Scott Trust Bursary students 2022-23

Driven by people, cultures, identities and intersectionality - I’ve always wanted to be a storyteller. At ten, I launched a "student-run newsletter" at my primary school, which I edited after school using Microsoft Word! It listed my peers' best accomplishments, from karate belts to swimming medals. Since then, I made it my goal to continue being a storyteller - spending my sixth-form summers interning at my local newspaper and occasionally spending days shadowing in London offices.

I did my undergraduate degree at the University of Birmingham in Anthropology and Political Science and graduated in July 2021. While at Birmingham, I was elected Editor-in-Chief of the student paper, Redbrick, and was News Editor prior to that. Being involved with Redbrick taught me about the power of the media on even a small scale - witnessing the real-life ripple effect of the media doing right and the consequences of what happens if it goes wrong. I also started freelancing while at university and have since worked with Digital Spy, BBC World Service, Metro UK, Mixmag and more.

Since graduating, I’ve worked at Mixmag as a Digital Intern. Combining my love for music and club culture, I used my understanding and experience of marginality and intersectionality to bring untold stories from the electronic music scene to light. I’ve been lucky enough to interview some of my favourite musicians of all time, and have worked on video production and presenting.

I will begin my Journalism MA at the University of Sheffield in September thanks to the Scott Trust Bursary programme. This is a thrilling opportunity for me because I can learn new skills, and build on my existing ones, to become a journalist that can highlight important issues and break homogenous narratives. This opportunity breaks down the huge financial barrier put in place between low-income people and higher education - and undertaking this course will equip me with the hard skills I need for a fast-paced, turbulent career path.

I want to pursue journalism to discover and expose stories which have often been absent or underrepresented in news media. For me these are most notably around sports, class, and race, and my own experiences drive me to pursue these topics at their local, national and international levels.

Stockwell (South London), where I grew up, is an epicentre for issues that are important within migrant and BAME communities. This combined with my teaching experience, working with excluded and vulnerable young people in these areas, means I bring perspectives which are rarely heard from in mainstream media.

I have written for the South London Press as a news reporter, giving me practical experience in the field. Working for the local press has been particularly important to me, as community and social issues drive me to pursue journalism. In addition, I have written for Arsenal online community website, You Are My Arsenal, which has a large international following.

Whilst diversity within news media is improving, there is still little representation of racialised working class voices, who have experienced first-hand both the realities of poverty and suffered because of migration and border controls. This bursary gives me the chance to develop my skills so that I can help bring these issues to light.

Through the MA at Goldsmiths, I want to develop my long form, investigative and feature writing skills to help me achieve my goal of writing inclusive sports journalism which looks at the broader social impact of sports, specifically the perspectives and experiences of those in migrant and low-income communities. As well as this I’m very excited to get hands-on experience with The Guardian, developing my reporting skills through practical experience and guidance in their newsroom.

My passion to be a journalist bloomed during the pandemic and has accelerated ever since. I have loved storytelling and writing since I was a child, but as a teen and growing up I never solidified what I saw myself doing. Journalism is the only thing that sparked that hunger and fire in my belly and ever since this ignited I’ve wanted to become a world class journalist. I adore writing and reporting on issues that occur in our fast evolving world.

Once I decided journalism was for me, I began pitching to numerous publications and I landed bylines with Stylist Magazine, Gal-Dem and Inews. I wrote about things that truly mattered, and it felt great as it was content about injustices faced by underrepresented groups and I was grateful to be able to share this on a large scale. I also managed to gain experience soon after finishing my undergraduate degree at the University of Essex. I became a Junior Staff Writer at CORQ, an influencer intelligence media company that combines data with editorial content. Here I picked up the pivotal skills needed for a journalist working in media. I also appreciated how great it is to be a versatile journalist and be able to share a wide range of content that differs in topics.

Receiving the Scott Trust Bursary is truly a dream, as it allows me to advocate for issues I care about, and I will be receiving remarkable teaching doing my MA in Newspaper journalism at City of London University. Coming from a working class background, the journey has not always been smooth and with this amazing opportunity I am able to continue to break barriers and pave an easier way for representation to be the norm and for young people who look like me to have their dreams turn into reality.

I am most excited about writing about political issues and current news and trends. I am also excited about furthering my investigations into injustices that are faced by underrepresented communities in the UK and beyond. My journey in media is just beginning and I am grateful that this scheme is allowing me to attain my goals.