The seed that education should be accessible to everyone took root in me early on.

Born and raised in north London, I went to an all-girls Catholic state school. I considered going to university as I was quite academic, but I wasn’t sure where to start.

My mum hadn’t been to university and my school's capacity to guide me through the application process was limited.

Outreach programmes boosted my confidence and inspired me to apply to university – I studied history and politics for my undergraduate degree at the London School of Economics – where I also got interested in doing outreach work myself.

I wanted to maximise the impact of outreach and widening participation programmes to help others.

I applied for a Master's degree in Cambridge’s Faculty of Education. I liked that the course at Cambridge had a blend of global perspectives.

I experienced the openness of Cambridge as soon as I stepped foot in Homerton College.

I bumped into Lord Simon Woolley, the Principal of Homerton College, during a graduation ceremony. We had a chat and he was so welcoming. He said to me: “You really do belong here”. It truly stuck with me. I was coming into an environment that was intimidating, but at the same time also welcoming.

Receiving a Cambridge Opportunity Studentship meant I could cover my University fees and living expenses.

Practically speaking, I needed the funding. But it also signalled to me that Cambridge was reaching students from underrepresented backgrounds. This aligned with my own beliefs about the role of widening access in the future of higher education.

Not needing to worry about money meant I could spend my free time developing my interests, and diving into the amazing communities at Cambridge to build a sense of belonging.

At my friends’ encouragement, I joined the Ghanaian Society. It was really fun! I also worked with the African Society on their annual conference, where I met politicians and other notable guests. Cambridge Black Postgrad Society was an important resource for me because it joined together people from similar backgrounds.

Meanwhile I was building and expanding my theoretical skills through my Master’s.

I was also starting to get a sense of how my studies, my volunteer work, and my professional goals were coming together.

My journey has motivated me to pursue a career in education policy.

After graduating, I worked at the Office for Students, the independent UK higher education regulator. I helped to develop strategies and worked with the Director for Fair Access and Participation, supporting his team with rolling out new projects. Working on the Equality in Higher Education Innovation Fund, I conducted training for the assessors and, together, we selected the winning bids from universities for outreach projects based on a scoring system.

One experience in particular taught me to advocate for what I believe in and to be confident in my knowledge and decision-making skills.

There was a bid that I was passionate about that had fallen just below the cut-off score. I presented my case to the senior leaders and changed their minds to award the bid funding.

I’m now using the insights I’ve gained from my time in Cambridge and beyond to inform my postgraduate studies.

I'm doing a DPhil in Education at Oxford, looking at the impact of widening participation initiatives on student trajectories.

Seeing the challenges that universities face with these initiatives, I’ve realised they don’t always have the resources to deliver change in the way they want to.

My aim is to help universities to fine-tune access programmes by developing an evidence base for the impact of these schemes.

My story shows the long reach of widening participation initiatives to help those facing educational disadvantages and I want to pay it back.

I now do outreach work with a charity in North London, running programmes with schools, one of which is my old secondary school. We bring alumni back to talk about their careers and to share their advice.

My future goals?

To continue to champion and encourage young people to strive for success. Everyone should have a chance to grasp the experiences and opportunities that I’ve had. I want my work to help widen participation in education on the ground and through policy.