In the sixth episode of Escaping Lockdown, Professor J. Ignacio Canales interviews recent Business School graduate Emilia Davie.

Initially planning to go travelling after graduation, once lockdown began Emilia took this as an opportunity to upskill and develop professionally.

Emilia began lockdown taking free online courses and began to reflect on the value of education, feeling incredibly grateful to have access to free educations whilst many others across the world don’t have this luxury.

That is when she began volunteering for “Code Your Future” as an ambassador, helping refugees, asylum seekers and underprivileged groups gain access to a full-stack web development 8-month course and helping others gain an education.

As an ambassador Emilia has now developed into the role of a personal development mentor for students on the course across England and Scotland, helping students learn soft skills, build confidence and spread awareness of the organisation.

Since volunteering Emilia has recognised the importance and need for soft skills to kickstart your career and balancing these between learning technical skills.

Emilia finishes the interview discussing how rewarding the opportunity has been with recent graduates from the course already finding great roles this gives her hope looking towards her own future and job search.