Growing up
2003-2013
Like many young queer people I grew up in conflict. There was this innate desire to be the authentic version of myself whilst also knowing I had a duty to myself to protect myself. Something made more complicated as I grew up neurodivergent and struggled to balance this line. Despite this, I am proud of where I am now. This post is some insight into where I came from and how it led me to where I am right now.
Growing up I moved around a lot as I came from a military background, with both of my parents serving in the Royal Air Force. Until University I had never lived in the same place for more than two years. This gave me the opportunity to live increasingly interesting places however, such as the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar.
However, it also meant I had the opportunity to get to know a wide variety of people, and learned the important skill of throwing yourself out there to meet people from a young age.
Boarding School
2013-2020
At 10, I attended boarding-school at Foremarke Hall, staying and boarding for four years, where I had a large interest in acting and theatre, and was my House Captain for a term.
In 2017 I attended Repton School for three years.
In 2018, during my first year at Repton I won my House-Tie first in my peer-group for commitment to personal growth and our house, and was later was voted for to win the ‘Good-Bloke Award’ by the rest of my peers for being approachable, kind, and easy to be around.
I came out as gay in 2019, and joined the unofficial Repton Pride Society. I also became an honorary founding member of the philanthropic LGBT+ charity, Out For Good, and was a Young Person Ambassador for them until 2023 when the charity shut down.
At Repton, I founded and was the co-chair of the Repton Pride Society in 2020, the first of its nature in the school’s 463 year long history.
I was also interested in running, and in 2020, achieved first place in Repton Schools summer Strava 300-mile challenge, where I was one of the first students to run 300 miles across two months.
I stayed at boarding school until I finished my GCSE’s, where I received a 9 in English Literature, 8 in English Language, 7 in Maths, 7 in Religious Studies, 7 in Drama, 7 in Geography, 7/6 in Double Science, and a 6 in French.
College
2020-2022
After school (and Covid 19), I attended Sutton Coldfield College for Six Form where I elected to study English Literature, Philosophy, and Sociology.
In my first year I sat on the college’s committee as the Equality and Diversity Officer, ensuring that everyone on campus felt included and welcomed regardless of who they were.
The next year I sat on committee as the LGBTQ+ Officer, representing all LGBTQ+ students on the college’s campus.
Meanwhile, alongside my studies, I worked as Front of House at the 3 AA Rosette restaurant, The Boat Inn, in 2022.
In 2022 I completed my A Levels with an A in Philosophy, B in Sociology, and C in English Literature.
First-Year University
2022-2023
After A Levels I attended University straight away, studying English Literature with Creative Writing at Cardiff University, studying from 2022-25. In my first year I was focused on creative writing and had the intention of working in television.
When at home worked as a bartender at the Duke of York, including working Lichfield Pride. In 2023, I was voted for and awarded Employee of the month for filling in for other team members when they were unavailable.
My First year of University was spent, like many others, in which it was mostly finding my footing with the independence I now had.
Second-Year University
2023-2024
During my Second-year of University I began focusing on more extra-curricular activities and started my first internship, volunteering as a teacher’s aide at Lliswerry High School, where I supported teachers and children who were taking their English Literature GCSE, and children whose first language is not English.
I also joined my University’s TV Station, Cardiff University Television Station, “CUTV”, where I acted in a supporting role for several productions. Alongside being a part of the station, I completed the Cardiff Award.
This year I received my first Firsts, in Creative Writing Experiments in Fiction, Modernism and the City (which I received an 80), and Gothic Fiction: The Victorians.
Between Second and Third year, I worked as a Business Intern in Bali for a month with the company, Think Pacific. This was an incredible opportunity to work and support local businesses by coming up with business strategies and marketing ideas. This included growing Magi Farm’s Social Media presence through different business strategies.
Third-Year University
2024-2025
Going into Third year I took on even more responsibilities, as I wanted to fully make the most of my time at University. At the beginning of third year I realised I wanted to be a journalist, and during the summer I started my own online Culture and Literary Magazine, GreybearLit, where I started an interview series.
I also expanded on my work with student media and got more involved. At the beginning of the year I was promoted to Social Secretary of CUTV, and Culture Director. As Culture Director, I worked on various projects, including co-producing a documentary on mental health in women’s sports and reporting on a Transgender Liberation March. Other than CUTV I began writing for the student magazine, Quench, the student newspaper, Gair Rhydd, and the student tabloid, the Tab.
