Growing up in Brixton as a teenager, I was a victim of violent crime as a result of my older brother's bad choice of decision. The home was broken as a result and he was in and out of prison for being part of a gang. We lost a family friend to knife crime because he was seen with other gang members. I faced a lot of trauma, undiagnosed depression as we don't talk about mental health and contemplated suicide few times.
Back in college I was lucky enough to find someone who saw greatness in me and mentored me by using the art of creativity to find my voice. I wanted to give back to my community so I joined team with people who have similar story and using art to create a positive platform.
We have established so far in our campaign that chanelling our energy to a positive direction is a great start to help another young person free their mind and to tap into their creative ability. Our vision is to intervene and engage with young youths through the avenue of Media, Arts and Culture whilst instilling values and creating an environment of support and guidance through mentoring and coaching.
Since our backgrounds are in the Art and Media, we want to use the money raised to organise creative workshops taught by young professionals and apply same techniques we learned to help other young people tap into their greatness. We have also partnered with mental health specialists for counselling where needed. We have a space to create an online radio facility where we can train those who want to get into radio and also create job spaces to benefit our community.