The Matriarch at the Heart of All Things Creative

Laura Morgan — Co-Founder of Underdog Crew Studios

My story is one of quiet strength, deep empathy and the kind of transformation that happens when someone finally finds the place where they are meant to be.

I did not have an easy experience of school. I attended Sir Charles Lucas School in Colchester, at a time when many neurodivergent girls were still being missed, misunderstood or expected simply to cope. My needs were not matched, recognised or properly supported. Like many girls who grow up with undiagnosed autism, I learned to mask, to get through the day, and to carry the weight of feeling different without always having the language to explain why.

I left school with minimal qualifications, including GCSEs in art and childcare. Those subjects mattered because they reflected something that was always present in me, even when others failed to see it: creativity, care and the ability to nurture. But at the time, leaving school with limited qualifications reinforced a painful message I had already absorbed for too long — that I was not capable.

I did not grow up in an environment that consistently made me feel supported, encouraged or believed in. In many ways, I was led to believe I was stupid. That word, and the feeling behind it, stayed with me for a long time. It shaped the way I saw myself. It made me question my own ability, my own intelligence and my own worth. When a person hears often enough that they are not good enough, they can begin to live as though it is true.

I also carried experiences no child or young person should ever have to carry. During my younger years, I endured an extended period of sexual abuse by a predatory paedophile. It lasted for several years and became one of the hidden wounds I had to survive. Experiences like that do not simply disappear with time. They can affect trust, confidence, safety, relationships and the ability to feel at home in the world. But they can also deepen a fierce instinct to protect others from feeling alone, unsafe or unheard.

That instinct became part of my life.

In 2001, I met Dom after a brief initial encounter at Laristo's nightclub, in what quickly became a whirlwind romance. From that point, a new journey began. Together, we built a family, a partnership and, eventually, a shared purpose. Dom brought creativity, drive and lived experience of being misunderstood. I brought warmth, empathy, practical care and an instinctive ability to make people feel safe. Long before Underdog Crew became formalised, the foundations were already there in who we were together.

Then, in 2010, we experienced the most devastating loss of our lives. Our daughter Jodi died at the age of twelve from aplastic anaemia.

The death of a child changes everything. For me, the loss of Jodi was not something to "move on" from. It became part of the landscape of my life. Grief reshaped our family, our priorities and our understanding of what mattered. Out of that heartbreak came a catalyst for change. Dom's career as a chef and my role as a mother and housewife were no longer enough to contain the need we both felt to do something meaningful with the pain we had lived through.

We had already seen the benefits of creativity, belonging and giving people purpose. After losing Jodi, that understanding became sharper. Life was fragile. Young people mattered. Families needed support. Misunderstood people needed places where they could be safe, valued and believed in.

That was part of the emotional ground from which Underdog Crew grew.

At first, my role was informal but essential. I became the "on-set mum" — the person who made sure people were fed, welcomed, checked on and emotionally held. I created warmth around the work. I noticed who was anxious, who was quiet, who needed a cup of tea, who needed a gentle word, and who needed space. In creative environments, those roles are often underestimated. At Underdog Crew, they became central.

I then grew into hospitality, organisation and the wider care of members, families and volunteers. Over time, my confidence began to rebuild. The woman who had once been made to feel stupid discovered that she was not incapable at all. I simply needed to be doing something I loved, in a place where people believed in me.

Since helping to establish Underdog Crew, I have completed multiple qualifications and training courses, including youth work, safeguarding, fire marshal training, food hygiene and a wide range of other learning I am deeply proud of. Each certificate means more than a line on a CV. For me, every course completed is proof against the old voices that told me I could not achieve. Training became part of my healing. It reawakened a love of learning and gave me practical tools to pay that belief forward.

Today, I am a key mentor at Underdog Crew Studios and Underdog Crew Puppetry Division's head "puppet wrangler." My place is often in what may be the most important room in the building: the Creative Arts Suite. There, I have learned and developed skills as a sewing machinist, puppet maker, prop maker and creative maker. I support members through textiles, crafts, puppetry, making, conversation and calm encouragement.

The Creative Arts Suite is not just a room full of materials. It is a soft mentoring space. Around my table, people talk. They make things with their hands while sharing pieces of their lives. They laugh, open up, learn, ask questions and slowly begin to believe they can do more than they thought. My Creative Arts Suite is often the fullest space in the studio because young people and Mum's Connection Club members are drawn to the safety I create.

I have become the matriarch at the heart of all things creative.

My journey is powerful to me because it shows that transformation is not always loud. Sometimes it looks like a woman who was made to feel small becoming the person everyone gathers around. Sometimes it looks like grief becoming compassion, trauma becoming protection, and self-doubt becoming mentorship.

Like many parents who suffer the loss of a child, I have found hope and purpose in helping others heal. The members of the Mum's Connection Club have all suffered in their own ways. Many arrive carrying grief, trauma, isolation, exhaustion or the silent weight of having had to be strong for too long. At Underdog Crew Studios, they have found something life-saving: purpose, belonging, friendship and a place where they no longer have to carry everything alone.

For some, that belonging has been the difference between holding on and giving up.

That truth matters. It is not dramatic language. It is the reality of what safe, creative, compassionate community can do when people are close to the edge. I understand that healing does not always begin with a formal intervention. Sometimes it begins with a cup of tea, a sewing machine, a puppet, a shared laugh, a quiet conversation, or the simple feeling that someone is pleased you came through the door.

My story is not only about what I survived. It is about what I built afterwards.

I found my place. I found purpose. And after a loss that once made happiness feel impossible, I found a way to help create hope, safety and belonging for others — whilst finding my own inner peace and contentment along the continuing Underdog Crew journey.

Startup Networks is a proud sponsor of Underdog Crew Studios!