Our guest today is Charlie Blair from the Blair Academy. There are some huge

existential challenges that the West are facing, such as how we tackle climate

change, how do we tackle obesity, and how do we look after an ageing population.

So the team were very excited to pitch the Blair Academy, although when they

first mentioned hip-hop dancing for grannies, I was a bit worried that we might

be falling for some kind of Ali G prank. But as I read more about Charlie the

more impressed I was, she has taken what seemed pretty off the wall idea and

turned it into a small, thriving social enterprise. They have now reached over

6,000 people and have a small crack team. Charlie was recently featured on

NatWest's Wise 100, celebrating the top female social entrepreneurs in the

country. The Blair Academy is a culmination of Charlie's experiences as a hip-hop

dancer, homeless teenager, and caring for her own grandma. On to today's episode.

Charlie, welcome to Jimmy's Jobs of the Future. Thanks for having me, both these to be here.

So hip-hop dancing for grannies is a very much a job of the future that I've

not come across before. Tell us the moment that kick-started the whole idea.

So it's not actually a job that I had really envisaged having either. I was in my

final year of my dance degree at university and my nan, who I was incredibly close

with, was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. So I was trying to juggle her

chemo appointments with my dissertation and all of that good stuff. And essentially

she was given an exercise program to follow alongside her chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

And she despised it. And she was very vocal. She let all the doctors know that she did

not want to engage in this exercise program. And of course we wanted her to be as healthy

...