As a child I struggled incredibly with academic subjects, but mainly English. I remember being pulled out of lessons to take tests to discover why I wasn’t at the same level as my peers. I remember getting to secondary school and being put in top-set English, and very quickly realised how out of place I was there. The lessons I had been taken out of as child in primary school had taken me away from learning very basic things such as grammar. I spent secondary school worrying about being behind in English and every year I was moved into a different English class. With lots of hard work, I passed all my GCSE’s first try with a C in most subjects, including English. I was later diagnosed with Dyslexia.

During all the struggles I had with English, there was another side of me that was excelling – my creative side! My highest GCSE grade was a B in Art and my lowest was a D in Graphic Design, which funny enough is what I went on to study at college level. I really didn’t enjoy Graphic Design as much as I thought I would and truly couldn’t imagine studying it at university level. Even though I got the best grade in my entire class (a Triple Distinction star), I was at a complete loss for what my next step in life was.

After college I ended up working for Hobbycraft, so while all my friends went off to University, I was stuck doing retail work with no further career plan. I knew I wanted to study something close to Graphic Design but nothing traditional like an art or illustration course would be. This is when I came across the Animation course at the University of Gloucestershire, where I booked into an open day and went along to view the facilities. As soon as I arrived in Cheltenham, I instantly knew this was where I was meant to be.

I started university in September 2019 and it’s fair to say it was the best decision I have ever made. There were highs and lows at university, and I even spent half of it online during the global pandemic. One of my favourite memories was visiting Annecy’s Animation festival in June 2022. On this trip I met so many amazing creatives, one being Pamela Ribon an American screenwriter and author most known for working on Moana, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Nimona and My Year of Dicks. We spoke on a bus journey back to our accommodation and she kept saying how happy she was to see more and more women coming into the creative industry. At the time I was unsure on where I would be heading after my animation degree as I liked many different forms of Animation and wasn’t sure what to specialise in. She looked at my work and encouraged me to follow my heart and chose a job I’d be proud of.

After graduating from university, I quit my retail job and moved back home with my parents. I started applying to animation jobs and at the beginning was extremely motivated to move onto the next chapter of my life. However, time went on and this motivation dwindled as the more I applied, the more rejections I got. A lot of entry-level jobs need at least 2 years of experience in the industry, which being fresh out of university I hadn’t got, and even during university my work experience module had been impacted by Covid.

Despite all the struggles I went through I am happy to say that following this I have since joined team Silver this January 2024 and have begun my journey as a motion design intern. I have already learnt so much in the two months I have been here and can’t wait to continue to develop my skills further at such an amazing company.