Page 78 - Future Leaders 2018-2019

Careers

SO, YOU DON’T WANT TO BE A

DOCTOR?

Can parents stifl e young people with artistic ambitions to
fi t into more ‘conventional’ careers? Future Leaders Daisy
Mutsau and Remi Phillips-Hood talk about their experiences.

DAISY MUTSAU, 23 that none of these career paths in the UK. So it’s understandable
was meant for me. Instead, a deep that the career choices seen as “best”
desire to understand the making of in our communities are those that
ou can be anything you want pharmaceutical drugs had been are well understood by them and
“Yto be when you grow up – but awakened in me as I saw how can be easily be translated with
only if anything is a doctor, lawyer quickly they had pride to our relatives back in
or an engineer.” Growing up, this is transformed the patients’ Africa. Hence the emphasis on
the phrase my friends (from an African well-being during my becoming a doctor, lawyer or
heritage) and I always playfully used time at the hospital. I an engineer. Unfortunately
whenever we tried to impersonate our was certain that I did not for me, becoming a “research
parents. But the joke quickly turned want to be the person scientist” was unheard of,
sour – and real – when I decided that I prescribing medicines. so my decision to study
wanted to study chemistry at university! Instead, I wanted to be chemistry at university was
My father had always encouraged me the person developing met with a lot of resistance
to pursue a career in medicine, them. in the black-African
and for a while I went along with it, A signifi cant community.
since I didn’t know what I wanted to do number of With a little help
with my life yet. In year 10, I even went young black from being named
as far as to secure an internship at my people have the ‘Chemistry
local hospital where I had the amazing parents who Student of the
opportunity to shadow doctors, were born Year’ at my
nurses, and consultants as they went and raised high school, I
about their day jobs. By the end of the in Africa managed to
internship, I had gained a whole new then later win over my
level of respect and admiration for these became parents to my
professions. the fi rst- pursuits. But
However, to my father’s dismay, I generation in the African
had also gained a strong conviction migrants community,

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