Jordan’s experience on our UK Summer School programme really helped him on his path to a career in the media industry. We heard from him on his journey, his experience of the Summer School programme, and what he’s up to now – in his role as a Content Designer at BT. Jordan produces the best content across BT’s websites and apps, based on user research and data, and tells us how it’s a relatively new discipline which has grown over the past few years.
Can you tell us a bit about your background?
“I grew up with my mother and brother in East London. It wasn’t the best area. Unemployment was high and opportunities were low. The teachers at my school always pushed students to consider going to university, so that felt like the right move for me. None of my family went to university but I took the leap to study at the University of Leicester.
My media teacher told me about Sutton Trust! I loved that there was a scheme to support people who may not have the resources or privilege in life compared to others. It felt that I could finally be at a level playing field.
I didn’t imagine that I would be part of the programme but I was one of the lucky people chosen.”
What do you remember about your time on your Sutton Trust programme?
“I joined the Sutton Trust programme as someone who wanted to get into the media industry and the programme started with a trip to the University of Bristol. There were around 80 of us who lived a ‘university life’ for a few days.
Then I was assigned a mentor in the BBC who was really helpful and made me realise that I did want to enter the media industry. I was fortunate enough to get an internship at Sky and worked with the Sky Cinema team. I kept in touch with the manager after the internship and went back for more work experience every year. Through doing this, I ended up with a job at Sky even before I graduated from University of Leicester!
It was definitely worth it and went beyond my expectations.”
Every story we collect from our alumni as part of our 25th celebrations, helps inspire the next generation of students to aim for careers they might never have thought of. If you, like Jordan, want to share your story with us – just get in touch with the alumni team via [email protected].