Speaker Bio

Tayshan Hayden-Smith, born and raised in Ladbroke Grove, West London, brought love and life to his community as he turned to guerrilla gardening as a way of healing following the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy.

At 23 years old, Tayshan founded Grow to Know, a not-for-profit collective offering creative nature-based solutions through impact-driven collaborations that aim to solve environmental and social challenges.

From tragedy to transformative action, Tayshan hopes to pioneer a culture shift where nature is our partner and priority. Grow to Know has since worked with the likes of Penguin Random House, Nike, RHS, WWF, National Trust and Grosvenor, to action much needed change collaboratively and creatively.

Tayshan is a new addition as an RHS Ambassador and is also an ambassador at the Tree Council as well as being a Social Impact Champion at The Conduit. Tayshan is also a director at Maxilla City CiC, a local community led development in RBKC.

He has also found himself increasingly on screen, starring in Your Garden Made Perfect (BBC), Gardener’s World (BBC) and most recently occasionally featuring on The One Show (BBC).

All work that Tayshan does is to try to understand, create and accelerate innovative environmental and social change.