During my Second year, the Cardiff University Pride Society had failed to elect a committee, so I stepped up as President and ran the society. It was a difficult start to the year, as no one on the new committee had served before, but we managed to run various collaborative events including pub quizzes, and attending a Transgender vigil. During the LGBT+ Showcase, I gave a speech about the increased importance of community.
Alongside my committee responsibilities, I volunteered as a Global Opportunities Ambassador and a Student Mentor. In these roles I supported both First-years and International students during their transition into being a student at Cardiff University.
October 2024 I also ran the Cardiff Half Marathon, where I raised over 300 for the charity, Mind.
In the November, I had my first creative story ‘Gifted’ published online, on The Word’s Faire.
For this first term I studied one of my favourite modules, ‘Representing Race in Contemporary America’ where my portfolio received a 78. This project is now being used to teach the next year’s cohort of students. This project included a letter addressed to Ta-Nehisi Coates, a comparison of Octavia Butler’s Kindred and Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing, & a podcast on memories in Janelle Monáe’s Dirty Computer Emotion Picture.
In January in 2025, I got my first work with a non-student paper, doing a week of work experience with Newsquest’s ‘The South Wales Argus’, where I was published online and in their newspaper.
During my time at Newsquest I got in contact with the charity Cynefin Pamoja, and later on in 2025, I sat as a panellist for their charity’s “Intergenerational Discourse Event”. Where I spoke about entrepreneurship, specifically within journalism.
Meanwhile I also worked as an interviewer for the Times Graduate Survey, where I interviewed over 30 students to gain insight into graduate job opportunities for The Times newspaper. I was given two awards for being the first person to reach the 25-person minimum, and for completing the highest number of interviews on the first day.
Expanding my journalistic work, I contributed to two separate magazines. HotSourceZine, a National culture-based magazine, and Culture Cardiff, a city-wide magazine.
During this time, I was nominated as the Positive Role Model for LGBT Award at the National Diversity Awards, and received over 190 votes.
In April 2025, CUTV attended the National Student Television Awards, where we came away with the Bronze in Broadcaster of the Year, making us the third best television station in the United Kingdom. We also won the Silver for the ‘Mars Elkins El-Brogy for Multimedia Content Award’, for our multi-media and platform work.
Later this year I began freelancing as a journalist, where I was commissioned by various publications and businesses to feature and work as PR for events.
Every year Cardiff University holds their own annual Awards, the ‘Society, Volunteering, and Media Awards’ where I contributed to the win of three Awards. CUTV was awarded the Best Student Media Group, and the documentary I co-produced, ‘CULF: More than just a Game’ won the best coverage of a student-led activity. I was also shortlisted for the ‘Outstanding Contribution Award’ for my dedication to various societies across campus. The award I was most proud of winning at the SVMAs, was leading CU Pride into winning the Best new society.
Later on in that May, Cardiff University held its ‘Student Media Awards’. The CULF documentary won the Best Project Award, and was shortlisted for the Best Long Form Video. I was also shortlisted for best presenter, and the social media video I presented, interviewed people for, and directed won Best Social Media Video.
At the end of my third year, I graduated with a 2:1, preparing to study my Masters.
News Journalism Masters
2025-Present
Over the summer of 2025, before I started my Masters, I became an ambassador of Just Like Us, an LGBT+ charity who spread awareness of the LGBT+ community.
I also underwent a Marketing internship with the Iris Prize LGBT+ Film Festival, where I validated screening assets, wrote reviews, and engaged with filmmakers. Later on, I sat on the jury for the Iris Prize Festival’s ‘Community, Education, and Micro-Shorts competition’ because of my work as both an intern and journalist. I worked with three other panellists to collaborate and decide the winning films.
Going into my fourth year of University, I decided to retain my position as President of Pride, which so far has been a roaring success. We have held engaging and diverse events so far, with an aim of becoming a Platinum tier society. Additionally, in the last month we received 95,000 views on Instagram, and have hit 2000 followers.
At University, I begun studying my MA in News Journalism.
My Current Aims
Continue growing and expanding CU Pride. Cardiff University societies have a tier list to hit, which has 66 criteria to hit. Any societies who do all, reach Platinum tier. Last year 10 societies hit this target, and this year we want to be one of them.
Passing my course is my first objective, and in this is becoming an NCTJ qualified journalist. It is a short but steep journey ahead, but I’m also very excited to continue learning.
Ultimately, I want to pursue a career and find a job within journalism, and this is my definitive goal.
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