"My spiritual ancestors were calling me home. The hand of fate rested on my shoulders and at 16 my self-contained world turned on its head.
" Five days after my 16th birthday I won a creative writing prize that whisked me off to Africa and changed my life forever. My month-long expedition to Tanzania and Zambia was one of the most enlightening experiences of my life. It opened my mind up to a world of possibilities, and adventure, easily obtained if desired.

Straight after graduation I secured a work placement with via the Windsor Fellowship (an organisation that sponsors black and Asian graduates) on the BBC World Service flagship programme, Outlook. Later I spent a couple of weeks on Network UK. After several stressful nights in the studio (I also attended lots of BBC training courses) I taught myself all the relevant radio production skills.

My big break came when I persuaded a trendy producer to take me on and pay me. Megamix is the radio equivalent of Channel 5's, the Mag or BBC's Top of the Pops. It's a very young "ultra cool" department to work for, I loved it. There, I produced features on everything from drugs, fashion and eating disorders to relationships. The job did have its obvious perks. I interviewed lots of celebs, musicians and designers. Still, beneath all the glamour, radio production does involve an incredible amount of stamina and initiative. It's not a job for the fainthearted.

I got itchy feet and when I bumped into an editor at a party she made me an offer I couldn't refuse. As television editor at The Brief I spent most of my time interviewing personalities and attending glitzy TV launches. But much partying and wine, then, everything came to an abrupt end. The Brief, a fairly small operation, collapsed.

After The Brief I started freelancing for the big boys. The move into national newspapers was surprisingly easy and my work has featured in the Daily Mail, the Evening Standard, The Sun, the Sunday People, The Express and The Daily Telegraph.

My career needed stability and after a few months of freelancing I went to work as a news reporter for The Voice Group. I worked on The Journal, what was the sister paper to Britain's best-selling black newspaper, The Voice. But unlike the Voice, which is a tabloid, our target audience was the black middle class, the ABC professionals.

Although we were a small team with limited resources, staff worked hard to produce this quality, readable newspaper.

That we were short staffed actually worked to my advantage. We were not on guest-lists for the best media events nor were we spoon fed with well written press releases. This meant as a journalist I had to work harder. If the news pages were going to work, I had to dig up interesting and thought provoking stories, all by myself.

Working at The Journal developed me as a journalist. It gave me the ability to make decisions and write about stories I was passionate about. Because I had to dig up good stories with interesting angles, most of the time unaided, my growth as a journalist was phenomenal.

I thoroughly enjoyed my job but in October 1999 I was on the move again. Months before I took a deep breath and decided I didn't just want to be a good journalist I wanted to be a trained journalist. So I attended one of the best post-graduate journalism courses. I completed my training in July 2000 and immediately got my job with the Evening Standard.

Future plans...

I've dabbled in TV presenting and this is something I'm keen to pursue in the near future, and keep up my writing of course.

In 1995 I was panellist on the Radical Option Programme (BBC 2). The show, hosted by Trevor Phillips, this gave me the opportunity to talk about African history and politics. I've also hosted live music showcases, just for the fun of it. Some of my best nights have including working with the likes of comedian Richard Blackwood and singer Omar

Awards Won:

Winner of National Union of Journalists (1999) competition for ethnic minority journalists (second prize in the Felix Dearden Award)

Winner of many Cambridge University writing awards, including the Trinity College Hooper Declaration Prize Winner of national writing competition ACER Awards (Afro-Caribbean Education Resource Centre: first prize in the 16-19 category, a couple of years later I was a runner up in the 20-24 category

Winner of the writing competition, Young Haringey to Africa

Winner in the arts category for the GLC Summer Arts Festival

Hobbies/interests:

Mentoring young people, community work, giving public talks, reading political biographies and books on self development and spiritual growth. Also interested in nutrition and travelling