Who we are
Rebecca Vagi: National Lead for Make a Change
Since 2008, Rebecca has worked in the field of gender-based violence, delivering and managing frontline services for women and children, coordinating local community responses to domestic abuse in health and housing settings and worked with organisations to develop in-house interventions to enhance how they deliver services to survivors and children.
In previous roles, Rebecca was the Programme Manager of the Whole Housing Approach project at Standing Together and prior to that the Development Lead at Women’s Aid Federation of England for the Change that Lasts project. She also led on a project with the South East Coast Ambulance Service to establish a domestic abuse response within the Trust, which was the first of its kind within an ambulance service in England.
Email: rebecca.vagi@respect.org.uk
Joanna Szuryn: Regional Practice Lead (Training & Diversity)
Before joining Respect in 2021, Joanna spent almost a decade delivering individual and group support, and managing various ‘whole family’ domestic abuse projects in community, education and social care settings.
Joanna is a qualified Independent Domestic Violence Advisor and a trained Domestic Homicide Review Chair. Joanna is also an accredited Adult and Children and Young People Recovery Toolkit facilitator, and holds a level 2 certification in Narrative Practice.
Joanna's previous professional background is in teaching, training and international business development. She is fluent in Polish and German.
Email: joanna.szuryn@respect.org.uk
Dhriti Suresh Eapen: Domestic Abuse and Health Lead
Dhriti joined Respect Domestic Abuse and Health Lead in August 2024, to lead a national initiative to shape the health sector’s response to perpetrators of domestic abuse, as part of Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse’s ‘Crossing Pathways’ programme of work.
Dhriti has worked predominantly in the charity sector across a range of social justice issues. She was first drawn to the ending VAWG sector in 2017, as a volunteer on the National Domestic Abuse Helpline, and has since worked in a variety of roles across service delivery both in frontline and operational management, and changing systems through programme development and management, as well as carrying out research and evaluations. Dhriti is passionate about collaboration and centring lived and learned experience to enact effective systems change.
In her spare time, she likes to go for walks with her gorgeous rescue dog and is a proud trustee of a brilliant women’s mental health charity called WISH. Dhriti also holds an LLM in Human Rights Law.
Olga Trilla Rodriguez: Data and Performance Manager
Olga joined Respect in December 2022 as the Data and Performance Manager for Make a Change.
Previously, Olga has worked both for the private and NGO sectors. Her interest in data comes from her background in Physics, but she soon realised that her passion is in working for charities in education and gender. She holds an MSc in Education and International Development (UCL). In her varied experiences, she led an NGO project in Ethiopia, was an IT consultant in Barcelona, a project manager for an ed-tech start-up and a data analyst for Standing Together in the UK.
Outside work, Olga is very active and enjoys the outdoors and climbing (when weather allows). She loves trying new food and is always up for an adventure exploring other countries.