Page 44 - Future Leaders Magazine

THE TOP 10
2

MIKAI centered on topics such as intersectionality and social theories.
MCDERMOTT, Society, which involved liaising with the student union and
Prior to this she was held the same role at Warwick’s Flow
21 external parties to book spaces for shows. She also used social

media as an outlet for performers as well as to raise awareness
School University of Warwick about what was then a new society. In one year, the Flow Society
Subject English Literature (BA) attracted over 150 members and collaborated with multiple
Year Second cultural societies in Warwick.
Grade average 2:1
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
ikai is extremely passionate As a world-renowned documentarian and with CariConnect
Mabout ensuring that more having branches all over the world and links to the University of
Caribbean students are represented the West Indies.
at Russell Group universities, which
led to her setting up CariConnect,
a charity which aims to increase
numbers through extra support and
numbers through extra support and
educational mentoring.
Her motivation in launching this
initiative stems from her own success at A-level, where she
scored two As and an A*, grades which landed her a place at
one of the best universities in the country. But once she got to
university, she was disappointed to nd that there weren’t more
students like her – young people of Caribbean heritage.
“[During college] I had always gotten certain comments from
teachers such as: ‘Oh, I thought you were Nigerian’ or ‘I didn’t
realise that Caribbean students did as well
as you did’,” she says, “which didn’t really bother me
until I got to university and found that I couldn’t relate
to anyone.”
Prior to o cially creating the charity, she did some research
on the issue, including checking out o cial gures, talking to
schools and to her mother, who is a teacher, which all backed
up the fact that things needed to improve.
Then Mikai put together a team, delegating tasks such as PR
and administration. In recent months, she and the CariConnect
team have o cially launched the charity at the o ces of
leading UK-based educational charity Teach First, reached
out to schools to o er their services, and have secured some
student mentors who will go into schools to work directly
with students from September 2017.
“I just want to help black Caribbean British students and
build that bridge, so if they feel their teachers can’t help, we
will help them to get to Russell Group universities such as
Warwick, Cambridge, or Birmingham so they can actually
make an institutional di erence.” (Read more on page 70)
Mikai is also a keen YouTuber, building up a subscriber
community of over 11,000. This is another platform that she
uses to be a role model and inspire both peers and those
younger than her, by discussing topics such as education,
relationships, family, mental health issues, issues a ecting
the black community, her Christian faith and beauty from her
own personal and refreshingly honest perspective.
Some of her most popular videos are about her university
experience where she talks about the realities of life at a
Russell Group University.
In August, Mikai posted a documentary she had been
working on titled Pray and it Will Go Away, which explores
the taboos of addressing mental health within the young
black community.
Mikai is also the Event Co-ordinator of Warwick’s
Anti-Racism Society and has planned a number of debates

42 FUTURE LEADERS | 2017-18