The Social Mobility Podcast
The Social Mobility Podcast is a series of conversations with individuals who advocate for, work within or represent social mobility from a range of sectors, including education, business, charity and the media. Together with host Tunde Banjoko OBE, guests discuss the importance of advancing diversity and equality, and explore what can be done to address socio-economic inequality.
Latest episodes
Jul 24, 2019 • 33min
Sir Ken Olisa: "Everybody should have the opportunity to achieve their full potential"
Sir Kenneth Olisa is the first black Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London, chair of the Shaw Trust charity and chairman of Restoration Partners. He has more than three decades’ senior business experience, and was knighted in the 2018 New Year’s Honours List for services to business and philanthropy. In this fascinating discussion, Ken talks about being brought up in a single-parent home in the backstreets of Nottingham, and how the kindness of strangers propelled him to his current position. A strong believer in always accepting help from others and in giving back, Ken says it's his responsibility as a role model to share his story.Your host is Tunde Banjoko OBE, founder of Making The Leap.
Jul 9, 2019 • 59min
Kwame Kwei-Armah: “Creativity is at the heart of our economy”
Kwame Kwei-Armah is the artistic director of the Young Vic in London. An actor, writer and singer, he previously led the World Festival of Black Arts and the Center Stage in Baltimore. He received an OBE for his services to drama in 2012, and the Urban Visionary Award in 2016. In this in-depth conversation, he shares his early memories of racial injustice, from playground division to watching Roots and tracing his ancestry to find a name that “represents the tribe we originate from”; describes the challenges of changing the notion of theatre from high arts to popular pastimes so that everyone has access; and explains how telling stories through a “cultural lens” results in socially relevant productions that truly matter to the community.Your host is Tunde Banjoko OBE, founder of Making The Leap.
Jun 17, 2019 • 43min
Justine Greening: "Help communities hang on to their best and brightest"
Justine Greening is MP for Putney, Roehampton and Southfields. She has held a number of posts in government, including Minister for Women & Equalities and Secretary of State for Education. Upon returning to the backbenches in 2018, she established the Social Mobility Pledge, a scheme aimed at broadening social mobility and opportunity in Britain. In this in-depth conversation, she reflects on her own experience of “climbing up the career ladder” from a working-class background, describes education's role in “firing up children's imaginations” about the wider world, and explains how the social mobility pledge is helping to close the achievement gap by encouraging employers to value talent over connections.Your host is Tunde Banjoko OBE, founder of Making The Leap.
