I didn't go to university straight after school for a variety of reasons but within the last five years, I had been thinking about going back. There were various occasions during my time working in the service industry where I knew that I didn't want to keep jumping from job to job and feel like I didn't have a purpose.

The pandemic gave me an opportunity to think about what I wanted to do in life and so I did some free online short courses. Due to my background working as a nanny and personal care assistant, I did one in adult social care, mental health in children, and one in understanding behavioural challenges such as autism. The part that interested me the most from all the courses was law and legislation. I had a sudden urge to research and understand the way in which law and legislation can influence these areas. One of my main goals in life is to help people and I just knew that moving forward I'd like to use my law degree to become an advocate for human rights.

Admittedly, even though I began developing this passion for law, I never thought it was a career path for me. I thought a career in law meant being a posh, white, straight man. It wasn't until I did online research and came across the Introduction to Law course at UEL when I realised I could do too. The course didn't re quire any previous qualifications and provided me an extremely helpful foundation in law.

After having finished the course, I am happy to say that I'm currently halfway into my first-year law degree. A year ago, I never would've seen myself here and I'm so grateful to have made this decision and hopefully inspire other individuals to pursue a career in law.