Four women from Brighton and Hove have been honoured at the Prince’s Trust Awards.
Tia Riddle, 20, and Jasmine Hetherington-Wilkes, 24, both from Brighton, won their categories at the trust’s London and the South East Celebrate Success Awards.
Their success was celebrated at the Emirates Stadium – the home of Arsenal Football Club in London – on Thursday (21 November).
Katie Syke, 30, from Saltdean, and Gabraella Howard-Lovell, 22, from Hove, were runners up in the Young Ambassador category.
Tia Riddle, who won the Breakthrough Award, was placed in care when she was 12 years old and expelled from several schools.
She survived domestic abuse, drug dependency and depression.
Now, with the support of the Prince’s Trust and City College Brighton and Hove, she has found a life that she loves, helping people turn their lives around.
After being put into care, constant moves to different foster parents left her feeling unstable.
Having been expelled from several schools, she dropped out when she was 16 after becoming pregnant.
With no qualifications or aspirations, she felt as though she had nowhere to go.
She became dependent on drugs and took an overdose leading to her daughter being removed from her care.
This made her realise that she had to stop and work to get her life on track for her daughter’s sake as well as her own.
At City College, Miss Riddle joined the Prince’s Trust Team programme. It is aimed at improving the skills and confidence of unemployed young people.
She became one of the strongest and most responsible members in the group. Her patience, positivity, self-confidence and time keeping improved dramatically.
Soon she was volunteering as a supporting member of staff and decided that she wanted a career helping other young people to turn their lives around.
She said: “I had a difficult start in life but I finally came to the realisation that I wanted and needed an education, a routine, stability and confidence to get a better life.”
She said that the Prince’s Trust Team programme provided her with the perfect opportunity to turn her life around, adding: “The Prince’s Trust saved my life.
“If I had continued struggling with my depression without the support of the trust I would either be dead or still an addict. Their support has been incredible.”
Miss Riddle now has a life that she loves and a strong career plan. She is currently working part-time to fund further studies in counselling and GCSE maths and English.
She remains realistic about her future and knows that it won’t be easy but she is confident that she can make it work.
She was supported by, among others, Kyle Holman, a volunteer line manager and Prince’s Trust Team leader at City College, and Christina Voakes, also a Prince’s Trust Team leader at the college.
Jasmine Hetherington-Wilkes won the Enterprise category, having received help in the form of a programme run by the Prince’s Trust.
Miss Hetherington-Wilkes has set up and grown an award-winning video production company called Boko Creative.
She was bullied at school and often felt useless and unable to achieve anything. But her life changed beyond recognition when her parents separated.
She lost her confidence but her deep-rooted ambition to be creative pushed her to study film production.
When the course ended though she was unable to find work and was forced to live on benefits.
She heard about the Prince’s Trust Enterprise programme, which helps unemployed young people start up in business, and found hope.
She said: “I learned so much on the Enterprise programme and the support I received from my business mentors was instrumental in helping me launch and grow my own video production company, Boko Creative.”
To start with, she worked from home every day from 7am until midnight. Now she operates her business from premises in Hackney alongside another director and four staff.
There have been barriers every step of the way. Her partner lost his job, putting a strain on income, and she collapsed with exhaustion.
But she has still had the perseverance and strength to overcome all the obstacles.
In the space of a year, Boko Creative has grown from a seed of an idea into an award-winning business.
It has an enviable client base of A-list brands such as Coca Cola, Nespresso and Jameson.
She said: “I am so much happier now. My confidence and focus has grown as a direct result of having my own business and that would never have even been on my agenda if it hadn’t been for the Prince’s Trust.”
Happier and full of confidence, Miss Hetherington-Wilkes plans to expand her portfolio into filming television documentaries, before eventually going global.
She was supported by Heather Fleetwood, a programme executive at the Prince’s Trust.
Katie Sykes struggled with ill health and abusive relationships. She was depressed and without direction.
She fell in with the wrong crowd at school after a family break-up. She frequently truanted and was eventually excluded.
In the first year of her A levels, she was diagnosed with the first in a series of long-term health problems. Despite being in and out of hospital, she managed to complete her exams and secure a college place.
