99: Rosie Wainwright social justice ambassador: On her lived experiences, career, mentors.......

The Elephant in the Room - A podcast by Sudha Singh

Shownotes: According to the Social Mobility Commission Report from last year only 35% of adults in the UK believe that everyone has a fair chance to go as far as their hard work will take them and 46% said that where you end up in society is mainly determined by your background and who your parents were. It is hard to disagree with what the commission has to say. But, every once in a while you hear stories of people who make it despite the challenges, the hurdles that they may have faced in life. This could be because of a teacher who is interested, a mentor who is committed to adding real value to the life of a mentee….My guest on the podcast this week Rosie Wainwright, an ambassador for social justice met her mentor Laura @Career Ready. Laura hugely influenced the direction Rosie took in her life, by unlocking her love for books (as a dyslexic) and focusing on education as a path to attainment and breaking the cycle (in her own words). In the episode we spoke about her difficult life experiences, being in foster care, becoming an ambassador for social justice, a panel member on TACT (Fostering and Adoption Charity) and a people and change specialist at PA Consulting. We also spoke about 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾👉🏾 Learning what ‘normal’ looks like. Being the first person in her family to go to university👉🏾 How Career Ready changed her life👉🏾 The dreaded imposter syndrome, work place culture and being a culture fit👉🏾 Her mantra ‘Reminding myself that I deserve to be where I am. I am not in my position because someone made a mistake’👉🏾 Supporting social impact and widening participation 👉🏾 Her biggest achievement which is her relationship with herself and others👉🏾 Networking and her mentor at PA Consulting Sally Bibb“Words have power. Do not be embarrassed, your situation at a young age is not your fault. Focus on your education. Education is often the key to social mobility. So develop, learn skill yourself where you can. And something that I do now, make a conscious decision to surround yourself with people who uplift you, who are going to offer support and encouragement. And if your come across someone that inspires you - reach out to them, ask them to be your mentor like I did.” I am ever so grateful to Rosie for sharing her story, her difficulties and triumphs with me and the listeners even though we discussed in advance what she was comfortable speaking about. Memorable Passages from the Podcast: 👉🏾 Sure. So I'm Rosie Wainwright. I live in Southeast London and I work at a company called PA Consulting as a people and change specialist. I'm also a mentor and a qualified coach, and I sit on a fostering and adoption panel for a company called TACT. And yeah, I guess I'm passionate about social mobility and having a positive impact where I can. 👉🏾 Sure. So I would say that every experience in my life has shaped who I am today. But I'll keep it simple and I'll talk about my top three that kind of stick out in my memory. So the first would have to be, I think like most people, my childhood. So I grew up predominantly with my mom as a single parent and was helped to be raised by my grandparents. When they passed away, things took quite a turn. My mom, she had me very young and she got mixed up with the wrong people and got into the wrong things. So unfortunately, I became the target for most of her anger. I then went into foster care. I was about 14 or 15 years old, and the...