A passing comment at a London conference has sparked a bold new chapter for Stoke-on-Trent’s business community.
When Staffordshire entrepreneur Evelyn Howe attended a major wellbeing conference in London hosted by Healf, she did not expect one short exchange to shift her focus. “Someone asked where I was from. When I said Staffordshire, they replied, ‘Oh… nothing really goes on up there.’”
That moment stayed with her.
Back in Staffordshire, she began looking more closely at the bigger picture. Public health data from Stoke-on-Trent City Council showed that healthy life expectancy in parts of the city remains among the lowest in the country. Conversations with businesses across the county revealed mounting pressures around workforce stress, leadership fatigue and staff retention.
“If conversations about high performance and sustainable wellbeing are happening in London, why not here?”
— Evelyn Howe, Founder of ST25
Rather than rushing ahead, she tested the appetite for something different. At a Staffordshire Chambers Expo event at Uttoxeter Racecourse, she asked three direct questions to local business owners. More than 20 businesses expressed clear interest in a corporate wellbeing experience, giving her the confidence to move forward.
Her answer was decisive. Book the Bet365 Stadium.
The Event: ST25 – The Corporate Well-being Experience
On 16 April 2026, ST25 will take place at the Bet365 Stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, bringing together business leaders, wellbeing specialists and regional organisations for a one-day event designed to shift both the conversation and the outcomes for the county’s workforce.
The programme will feature expertise in:
- Sleep Science
- Stress Physiology
- AI and Human-centred Leadership
- Practical tools for immediate organisational application
For every ticket sold, a self-led wellbeing programme will be gifted to a Staffordshire school, creating a direct link between business performance and community health.
“Staffordshire has the talent and the ambition,” says Eve. “ST25 is about building the platform here.”
ST25 is positioned as more than a conference. It is a statement that Stoke-on-Trent and the wider county are ready to lead on the issues shaping the future of work, and that local people and businesses should have access to the same quality of thinking available anywhere in the country.
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