24, London (UK)

Background

At University I studied Economics, played Lacrosse (terribly) and drank one or two beers. After graduating I worked a soul-destroying stint in loans insurance, decided it wasn’t for me and fled to South East Asia to ‘find myself’. Adventures included being stranded on a boat in Laos for 2 days with a dozen drunk Canadians, celebrating birthday parties in remote Vietnamese villages, jumping off 20 foot cliffs in Thailand, diving with manta rays in Malaysia (bursting an ear drum in the process) and dining at the top of skyscrapers in Singapore.

Why GLOCAL?

At the end of my trip, on a suffocating overnight bus from Malaysia to Thailand, I met a mysterious French woman who mentioned she’d started a company in Berlin. Somehow I landed myself an internship and later that year found myself working for the immigrant entrepreneur at her ‘ethical advertising’ agency. It took a unique approach by working selectively with the clients that adhered to ethical production methods (particularly in developing countries). Unfortunately start-ups generally don’t the luxury of being quite so exclusive, and the agency struggled to take off. I returned to London and worked in digital marketing at a major advertising agency, then eventually stumbled across the GLOCAL programme. The focus on development, entrepreneurship and local actors influencing global markets reminded me of my surreal German experience and I felt compelled to apply. I would quite like to work in facilitating immigrant entrepreneurship (a few social enterprises exist in this field) after graduation, although no concrete plans yet.

I also have strange affection for Germany, most of all Leberkäse.

What is GLOCAL? What were my expectations?

I admit, I never saw GLOCAL as a way to ‘change the world’ entirely in of itself (although I have no doubt many will go on to make a real difference). However I did have a hunch that an international group of people converging in Glasgow (before setting off for the sunnier corners of Europe) for this unique programme could only lead to something exciting. So far it’s been a weird and wonderful experience that’s lived up to all expectations.