What happens when you have no choice but to flee your home and leave all you know behind? Can you ever utilise your experiences and turn them into opportunities for others? When Attal Shams’ journey of conflict, displacement, and resilience became the focus of his dissertation, he didn’t think anyone would be interested. But now, those experiences have become the driving force to him making a real difference to others.

"I look back on my time at university with fondness. As a blind person, I had extra challenges, but I found Warwick to be a friendly and supportive environment. There was a group of volunteers who read course material onto tape for me so it was accessible to me, and extra power points and bookshelves were put in my room, the former for the electronic equipment with synthetic speech I used to write essays on, and the latter for some braille books, which are a lot bigger and bulkier than print books. I'm grateful to the university for organising those things."

Future Leader Anthonia Ezeudogu (BA Politics and Sociology, 2022) might be just beginning her career, but she already has a lot to be proud of. With a first-class degree and experience as a Welfare Officer for The Black Women Project already under her belt, Anthonia is now a Graduate Associate on the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) graduate programme. It’s clear to see why she’s named on Powerful Media’s Future Leaders 2022/23 list, recognising 150 of Britain’s most outstanding Black students and new graduates.

Hear from Warwick alumna and former professional services staff member, Charlotte Beesley (BA History and Sociology, 2014)

Having been named in the Top 150 Future Leaders list for 2020-21 by Powerful Media, Tiana Holgate (BA Sociology with Specialism in Race and Global Politics, 2021) is taking a different view on leadership.

Despite only graduating this year, Gold’s already starting to shine with an appearance on the 2021 Powerful Media 150 Future Leaders List. She recently completed a successful summer internship at leading global independent investment bank, Evercore, through the 10,000 Black Interns programme, and has now secured a permanent analyst role. Read on to find out why the challenges of studying and graduating during the pandemic only made Gold (BA Sociology, 2021) more determined to succeed.