“If it wasn’t for the Big Issue I would never have escaped a life that was leading me towards only one ending that I can think of”: Award-winning film director, Lorna Tucker, announced as Big Issue Group Ambassador on International Woman’s Day

Today (Friday 8^th March) Big Issue Group has announced the appointment of the award-winning Film Director, Lorna Tucker, as an official Ambassador to mark International Woman’s Day.

Lorna became homeless at 14 and spent two years living on the streets where she slept under Waterloo Bridge, in and out of sheltered accommodation. Lorna has since made her name as an award-winning film director of feature documentary films.

In 2018, Lorna’s first feature documentary Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist, debuted at Sundance, where the film was chosen for competition. Her second feature documentary Amá, is a powerful film about the sterilisation abuse of Native American women across the United States over the past 60 years.

In 2022, Lorna completed two feature documentaries; Call me Kate, a docu-drama about Katharine Hepburn for Salon Pictures, which was released in 2023 and Someone’s Daughter, Someone’s Son, based on Lorna’s experiences of being homeless, was released this year.

Lorna joins actors Christopher Eccleston, Daniel Mays and Sophie Winkleman, politician David Lammy MP, architect George Clarke, prize-winning academic and author and senior firefighter, Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton, dancer and choreographer Sherrie Silver, youth champion Jack Parsons and comedian, Dane Baptiste.

Lorna said: “If it wasn’t for the Big Issue I would never have escaped a life that was leading me towards only one ending that I can think of. Not only were they responsible for saving my life, but for helping me to see that there was a life for me outside of addiction and homelessness.

She continued: “I am really pleased to be joining Big Issue Group as an official Ambassador. The work the organisation does in order to support those locked in poverty is invaluable, especially now, with people facing the worst set of circumstances you can possibly imagine.”

Lord John Bird, Founder of the Big Issue, who appeared in Lorna’s recent film documentary Someone’s Daughter, Someone’s Son, said: “We are so pleased to have Lorna’s voice and influence, especially as someone who has lived experience of what it means to be homeless, to help us raise awareness of the extreme difficulties faced by those at the coalface of poverty.”

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