The party was in full swing, friends and family in every room, so it was easy to miss when Zara, 12, once again quietly slunk off to her room clutching her phone. However, one person did notice her withdrawn behaviour: her older cousin, Jaz.
It was the latest in a string of worrying changes. First it was the make-up. Then the change in clothes – underwear that made Zara look more mature than she was. Recently Jaz, 17, had also heard a rumour from friends that Zara had an older boyfriend.
Jaz had tried voicing her concerns, but her aunts had dismissed her. They argued that Zara was nearly a teenager and she was just trying to keep up.
Except it wasn’t just that Zara was glued to her phone, she was also jumpy around it – and that worried Jaz the most. Because, thanks to an online safety talk at school, she knew how to spot all the warning signs of online sexual harassment and grooming.
Armed with what she’d learned, Jaz braced herself and knocked on Zara’s door, gently opening a very difficult conversation. Haltingly, the truth came tumbling out.
Zara had met a friend-of-a-friend’s brother on Snapchat. At first the boy, who said he was 16, was nice to her, telling her how pretty and funny she was and how much he liked her.
However, the conversation rapidly darkened. Now he was begging her to send him nude photos.
Zara felt caught. She really liked him and didn’t want him to lose interest. But she was scared and felt so alone with this horrible dilemma, she was convinced Jaz wouldn’t understand.
Roxy Longworth, one of the remarkable winners of Femail’s 2025 Inspirational Women Awards
But Jaz did – and knew Zara was far from alone. The online safety talk that had spurred her to intervene was presented by Roxy Longworth, one of the remarkable winners of Femail’s 2025 Inspirational Women Awards.
Just 23, Roxy is the founder of Behind Our Screens, a platform highlighting the potentially life-threatening dangers young people are exposed to online, day in, day out.
Our awards for 2026 launch today, and we are once again asking you to nominate ordinary women who, like Roxy, have achieved extraordinary things.
’I met Jaz at a talk I’d given at her school in the south of England,’ explains Roxy. ’When she saw the way her cousin was behaving, alarm bells started ringing.
’My dream is for everyone to recognise and be able to talk about the dangers we face every time we go on the internet, so we can make it a safer place for young people and especially children.
’Technology is moving so fast, so many parents are still oblivious. Unless we talk about it, we can’t address the problem.’
For Roxy, this is an intensely personal battle. She was just 13 when a 17-year-old boy at her school pressurised her into sending him a nude photo.
’I fancied him and he was saying that everyone was doing it so I pressed “send“,’ she recalls. ’Then he wanted more and more. From that moment he controlled me. I couldn’t tell my parents because I felt so ashamed and stupid. He shared the photos with a friend of his, who threatened to spread them around unless I sent more. I was terrified.’
Roxy at the 2025 ceremony for the Femail Inspiration Women’s awards, which returns this year
Roxy started self-harming when a boy she had sent explicit photos with shared them around the school (picture posed by model)
When Roxy, from London, blocked him, he sent the photos of her around the entire school. Shockingly, the school blamed her. The first her parents knew was when they were called in to be told Roxy was being punished for breaking school rules.
Consumed with shame, Roxy – a straight-A student – started self-harming and, despite her parents’ loving support, went into a mental health spiral. It culminated in a psychotic breakdown and she started hearing voices.
’I thought it was all my fault,’ says Roxy, who also works full-time as a strategy consultant. ’I missed an entire year of school because I was either in hospital or at home on suicide watch. I survived but lost the rest of my adolescence feeling ashamed, alone and disgusted with myself.’
Roxy and her 56-year-old mum Gay, a novelist, wrote a book to help families bridge this digital divide. When You Lose It was published in 2022. ’I was inundated with messages sharing other people’s experiences online,’ says Roxy. ’It saddened but emboldened me to speak out.’
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Exactly one year ago, in April 2025, with a £20,000 grant from the Co-op Foundation’s Young Gamechangers Fund, Roxy launched Behind Our Screens.
’The aim is two-pronged,’ she explains. ’Encouraging young people to talk openly and share their experiences removes the shame. Secondly, it’s vital that young people have a say. Often they know more than adults give them credit for and, without their input, it will be much harder to improve online safety.’
Since winning the Inspirational Women Award, Roxy has seen Behind Our Screens take off exponentially. She’s met Home Office minister Jess Phillips, and is in regular contact with both her officials and Ofcom (the regulating body for communication services) sharing the evidence she collects so that it informs Government policy.
As well as school visits, she was invited to speak at Reading and Latitude Festivals.
’We had more than 1,500 young people coming into our tent – one of them was Jaz, which is how I know we helped her,’ she says.
’So many wished their parents had realised how many strangers they were speaking to online when they were 12 or 13.
’Others had been traumatised by watching violent videos or feel the extreme porn they were exposed to has left them struggling with relationships.
’I have heard from several mothers whose children have killed themselves or been hospitalised,’ adds Roxy.
’I came so close myself. It’s truly shocking that, ten years on, there are still children feeling such shame they believe they don’t have a future.
’I know if I had just seen one person talking about their experiences, it would have countered the shame. I honestly believed I was the only person stupid enough to ruin my life. That’s what drives me on.
’Winning the Inspirational Women Award helped convince me all the effort is worthwhile. We really are able to make a vital difference.’
Some names have been changed.
Interview by Tessa Cunningham
Nominate YOUR extraordinary woman
We all know them – the women determined to make a difference in their communities. That might be by raising funds, championing underdogs or campaigning for a cause.
That’s why we’re launching the Daily Mail’s Inspirational Women Awards 2026, in partnership with disability charity Sense and sponsored by Marks & Spencer.
Over the next three weeks, we want you to nominate extraordinary women from every walk of life. Five finalists will be chosen to attend a morning reception with HRH The Princess Royal at St James’s Palace on Wednesday, June 3.
How to nominate: Visit dailymail.com/InspirationalWomenAwards2026 and tell us in no more than 400 words why your candidate should win.
You can also email your entry to inspirationalwomen@dailymail.co.uk, or send it to Inspirational Women Awards c/o Femail, Daily Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY.
Entries close at 11.59pm on Monday, May 11, 2026. The Editor’s decision is final. Each winner receives a crystal trophy and £500 M&S gift voucher. There are no cash alternatives. Full Terms apply. See dailymail.com/InspirationalWomenAwards2026
