Rachel founded Avant in September 2015, having moved back home to the Rhondda, with the aim of providing further opportunities for professional working class artists to collaborate, create, teach and develop work to tour to showcase diverse stories.

Rachel is an actress, dancer, choreographer, and teacher. Rachel trained as a performer at Swindon Dance and then London Studio Centre, she was part of the Pineapple Performing Arts Troupe and has worked in TV, Film, the West End, and regional theatre professionally since 2006, for companies including the BBC, most recently Sony and Netflix. Rachel has a degree in Dance in Education for the Royal Academy of Dance.

Rachel has a passion for the community which came from childhood when she would listen to her grandfather sing and perform in a Welsh Male Voice Choir. Rachel is neurodiverse and has epilepsy, as a young person she was anxious and had low confidence, often keeping her head down, in her dance classes her teachers reminded her to stand en avant, with her head up, eyes forward. This is the inspiration behind Avant's name, head up and look forward, feel more confident in ourselves and each other