I grew up in the borough of Tower Hamlets, East London.      

I always say it’s more than a post code – it’s a community and it’s where my imagination took root.

The idea of applying to Cambridge felt like a fantasy.

Hardly anyone in my state school applied to Oxbridge. Opportunities like this can feel out of reach when you grow up in social housing as I did. I had great teachers though. My form tutor was pivotal in helping me think about Cambridge. She said you’ve got the grades, why not apply? I also had access to good advice through a free mentoring platform called Zero Gravity which matched me with a mentor from a similar background. My art teacher was also a beacon of support when I was creating my portfolio to apply to Cambridge.

Grabbing opportunities has always been a lifeline for me.

When I was 15 years old, I took part in the Jack Petchey “Speak Out” Challenge, a brilliant programme which helps young people develop confidence in speaking to large groups. I ended up  becoming the Regional Public Speaking Champion. I think I really found myself that year – I felt a spark when I was on that stage.

During my A levels, I got the chance to design a building thanks to an organisation called Beyond the Box, which helps organisations work with communities on design projects.

Working with two others from Tower Hamlets, we came up with an idea and pitched it to the public, engineers, architects, the whole shebang, as part of The People’s Pavilion Design Competition. And then our design, the ‘Reverie’, got built in real life. The organisation treated us as genuine stakeholders, which gave me confidence to voice my ideas. When I told my teacher about the experience she said: “architecture – that’s the degree for you”. She was right.

When I arrived at Trinity Hall to study Architecture, I felt I’d entered a world of possibility.

Cambridge was this pool of constant opportunity: academic, sport, drama, whatever. You’re often told that if you're good at something, you should pursue that. I found Cambridge was an environment that fostered all interests, and I loved it. I loved being able to watch a performance at the University's ADC Theatre one day, and then play football the next. It was the best environment for supporting my interdisciplinary nature that grew when I entered practice.

I’d always had this itch to write and perform, and at school my teacher told me I had rhythm in my voice.

During my degree, I competed twice for the UniSlam – a national spoken word poetry competition against different universities – and founded a society called Give Us the Mic to bring together poets and creatives from across the University. Building ‘performance’ skills really helped me in my degree because we would work on design projects and the way in which we were assessed was through presentations in front of our examiners. 

Don't get me wrong, being confident and feeling imposter syndrome are not mutually exclusive.

Cambridge has a reputation that everyone is smart and at the top of their class. You can feel that you need to prove you deserve to be there. But I realised having that mindset doesn’t help you learn. Trying to do your best all the time doesn’t allow yourself to make mistakes, and mistakes are the most important part – that's when you learn the most.

It helped that I didn’t have to worry about money because I was eligible for the Cambridge Bursary and had financial support through various Trinity Hall scholarships.

The Bursary and scholarships helped me with living expenses, travel expenses, buying materials for my degree, printing flyers for Give us the Mic – it meant I could do all the things I wanted to do.

People often ask me if there’s a link between poetry and architecture. To me, they’re inseparable.

Like poetry, architecture is about listening, understanding lived experiences and storytelling. I recently founded The Blocks Workshop, a programme that helps young East Londoners connect poetry and architecture through creativity and reclaimed materials.

I pride myself on where I'm from and a lot of my work connects back to East London.

My final year dissertation was all about East London and the community. I titled it: ‘The mandem built the ends | The people built their home’. It’s about how everyone should have a say in shaping their built environment, but people in lower socio-economic areas are often excluded from urban development decisions. I wanted to shift the perspective that people tend to have about the area I grew up in.

I was always proactive in trying to get work experience.

I reached out to the architectural practices I came across during my degree, plus cold-call emails, to get any work experience I could in the holidays – even if it was just a week. I also volunteered for Beyond the Box and got involved in community projects. I started to apply for jobs in my third year.

After graduating I joined HTA Design, an architectural practice that’s rooted in engagement with the local community.

I got to know HTA through a talk I did at the practice with Beyond the Box. I was a bit nervous about going into a big practice straight after university. But luckily I had the support of an amazing mentor in the company. As time passed, people started to come to me for advice and support, so I’m now both a mentee and a mentor. It has made me feel at home in my job. 

I’ve come full circle and now mentor young people myself through Zero Gravity.

I tell them not to worry about feeling nervous about applying to Cambridge or any other university. I say you should do it even if you are feeling anxious, you should do it without having all the answers. The answers will come along the journey.

When things come together, they snowball in the best possible way.

I love my career in architecture and I'm also a four-time published author. My path is a textbook example of not having the answers, trying things out, faltering, getting back up, and doing it all over again. And out of all of this, seeing good things snowball.

I want the young people I mentor to believe their wildest dreams can come true.

I tell them not to idolise the idea of going to Cambridge – try not to think “if I go to Cambridge, I’ve made it”. Instead think beyond, think about the things you’ll go on to do as a result.