But she struggled with her course – she was found to be dyslexic – and again went off the rails.
After dropping out of college she tried her hand at various careers but they led nowhere. She then developed ME, with unpredictable and limiting symptoms.
The stress of moving from job to job, combined with her illness and the damage inflicted by two abusive relationships, left Miss Sykes feeling depressed and suicidal.
With backing from the Prince’s Trust, however, she found her niche and is now a successful businesswoman and an inspiration to others.
She enrolled on the Prince’s Trust’s Enterprise programme which helps unemployed young people to start up in business.
It helped her to build up the skills, knowledge and confidence to set up her own digital marketing agency, Say Digital.
Business is booming and she now employs two staff.
She said: “The trust has helped me work out what I’m good at and given me the focus and direction I needed to set up my own business.
“It’s been amazing to have an organisation that was there for me and help me get on track.”
Katie wanted to help other people access the trust and became a young ambassador.
She has inspired people of all levels and backgrounds, speaking to large audiences at a myriad of events and appearing on BBC radio and ITV news.
She even rose to the considerable challenge of speaking after Bill Clinton and Ruby Wax at a high-profile gala dinner, delivering a moving and passionate speech to a rapt audience.
Her confidence has grown enormously as a result of her business success and her achievements as a young ambassador.
She now feels able to talk more openly with her family about their difficult past and relationships are improving.
Despite her continuing health problems, she is still inspiring and supporting others while expanding her business.
Miss Sykes said: “I’m really proud of how far I’ve come.
“I want to show other young people that there is help out there and becoming a young ambassador has been the perfect opportunity to do this.
“It is possible to turn things around and be successful. Sometimes you just need a helping hand and you should never be ashamed to ask for it.
She acknowledged the helping hand given by Lindsay Fox, a young ambassadors executive at the Prince’s Trust, and Thomas Jones, the content manager at Say Digital.
Gabraella Howard-Lovell was caring for several members of her family by the time she was 11 and was subject to extreme domestic violence.
She hated her life so much she couldn’t bear to look in the mirror. Now, with the support of the Prince’s Trust support, she has found a sense of purpose.
The awards ceremony was told how Miss Howard-Lovell also had to deal with her own medical conditions.
She was on constant suicide watch over her bipolar father and her brother, who has mental health issues.
She said: “It was a very difficult time growing up but I got through it all somehow.
“When my father died I couldn’t cope. He was my best friend and my hero. It really affected me and I had no focus or drive to secure the education, career and life I wanted.”
She truanted and drank, her health deteriorated and she tried to commit suicide several times.
The brave, strong person she had always been, disappeared and she became emotionally and physically drained.
She barely spoke and couldn’t bear to see her own face in the mirror.
In an attempt to boost her confidence, her mother suggested that she enrol on Get Started with Photography, a Prince’s Trust programme that helps disadvantaged young people build confidence and motivation through photography.
She said: “The taster day was phenomenal and so was the programme. It was intense and only lasted a week but it gave me something to live for.
“They’d done all that in seven days. I was so thrilled with the response my work received and finished feeling really inspired.”
An exhibition of participants’ work even saw a member of the public offer to buy one of her images.
Buoyed by her success, she began exploring photography as a career and has recently been granted an installation at her local psychiatric hospital.
She also became a young ambassador for the Prince’s Trust. Her first appearance as an ambassador helped raise £16,600 for the trust.
She has since been involved in numerous fundraising and networking events, successfully encouraging businesses to lend their support and inspiring other young people with her story.
As a result, Miss Howard-Lovell’s confidence has blossomed.
She is now working towards her silver arts award and hopes to study photography at college.
She is actively involved in her community and works with different organisations and charities to safeguard the health and safety of children and young people and educate them about substance misuse.
She said: “None of what I’ve achieved would have been possible if it weren’t for the Prince’s Trust. I owe them everything.
“They’ve transformed my life and reminded me of who I am and where I want to be.”
Lindsay Fox was again praised for the help given to Miss Howard-Lovell as was Lindsey Smith, a freelance artist educator and arts adviser.
