Floella Benjamin - Baroness Benjamin of Beckenham - is an actor, singer, writer and children's advocate who has sat in the House of Lords as a Liberal Democrat peer since June 2010.
Born in Trinidad, Floella joined her parents in London in 1960 and despite having to complete her education in night classes and spending three years working in finance, eventually pursued a career in theatre.
Known to millions of children as the presenter of the BBC's Playschool in the 1970s and 80s, Floella has been a passionate campaigner for the rights and wellbeing of children throughout her career - successfully lobbying to require seatbelts on school buses and for a government Minister for Children, which eventually came about in 2003.
Floella has also broken barriers in other surprising ways. In 1981, she became one of the first women to host a BBC television programme whilst visibly pregnant.
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Go to YouTubeOf course, Floella has been a passionate voice for representing and celebrating diversity in British culture - particularly the Caribbean community and the Windrush generation of which she is a part. In her memoir, “Coming to England,” Floella describes encountering open racism and hostility and while many things have changed for the better, when she followed it with a full autobiography more than 25 years later, the title she chose was “What are you doing here?”
In the meantime, Floella has become an ambassador for Caribbean food - producing multiple books and television series - as well as being Chair of the Windrush Commemoration Committee which commissioned Basil Watson's sculpture at Waterloo station.
Since entering Parliament as Baroness Benjamin, she has continued to work on issues of diversity, equality and, of course, children. She chairs the all-party groups looking at childhood health and children's art and media.