I joined the Company when I was 24 because I was trying to get work at the time, and I was with a Camden apprenticeships program and the Winch got in contact with them. The woman who was running the program at the time, Nina put me in touch with a (youth worker from The Winch) and it just went from there really.

I can hardly remember now when I first met them but I explained I wanted to make music my living. They did a great job of convincing me to join The Company because normally I’d be reluctant with these sort of programmes when they sound like school, I didn’t want to be in that sort of a situation, because my school experience as a kid was bad, and I didn’t want to go back into a situation where I felt like I was in that environment again. They did a great job of explaining how The Company was different and encouraged me to pursue what I was passionate about, making music my living.

The Company taught me a lot I didn’t know but I also learned a lot about myself – it helped me to develop as a person. I did things I never knew I could do before, like sailing a boat around the English channel but then I also learned about audiences and how to target them, learned to be more strategic about where I sell music and where I perform. Now I’m almost 30 and I definitely feel like I’m in a better place because of my experiences at The Winch with the Company. My music career hasn’t taken off but I have a job which I enjoy at a law firm and five years ago, I couldn’t imagine that would have happened.

“The Company taught me a lot I didn’t know but I also learned a lot about myself – it helped me to develop as a person.”

“The Winch [gave me] that first step and the opportunity for me to try and make a career out what I love doing and pick up skills to support myself along the way.”

Things like the Winch need to exist. They help people, they help young people achieve what they want to achieve, like me. There’s a lot of young people out there who are unsure of what they want to do, or they might have an idea but they just don’t know how to go about it and things like [The Winch] definitely put it into perspective. .. there’s a lot of young people out there who maybe are a bit unsure, they might have an idea, they might want to try something out before they’re ready to settle into a career.

The Winch gives you the path, like obviously you have to do it yourself, obviously, no one can hold your hand. The Winch [gave me] that first step and the opportunity for me to try and make a career out what I love doing and pick up skills to support myself along the way.”