Hi, I’m Tyreke. I’m originally from Bristol. My family and friends would say I’m funny, wise when it comes to serious topics, confident, and dependable. I’ve finished college, and I’m currently taking a gap year. I’m using this time to experiment by doing different creative projects that I’ve always wanted to do. One is a podcast that I’m working on with other Youth Ambassadors from Babbasa, called the Unicast, which looks at adulting. Others are music – I’m learning piano at the moment. I love art stuff too. I have a lot of ideas that I’ve started but have yet to finish.
I’ve recently been working with Purple Fish. My main job role was account administrator, organising events for influential people in Bristol. I would find out costs for different venues like the Old Vic or the Hippodrome, organise trips on the bus and help get everyone from A to B, to make sure that they hopefully have a fun time. I also did some of their marketing and social media posting for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and organising different meetings with Purple Fish affiliates or different clients. I did some photography with them as well. I’ve also written some opinion articles and blogs for Purple Fish – mainly stuff for their website, like my experiences how what I’ve done so far has encouraged me to stuff in the PR field. I recently did an opinion article on St Paul’s carnival, what it meant for me, and what Windrush means to me.
I first came to Babbasa for one of their events, called Hear Our Stories. I met Pravanya, and she said ‘would you like to more things with Babbasa’. I went to a lot of the Spotlight sessions, on things like technology, and I did the work placement programme that they had, which is how I started working with Purple Fish, I was also a Youth Ambassador and now I stay involved as a Trailblazer. I was the business and outreach team for Babbasa’s Ask About Me event, and tried to get as many people invested in the event as possible and tried to get organisations to fund the event The Spotlight Sessions helped me to think about different careers and helped me narrow
down what I don’t want to do, for example, tech stuff. I know I don’t want to do that because it’s not something that I’m interested enough to do wholeheartedly – it’s just something that I’d like to pursue as a hobby. A lot of the others gave me a chance to understand what it’s like to work 9-5 or start a business, showed me how to start a business with 3 leaders. Working with Purple Fish showed me how to liaise with other companies, how to deal with unforeseen circumstances, showed me what I would like to do in the future.
Communication is a big skill that I’ve honed and improved to a very high degree since joining Babbasa – the main form of communications that I’ve learned is talking to a mass amount of people and relaying information that’s relevant to them. And understanding patience, which is a major thing for me. Being able to wait until opportunities are available and waiting until my schedule lines up with other people’s. I’ve also learned how to not be so hard on myself. I think that a lot of the time I put pressure on myself, because I want the best possible product, but it can’t always be the greatest from the start. What’s important is that you keep learning and developing new skills. I’m also learning to rely more on other people, and the importance of teamwork – teamwork makes the dream work.
Babbasa provides you with a foundation to facilitate the ideas most people have. It gives you a chance to explore things in Bristol. Previously, I was always pushed to uni by other organisations. Babbasa gives you a chance to be confident talking about your ideas, and everyone here cares about getting the best out of the individual and gives out networks for different types of industries that you can work in, and work placements that I would have never thought of. If it wasn’t for Babbasa, I wouldn’t have known about Paintworks –their placements are amazing. It’s also fun that they’re able to fund certain projects like Stomping Ground or get you free tickets to a play – I would never have thought about watching theatre, but now I look forward to it. Babbasa can be serious, and it can be fun when needs to be. Everything gels together in nice little melting pot.
In 5-10 years time, I would like to have some of my projects realised in terms of my personal inventions or business ideas which would make a sustainable revenue stream, and hopefully, the Unicast will be its own thing without me doing it anymore. I have an idea for a digital marketing company called Spotlight, which I’ve designed the website for, and would like to get off the ground. I’d like to be able to buy have my own house, and get my mum a house. I’d love to help more people as well and do more volunteering like in hospitals or with homeless people, to do something positive in the community.