Bradford

Louis Eloi is a 23 year old professional youth worker who works to support and uplift the most vulnerable young people. He floated through education himself without having the correct diagnosis of dyslexia or having the correct support in place for him to thrive. He left school with 1 GCSE and was told his only options in life were low skilled jobs. Instead he challenged himself to defeat all the odds and make something of himself.

He went on to study media and English during the day and attended night college in the evenings to become a youth worker. He did all this while working and volunteering supporting other young people. His ambitions then led him onto higher education to become a professional youth worker. Today Louis is a JNC qualified Professional Youth Worker at ‘Breaking The Cycle’ in Bradford, where he works with some of the most vulnerable young people to safeguard them from being drawn into pro-criminal activities and child criminal exploitation.

Huddersfield

My current roles as a Mental Health Fitness Coach, young people’s mentor, personal trainer and P.E teaching assistant highlight the love and passion I have for connecting with people and improving their health and wellbeing. Being able to guide individuals to finding themselves and accomplishing a goal is something I get a great sense of enjoyment from.

My biggest personal achievement this year has been releasing a children’s book called ‘Guess Who I Want to be’.  As a black father, I felt it was important to be a positive role model, by displaying positivity and love aswell as breaking the stereotypes.

Leeds

Olivia is a 22 year-old MA student who will shortly begin her PhD. She conducts research for Harewood House after she persuaded them to further publicise their connections to the Caribbean. As less than 0.5% of academic historians are Black, she also volunteers with the Young Historians Project: a non-profit organisation that trains young Black British historians.

To encourage more young people to study marginalised histories, Olivia co-founded From Margins to Centre – the country’s first undergraduate conference on such histories. Due to her work, she has been invited to present at national conferences, and on podcasts and the radio.