Our alumni have graduated from a huge plethora of degree courses, and we have over 200,000 º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ alumni. For many, they have pursued careers related to their degree courses, whilst others have taken transferable skills from their course and taken a less obvious route. Some alumni change industries, whilst others move to a new country.
Here we have collated a few of our recent and inspiring stories to give our new graduates a flavour of what our alumni go on to do after leaving º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ.
Pursuing a passion
Jameel Shariff graduated with a BA degree in English and Drama in 2018. He is based in the UK and has pursued a career in broadcasting and media since leaving º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ.
Jameel has had a passion for television since he was a child, and even appeared on a junior cooking show! Developing his communication skills during his degree, Jameel also engaged with student media, interviewing fellow students and honing his presenting and broadcasting skills.
His first role was an internship with the BBC, which he gained through the Creative Access programme after graduating. He has since worked in various roles at the BBC including in research, production and most recently as a journalist for the BBC Asian Network.
His progress in the media industry was recognised when he was presented with the Future Presenter Award in the New Voice Awards 2022.
Moving to a new country
Alumna Emma Fu moved from China to º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ in 2006 to complete her BSc International Economics degree and went on to complete her MSc Business Analysis and Management degree in 2010.
After graduating from º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ, Emma spent a year in China and then moved to the US. After gaining experience in project management, she worked within the US Federal Reserve Bank as a Database Testing Engineer. She’s since spent time at Apple as an Engineering Project Manager, managing multiple software development projects within the Apple store app and Apple Pay. She’s recently moved to a role at Amazon Web Services where she is a Senior Technical Product Manager.
Emma is a member of the University’s Alumni Advisory Board and is keen on connecting with fellow alumni living and working in America.
Becoming a Founder
Aditi Chauhan is the Goalkeeper of the Indian National Football Team as well as the Founder of She Kicks Football Academy and Aditi Chauhan Foundation. She graduated in 2015 with an MSc in Sport Management and was an ambassador for º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ London.
Aditi played for West Ham Women’s football team after graduating. When she joined the club, she was the first player from India to appear in the FA Women’s Premier League.
As well as pursuing her sporting career and continuing her position as India’s first-team goalkeeper in the years following her degree, Aditi wanted to create something to support girls’ participation in football, and so she launched the She Kicks Football Academy. She Kicks is an initiative of the Aditi Chauhan Foundation, set up to support talented female football players.
Stone Zhang, David Mead and Sarah Black-Smith
Utilising transferable skills
David Mead graduated in 2020 with a BSc in Sport and Exercise Science.
Despite studying Sports Science at º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ, David has moved into data roles following his degree. It’s the skills he learned relating to statistics and analysis during his studies that sparked a passion for data.
He is based in the UK and until recently was at the Kubrick Group where he worked for clients such as AstraZeneca and John Lewis Partnership. He is now a Data Product Owner at Sky, and his role involves managing the production of data visualisation products to enhance business intelligence across trading teams.
Whilst David was studying at º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ, he was able to learn about how different statistical analysis techniques could derive actionable insights from physiological data. It was those experiences that have fuelled David’s interest in data and have kickstarted his career.
Outside of his work, David remains actively engaged with the University as a member of the Alumni Advisory Board.
Climbing the ladder
Sarah Black-Smith graduated with a BEng degree in Manufacturing Engineering and Management in 2004.
Sarah found her path during her placement, landing a role with Alstom Power who were bought out by Siemens during her year there. She completed her year in industry in Lincoln (UK). She headed back to º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ for her final year, sponsored by Siemens, before taking a graduate role with the organisation as Lean Implementer after completing her studies.
Sarah has worked across many roles at Siemens in her career so far including Manufacturing Manager, Head of Manufacturing and Head of Factory Operations. She was appointed to the role of General Manager of Motion Control within the Digital Industries division last year.
Specialising
Pu (Stone) Zhang is a 2010 graduate of MSc Banking and Finance and has pursued his career within finance over the last decade, having also completed his bachelor’s degree in finance.
Stone is based in Chengdu in China and specialises in insurance and financial planning. Throughout his career so far, he has facilitated financial analysis of client’s strategic plans and managed deliverables at an operational level, whilst also managing cash flow. He has experience in onshore and offshore wealth management and has also had success managing the start-up of an import-export business.He is currently a Senior Financial Consultant at AIA.
He is keen on connecting with fellow alumni in Chengdu.
You can find more inspiring stories across our news section and look out for brand new content in our alumni newsletters every month, direct to your inbox. If you’re not receiving our communications, be sure to update your details.
Do you have a story to share? We would love to hear from you. Please contact us by email.