Which organizations or charities did Zack Polanski work for before politics?
Executive summary
Zack Polanski’s pre‑politics résumé is consistently described in reporting as diverse: he worked as an actor (including immersive theatre), ran a hypnotherapy practice, and served as a youth worker and mental‑health counsellor; he also spent years in hospitality and other gig‑economy jobs [1] [2] [3] [4]. Party and local government profiles emphasise community theatre work (Theatre of the Oppressed) and frontline community roles rather than long tenures at major charities or national NGOs [5] [6].
1. Early creative work: immersive theatre and DifferenceENGINE
Multiple profiles and Polanski’s own campaign material highlight that he spent substantial time as an actor in immersive, community‑facing theatre, working with companies such as DifferencENGINE and performing in productions like The Hollow Hotel and The People’s Revolt — experience he and the Green Party frame as community‑engagement practice rather than conventional charity employment [1] [3] [5] [6].
2. Hypnotherapy and private practice — not a charity post
News outlets uniformly report Polanski ran a hypnotherapy practice before his political career; notable coverage recalls a 2013 episode involving a tabloid journalist. Reporting frames this as private clinical/commercial work rather than charity sector employment [2] [7] [8].
3. Mental‑health counselling and youth work: frontline community roles
City Hall and other profiles list “mental health counsellor” and “youth worker” among his jobs prior to becoming an Assembly Member. These are presented as community‑level, often non‑profit or public sector adjacent roles in his background, but the sources do not specify employer names or well‑known charities for these roles [4] [9].
4. Hospitality and the gig economy: experiential politics
Polanski and London Assembly material stress a background in hospitality — bars, nightclubs and other gig work — which he uses politically to underline “real world” experience of insecure work. This is described as employment in the gig economy rather than charitable work [4] [5] [10].
5. Community activism and campaign rhetoric — working with migrant care workers and unions
Polanski’s campaign and press materials say he has “worked closely with migrant care workers, climate activists and unions” and with marginalised communities using Theatre of the Oppressed to help them tell their stories. That language implies collaboration with grassroots groups and campaign partners, but the material does not list specific, named charities or formal organisational roles [6] [5].
6. What the coverage does not show: named national charities or long nonprofit posts
Across the provided sources, there is no consistent listing of Polanski holding salaried roles at major national charities (for example, roles at Oxfam, Mind, Shelter or similar are not mentioned). Profiles emphasise independent practice (hypnotherapy), arts organisations, frontline counselling/youth work and hospitality instead [4] [2] [3]. Available sources do not mention any specific charity employers by name.
7. How different outlets frame the same facts — politics of presentation
Mainstream outlets (BBC, Sky, ITV, Guardian) and Greens’ own material repeat the same core facts but with differing emphasis: party material foregrounds community theatre and activism to highlight credentials for grassroots organising [5] [6]; national press tends to spotlight the hypnotherapy and immersive theatre anecdotes as colourful backstory [2] [7]. This divergence reflects editorial choices about what bolsters political narrative versus what makes compelling copy.
8. Limitations and next steps for verification
Public profiles and interviews establish types of work (actor, hypnotherapist, counsellor, youth worker, hospitality) but rarely name formal employers or charities. For precise verification of organisational affiliations, investigators should seek CV details, LinkedIn, employment records, or direct queries to Polanski’s office — those specifics are not in the current reporting (available sources do not mention named charity employers).
Summary takeaway: reporting consistently portrays Polanski as a community‑facing practitioner — immersive theatre, mental‑health and youth work, hypnotherapy and hospitality — and as a campaigner who has worked alongside migrant care workers and unions, but it does not document employment at specific national charities [1] [2] [5] [6].