.
