Born Ambitious: A Night of Inspiration
24 September 2024
On Thursday 19th of September, we were joined at Salesforce Tower by our Born Ambitious Ambassadors, a small group of young people, our supporters, and our Patron HRH The Duke of Edinburgh.
The Born Ambitious: A Night of Inspiration event was a celebration and a thank-you to all those who have helped us lay the foundations of Born Ambitious, and introduce this new network to some of those who will hopefully be part of its onward journey.
We were lucky to be joined by two talented groups of young performers from our membership: dancers from Barking and Dagenham Youth Dance (BDYD) and a special DJ set from Young Urban Arts Foundation (YUAF). BDYD is a small grassroots charity which offers dance, sports and fitness-based activities to those aged 5-25 within its community. YUAF aims to empower young people, strengthening their wellbeing through creativity and culture.
Another highlight of the evening was a panel of three Born Ambitious Ambassadors: Florence Eshalomi MP, Joseph Toonga, and Angie Madara. The panelists were interviewed by two young people from our member Caius House, Blu and Leona. Blu and Leona’s questions prompted the panelists to share personal insights, stories and learnings from their careers so far.
Among other things, Florence talked about the lack of Black female role models in politics when she was growing up, Joseph shared that he was often not immediately recognised as an artist when entering the Royal Opera House, and Angie discussed how her sometimes isolating experience as a budding entrepreneur prompted her to create an AI tool to support other women.
Their experiences reminded us of the messages of Born Ambitious: seeing what is possible, especially through meaningful interactions with people who look like us and come from similar backgrounds, is a vital step in thinking big and navigating a fulfilling career. Through Born Ambitious, we must continue to create these opportunities for more young Londoners, in support of the life-saving work that our member youth organisations are already doing across the capital.
Florence also talked about youth work as “the fourth emergency service” and recognised the crucial but underestimated role of youth services in supporting young people to explore their potential. “If we are saying young people are the future, that means investing in them, and that means investing in our youth workers and youth clubs.”
We were thrilled to also be joined by some of the young people who have played such a crucial role in Born Ambitious so far, by interviewing our Ambassadors and helping us create inspiring content that can reach more young Londoners. Jaykoda, Joshua, Alexis, and Marcello told us they enjoyed meeting new people and “hope to be at many more events like this.”
You can watch their interviews with Born Ambitious Ambassadors, and all our panelists’ videos, to learn more about their stories, on this page.
