Meet the winner 2025

What are you studying and where?

I am studying BEng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering at the University of Plymouth.

Summarise your career journey to date

I originally studied Fine Art at Plymouth College of Art, earning a First Class degree. I worked as a practising artist and art technician, which I enjoyed for several years before changing careers. In 2021, after being diagnosed with disabilities that affected my art career, I began transitioning into mechanical engineering, a field where I could still be creative but work in a less physical, desk-based role. I’m now halfway through a part-time engineering degree and already employed as a trainee engineer with Fishtek Ltd.

What advice would you give to someone looking to change career?

I think there are so many crossovers and links between things in life, and that as humans we like to put things in categories and boxes, but things are so much more fluid than that. For anyone wanting to change career, I think it's important to know that you aren't starting from scratch and that the things you have already learned may well come in useful in other places, for example I have found my work as an engineer is informed by my background in the arts.

What made you apply to the UGOTY awards

The University of Plymouth regularly shares opportunities with students and encourages us to apply. I’ve always been someone who takes every opportunity I can. I read through all the categories and felt my career change story might fit well, so I decided to take a chance. I didn’t expect to get far in the awards, but it felt worth trying. I wrote my application and was surprised at how straightforward the process was. It was a great opportunity to reflect on what led me to change careers and to write about how far I’ve come since 2021.

What was the most rewarding part of the UGOTY awards?

Finding out I had got to the Top 10 was incredible, and meeting the other career change finalists was such a humbling experience because I found I could really connect with their experience - I felt so proud to be amongst them. It was also an opportunity to connect with career changers at Clifford Chance, and together we all had some incredible conversations about how it feels to restart your career later in life. It was such a special experience, proving that changing direction later in life is not only possible but actually very empowering and inspirational.

Did you learn anything by being a part of the process?

Since everyone had such different stories about which career they were changing from and to, I learned so much about how connected everything is. It was fascinating to hear all the ways that career changers have knowledge from other areas that they bring to their new careers, as well as different perspectives that end up being really valuable. I also found that, like me, many people had overcome huge barriers to achieve their career change and discovered that this was a real strength, that their resilience makes them such inspirational people to speak with.

Can you tell us about your internship experience?

I am actually writing these answers on day 3 of my internship with Clifford Chance! So far it has been a fascinating insight into working at a law firm. I am based within the Energy and Infrastructure team which means that I am looking at some of the technical challenges that I usually look at from an engineering perspective, now from a legal perspective. It's been interesting to get the opportunity to speak with different members of the team and also to feed my technical knowledge back into projects that the team are working on.

What do you understand about Clifford Chance after going through the competition process and the internship?

I found Clifford Chance to be a welcoming and friendly place to visit and to work. I have been well looked after and everyone has been so generous with their time and energy to make me feel welcome and included. The people I have been working with and having meetings with have all been exceptionally open and have encouraged me to share my ideas. It feels like the place that everyone is listened to and everyone is thanked for their work, which makes for a really good working environment.

What's the next career step for you?

I intend to continue with my studies and my job as a trainee engineer with Fishtek, with a view to eventually becoming a chartered engineer. I am currently working on my application to be registered as an 'Engineering Technician' with the Institute of Mechanical Engineers which I hope to complete by the end of this year, which will be my first step towards that. I also intend to continue with my work in improving accessibility with engineering and find opportunities to share my story and encourage employers to consider the valuable perspective that disabled people can have within engineering.

I chose to spend my £1000 on an intensive Creative Writing course. I have found that writing poetry has been an area where I have brought art and engineering together. Over the past year I have been working on a poetry collection 'Woven Paths' which is due to be published in September. I felt that further exploring this was a brilliant way to bring the engineering and my art background together and explore the way the two can intersect. The writing course is booked for the beginning of September and I am really looking forward to it.