Visiting speakers

Adjei Sun began performing poetry at 16. Themes of his poetry include mental health, masculinity, identity, and love. In 2021, he performed for Ted X Youth Birmingham. In 2022, Adjei performed internationally at the Dubai World Expo and has also performed for international audiences to open BBC World Questions, and to welcome the Queen’s Baton into Victoria Square for the Queen’s Baton Relay Birmingham Homecoming Celebration.

Adjei has been producing events for 3 + years to engage young people in Birmingham in causes around them. In 2022 he began a series of discussion and concert events which involve the use of the arts and discussion to open conversations around masculinity, gender, and mental health. In September 2022, Adjei had one of his pieces in an art exhibition for the first time. It was titled Small Pockets and was presented as part of Birmingham 2022 Festival.

Alastair heads the national venture capital practice group at Shoosmiths focusing on getting deals done for VC’s, growth capital investors, entrepreneurs, founders and their companies, supporting them in growing their businesses.

Amanda works in the field of sociolinguistics. Her research interests include language variation and change, language attitudes and ideologies, perceptual dialectology, and social meaning. Amanda focuses specifically on the accents spoken in South East England.

Ben is a novelist, specialising in historical fiction. He is best known for The Forgotten Legion, Spartacus and Hannibal book series. Six of his eight novels have been Sunday Times bestsellers, and his books have been published in more than ten countries, including the US, Italy, Spain, Greece, Russia and the Netherlands.

Caragh Bennet is the Co-Founder of The Zena Brand, a Gen Z non-profit jewellery brand working in Uganda. Made from recycled materials, Zena jewellery donates 100% of proceeds towards the mission of activating female entrepreneurs under the poverty line to start businesses debt free. Over the past 4 years of operations, the Zena programme members have pulled over 300 individuals out of poverty and have supported 90 children through school. Zena has supported over 40 women graduating with their own enterprises, many of whom are now providing jobs for others in their community. Over the last 4 years the Zena team have raised over $1Million in sales and donations towards this impact with designs featured in Vogue Italia, Marie Claire and Harpers Bazaar and have secured partnerships with Diane Von Furstenburg and Bloomingdales.

Celia is Co-Head of Business Data, Analytics and Tools at Capital Group. Celia is passionate about technology, data, sport, health, diversity, equity and inclusion.

Celia frequently organises, speaks and volunteers at data, technology, education and DEI events. Active in the non-profit sector, Celia sits on the Advisory Board for Leap Confronting Conflict and the Cowrie Scholarship Foundation and is Vice Chair of a secondary school Local Governing Body.

Accolades for work in data, technology, analytics and DEI include:

Google EMPower UK Top 10 Black Executive List 2021

Women in Investment Rising Star of the Year 2021

Yahoo Finance Top 100 EMPower Role Model 2021, 2020

Investing in Ethnicity Top 10 Future Leader 2020

CJ Lloyd Webley is a socially conscious writer and champion for young people. CJ facilitates creative writing workshops for disadvantaged children and fundraises to buy school equipment for them. CJ received £30k for his project which tackles inequality and celebrates Black British history. CJ leads Lightpost Theatre, supporting the mental health of over 30 young black men. CJ’s play ‘Constructed’ at the Birmingham Rep generated £7k during COVID, highlighting the need for more mental health services. In 2020, CJ Founded The Black Pounds Project CIC. He bootstrapped £6k and created a mentorship programme, which has helped over 1.5k Midlands businesses.

Collin Osborne is a Birmingham born former Harlequins rugby coach who came to give a talk on his unique life experiences. As a black student attending a Birmingham Grammar School, Collin shared about his inspiring journey, touching upon education, aspirations and the path that led him to become a successful rugby coach.

