Case Study: Fearless Futures Clarifying Equity Work for Real Impact
By: Anwar Abdou
Published on: 25-01-2026
Fearless Futures is an organisation built on intellectual rigour, courage, and a deep commitment to systemic change. Founded over a decade ago, their work sits at the intersection of social science, lived experience, and organisational strategy, helping institutions understand how power, oppression, and inequity are produced and sustained, and how they can be dismantled at scale.
Their approach was never symbolic. As Rubie Clarke explained, “There’s no point celebrating people if the structures around them still fail them.” From recruitment and promotion to policy and data, Fearless Futures focuses on the systems that shape outcomes, not just the narratives around them.
Navigating a Crowded, Confusing Landscape
As their work deepened and the global context shifted, a new challenge emerged. The DEI landscape had become crowded, politicised, and increasingly diluted. Radical language was everywhere, but meaningful change was not. Organisations were confused. Budgets were shrinking. Trust was fragile.
Internally, Fearless Futures felt this tension acutely. “We were doing very serious, very rigorous work,” Rubie shared, “but we were increasingly being grouped into an industry that we don’t fully align with.”
Tags: brand strategy, narrative clarity, strategic positioning, organisational storytelling, equity-led organisations
Doing serious work but finding it hard to name it clearly?
A Legacy of Integrity and Courage
Aligning the Brand with the Mission
As Fearless Futures’ work expanded in depth and scope, their brand began to lag behind the organisation they had become. Over the years, their focus had sharpened: working with institutions to interrogate systems, redesign structures, and address inequity at its roots through research-led consultancy, learning, and strategy. The work was rigorous, demanding, and deeply human.
Yet their brand had not evolved at the same pace.
Shaped by different phases of growth and multiple iterations over time, the visual identity and messaging felt fragmented and overly corporate. It didn’t fully capture the warmth, intellectual precision, or courage that define how Fearless Futures operates in the world. More importantly, it didn’t give their team the language they needed to clearly and consistently articulate the depth of their work.
Internally, this showed up in small but telling ways. Conversations were rich and nuanced but difficult to distil.
“We could talk for hours,” Rubie said, “but we couldn’t land the sentence.”
What Fearless Futures needed was not a reinvention but alignment. Language and structure that could hold complexity without oversimplifying it.
A clearer narrative that reflected both the seriousness of their work and the care with which they approach it. At a moment when equity work was being questioned, diluted, and misunderstood, they needed a brand that could communicate their purpose with confidence, clarity, and integrity.
The Olives & Heather Role
The collaboration began not with visuals, but with strategy.
Olives & Heather worked closely with the Fearless Futures team through a structured, reflective process, one designed to create safety for disagreement, exploration, and refinement. Rather than imposing answers, we helped surface what was already there.
“What stood out,” Rubie reflected, “was how thoughtful and considered the process was. There was no cookie-cutter approach, just a sense that we were figuring it out together.”
Together, we clarified Fearless Futures’ core narrative, shaping a vision that finally felt right: a world where equity is inevitable.
From there, we translated depth into structure, distilling mission, values, and positioning without losing intellectual integrity. We then brought this clarity into tangible assets: a simplified, flexible brand system and a core slide deck designed for real use by a global team of facilitators.
“Katherine helped us understand what the actual problems were,” Rubie shared. “And once we understood that, the solutions became clearer too.”
The work balanced rigour with creativity, anchoring Fearless Futures’ voice in courage, innovation, and precision, while ensuring the brand could finally support, rather than constrain, their work.
“We now know who we’re speaking to and how,” Rubie said. “That makes it much easier to connect with organisations that are ready to do this work seriously.”
As they move forward, Fearless Futures is focusing on deeper strategic partnerships with organisations willing to engage with equity at the level it demands—courageously, rigorously, and systemically.
For Olives & Heather, this collaboration reflects what we believe at our core: when organisations are given space to think clearly, name what matters, and articulate their truth with precision, their impact becomes harder to ignore.
Sometimes, the most powerful transformation begins not with action but with language that finally fits.
Looking Ahead
With a renewed sense of clarity, Fearless Futures is now better equipped to meet the moment they’re operating in.
Their messaging is sharper. Their identity feels aligned. Internally, the vision, mission, and values have landed, not as slogans, but as shared reference points that guide decisions and partnerships.
Work With Us
Great stories deserve to be seen!
At Olives & Heather, we help organisations with heart and purpose amplify their impact. If you’re ready to share your story and shape perceptions, we’d love to help.
Reach out and let’s build something meaningful together.