Charly Lester MA

Charly Lester is one of the UK's most well-recognised dating industry experts and an award-winning entrepreneur. She is a co-founder of Lumen - the dating app for over 50s. As CMO of Lumen, she created the ‘Get Your Mum Off Tinder!’ campaign and the viral sexy Santa Claus adverts. Three of her marketing campaigns in the brand's first 9 months have been debated on national TV, directly targeting ageism and a lack of over 50s representation in media and advertising.

Charly’s career in dating began when her dating blog went viral in 2013. After being head-hunted by both the Guardian and Time Out, Charly went on to create The Dating Awards - an international series of industry awards. In 2015 she featured as an expert advisor to Lord Sugar and guest judge in the final of The Apprentice. Charly teaches regular Guardian Masterclasses on various areas of marketing and entrepreneurship. Charly is a huge advocate of female entrepreneurship and speaks on the subject regularly. She is the author of The Female Entrepreneur and Modern Marketing for Start-Ups. In her spare time, Charly competes in Ironman triathlons and ultramarathons.