Demi Mae Yip is the founder and CEO of DMY BY DMY, the British eyewear label beloved by global style icons Kendall Jenner, Justin Bieber, Kourtney Kardashian, The Hadids and more. After graduating from King’s College London with no prior design or business experience, the eyewear designer established the brand at age 21 with the goal of creating timeless, trans seasonal eyewear drawing inspiration from nostalgic style. Since the brand’s inception, Demi Mae has wanted to inspire change in the way that businesses behave and think about how their actions affect both the planet and its people. With sustainable design in mind, Demi Mae places quality, functionality and longevity at the heart of the design process with the hope that DMY BY DMY sunglasses will be worn for generations to come.

Dr Guy Sutton is Director of Medical Biology Interactive and an Honorary Consultant Assistant Professor at the University of Nottingham Medical School. Guy Sutton’s primary research interests are the genetics of neural development and brain function, together with the interactive nature of biological, genetic and behavioural factors in disease processes. He has a passion for life sciences, philosophy and the history of scientific thought.

Dr Josphine Chen-Wilson is a senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Northampton, specialising in developmental psychology and its applications to education. Graduating with a joint honours degree in Psychology and Education from the University of Warwick, Josephine went on to research how English- and Mandarin-speaking children talked about time in their narratives in her PhD at the University of Manchester. Josephine is a national STEM ambassador and a member of WISE. She has supported numerous STEM outreach and inreach events such as Sci-Fest and Big Bang and STEAM Northants.

Finley is a research Fellow at the LASAR (Learning about Science and Religion) at Canterbury Christ Church University. He joined LASAR in 2017 having previously worked in schools for 10 years as an educational support worker and Religious Studies specialist. He is interested in the dialogue between STEM, religion and the wider humanities, and how this can be fostered in the primary and secondary curriculum.

Kereen Getten grew up in Jamaica where she would climb fruit trees in the family garden and eat as much mango, guinep and pear as she could without being caught. She now lives in Birmingham with her family and writes stories about her childhood experiences. When Life Gives You Mangoes is her debut novel.

Lexi is the Founder and CEO of Little Black Door “LBD” the fashtech venture that aims to reset and retrain the way people manage and interact with their wardrobe. Their Social Wardrobe app gets women wearing and sharing their wardrobes with friends, their wider fashion community and resale – unlocking a vastly more sustainable and environmental-friendly way to wear high-quality fashion.

Lexi’s experience includes Marks & Clerk LLP, Head of Intellectual Property at FIFA, and COO of social networking app Wistla. After completing a masters in Luxury Brand Management, she started working in lifestyle and consumer tech ventures.

Liz is an experienced series producer with credits across a range of prime time and daytime, award winning programming, and a track record in taking series from proposal through to delivery. She’s  worked on a range of genres, including factual entertainment, features and observational documentary and is highly skilled at producing good performances from contributors and on screen talent. Liz Rumbold is known for Garden Rescue (2016), The Great British Menu (2006) and Home from Home (2001).

Phil is a patent attorney with great technical skills and understanding of the commercial importance of IP protection. At IP legal, Barker Brettell, he works with a wide range of businesses from start-ups through to international corporates and specialises in material science, metallurgy and mechanical engineering.

Professor John Bryant is Professor Emeritus of Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Exeter; Visiting Professor in Molecular Biology at West Virginia State University, USA; Chair of Christians in Science and previously President of the Society for Experimental Biology. Prof. Bryant introduced one of the first Bioethics courses for Biology students in a UK university, and is co-author of Life in Our Hands, (InterVarsity Press, 2004).

William Doyle is an English historian, specialising in 18th-century France, who is most notable for his one-volume Oxford History of the French Revolution (1989). He is one of the leading revisionist historians of the French Revolution. He is also professor of history at Bristol University, a fellow of the British Academy and a trustee of The Society for the Study of French History.

Old Edwardian Sally Jones became the BBC’s first woman TV sports presenter in the late 1980s and still writes widely on sport, education and news. She was recently commissioned to write features for The Daily Telegraph’s new women’s sports supplement, the first in a British national newspaper.