Multicultural Week 2022: Esther Ujah

Esther Ujah, who is currently in her final year at Magdalene College Cambridge, gave a talk titled "Navigating the spaces we live in" to various groups at Alleyn’s this afternoon about the opportunities and challenges she has encountered on her journey from a community school in North London to where she is today.

Esther attended Gladesmore Community School, overcoming obstacles including undiagnosed dyslexia and ADHD to become Head Girl. Following her GCSEs, and via the organisation Royal National Children’s SpringBoard Foundation (of which our own Head, Jane Lunnon is a trustee), Esther was projected into the comparatively alien world of Wellington College for Sixth Form to study for A levels.

At Wellington, Esther says she gained exposure to another world, which raised her aspirations as she glimpsed other possibilities; and empowerment, as she came to have faith that she could succeed.

Esther is rightfully proud of her record at Cambridge, which she concedes can be tough with so little representation, but she has opted for academia and to maximise the opportunities the college has to offer. She is proud, among other things to have instituted a change to the reading list for her course, which now includes Toni Morrison, by speaking out about the lack of representation on the list of people of colour.

Esther is a such an engaging and stimulating speaker and pupils asked her so many questions that she didn’t have time to answer them all!

Afia in Year 13 spoke about hearing Esther speak:

“Really empowering to hear the anecdotes of a fellow black woman and her experiences in white spaces – really powerful.”

We are so grateful to Esther for giving up her time to speak to us.