i've always felt if i had to work a lot harder when it comes to each opportunity for maybe the same thing as my peers often i was told why are you doing this why are you doing that while you're applying you won't get in i've been the only black girl on my team the only black girl in my class i started playing football i was eight years old and it was just the release of it really it's hard to kind of describe it's just the adrenaline like the team spirit i started my own tech startup it was pretty tough and i think it was quite scary as well but it was one of the most exciting periods of my life so far music means the world to me the silence that you get before you start either playing or performing is deafening one of the big things that i learned throughout the process of developing the art was that resilience is really really important i just randomly auditioned throwing out the windows self-doubt and everything else and i just thought i'm gonna have to give it everything i've got when you love something it's almost just like the kind of relief and the freedom that you feel it taught me to be bolder more expressive more confident clothing was a gateway into being more creative it became a form of self-expression you come off stage and you have that feeling you can't get it from doing anything else i wanted to figure out a way to merge football and law when i looked into sports law introduced me to player contracts introduced me to areas of employment so it began there um i decided to cultivate a bit of an interest after doing spark i said this is so me like i just got on with it so well the spark program is a five day scheme it's like a crash course in what life is like at the firm as well as as a commercial lawyer in general there was so much information and so much given to you but it was by no means inaccessible the scheme also allows you to go abroad so i went to paris it's the only first year scheme where you can actually apply directly for the training contract i really like the people that atmospheric culture i could see myself there i couldn't see myself at many other places they have an avid network of different minority groups the lgbt plus network archives it's really really positive to see that employers were supportive of you and that you can be yourself at work they really just want to celebrate what you're doing beyond work i don't think if i was just someone who just studied a lot i would be here right now i doubt i would have gotten spark scheme that i would have got a training contract it's the fact that you have something else to you that informs your passions and your interests