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Lily Cole has been building and leading a team to develop a social giving network, impossible.com, since graduating with a double first class degree in Art History from Cambridge University in 2011. Lily returned to Cambridge in May 2013 to beta launch the platform, and Impossible will be launching in other regional territories thereafter. The platform was discussed in Davos World Economic Forum this January with Professor Muhammad Yunus (Nobel Laureate for micro-finance and Social Business), and Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia), who are advisors to the project. The platform has been built through gifts of time and money from the contributing team, and the Cabinet Office will support its first year of growth.

Alongside studying, Lily's background working in fashion led her to look at economic structural solutions to problems, rather than orthodox philanthropic models. She is a patron of The Ethical Justice Foundation who call attention to issues in production chains such as cotton, co-founder of ethical knitwear line The North Circular, and ambassador for the WWF/Sky initiative looking at the rubber trade for the Amazon. In 2012 Lily was asked to be ambassador for the UN-affiliated organization Beauty4Empowerment and is also the first ever Global Brand Advocate for pioneering beauty brand The Body Shop.

Lily's interest in film has led to her to work with notable directors including Terry Gilliam, Sally Potter and Mary Harron. March 2013 saw the release of 'Art Matters', a Sky Arts series on contemporary art that Lily wrote and presented, and a short film for WWF, which Lily directed.

As a model she was booked for her first British Vogue cover at 16, and remains a respected fashion industry figure, speaking at last yearʼs Vogue Fashion Festival. Lily was an ambassador for the British Government's Olympic campaign and was one of the international icons in Vogueʼs catwalk show at the Olympics Closing Ceremony.