A digital journey inspiring inclusion

By Rafaela Osawe, Youth Panel Chair, MadLab, March 2024

My name is Rafaela Teixeira Osawe. I am the Chair of MadLab’s Youth Panel, and am on the BBC Graduate Software Engineer programme. I wanted to tell you about my story - and why it is so important that people like me are represented and supported.

My journey started off in London - Tottenham to be specific. Where I worked as a cafe assistant from the age of 16 with future plans of becoming a Forensic Psychologist. I had completed my first year in Sixth Form and was on track to starting my final year in 2020. Then the pandemic happened.

We were all stuck at home and - keeping a long story short - things went from bad to worse very quickly. With the end result being me having to move my entire life to Greater Manchester alongside my mum and two sisters during the peak of COVID. I immediately started looking for work and secured a job at JD Sports but was let go two months later due to another lockdown. Many applications later, I got another job at McDonald's where I stayed for six months.

Over those six months I balanced my full-time job and MadLab’s Shift Click software development course to try and change my life around. It was an amazing experience for me. I was sceptical at first but took the plunge to sign up and I am so glad I did.

I also signed up to MadLab’s Youth Panel when it was just starting up. The different workshops were really engaging as it really encouraged me to think outside of the box when it comes to improving inclusion and diversity in the tech sphere for young people. Considering the fact that underrepresented, marginalised groups are, more often than not, overlooked. Seeing and interacting with people from different backgrounds to tackle these difficult subjects was very eye-opening and especially refreshing. 

Making the decision to enter the tech field at 18 years old, without going to university was difficult and felt nothing short of insane at the height of Covid epidemic. What if I can’t get a job? What if no one will hire me? Not to mention my family constantly in my ear asking me what my plans were for the future. But, after nearly two years of learning how to code, interviews and rejections I finally got the phone call - I was offered a job at the BBC as a Graduate Software Engineer. 

Being the only black woman in my cohort as well as the only one without higher education, meant that the initial relief that I had felt for finally getting a job quickly turned into imposter syndrome. Do I deserve to be here? I’m miles behind these guys with 4 years worth of coding experience. In the early days of my career I felt extremely isolated, an uphill battle in terms of self-confidence that I thought I would have to face alone. This in turn began to affect my motivation massively. 

Finding an inclusive community at work was the best thing to happen for me. Speaking with people who share similar experiences made me realise that I didn’t have to deal with this on my own. Furthermore, I was given the space to speak up about issues that I didn’t feel comfortable addressing on my own. I came to realise that there were probably other people out there who may be feeling that same feeling of isolation. So, the question then became how could I reach them? 

Doing a panel, alongside three other brilliant women, at Karren Brady’s Women in Business & Tech Expo was the start. We got to speak about our experiences as women in the tech industry, sharing both our successes and failures. Connecting with so many women of different backgrounds was super insightful for me. I then delivered a keynote speech at the UpSkillMe - girls in STEM event. I got to share my experience: driving home topics which I would have wanted to have known early on, like mental health, confidence, and discipline. 

Being someone who still isn’t fully comfortable with public speaking, both of these events were very much out of my comfort zone. That in and of itself has been a massive achievement for me and I hope to continue to do more in the future. 

Using the skills I got from participating with MadLab, the BBC and in these public forums has been propelled forward in ways that I could not even imagine. My life has changed drastically. The experience has not only inspired me to do better, but to also give back to the community. 

Now as the proud Chair of MadLab’s Youth Panel (who I have recently helped secure a significant grant) I have been able to echo the needs of these young people - especially women - whose needs are so often not met.

MadLab is a Greater Manchester based grassroots innovation organisation, they work with technology and people to shape our world for the better – combining a deep material understanding of new and emerging technologies with the tools and methods of participatory design. Visit madlab.org.uk for further information on their digital innovation and support.