BBC Outreach & Corporate Responsibility Feed

Koceila Lassal - It's not rocket science

2016-08-09T14:00:22+00:00

Koceila Lassal signed up to the Media Trust's Queen's Young Leaders programme with dream results after support from industry mentors.

'This is the accumulation of all the things I’ve been working towards'

Three years ago I didn’t know what a runner was; now I’m working at the BBC.

I mean, that wasn’t exactly my fault. Before that I had wanted to be an engineer. My dream job was actually at NASA or the Large Hadron Collider. I was on the verge of taking an engineering degree, but as I filled in my UCAS form I thought of other jobs that would excite me more – in TV – and I didn’t post it.

Koceila with the Blue Peter postbag: 'Every child writing in must feel special'

Growing up I had always liked making films with my family, and alongside physics and maths I took media studies A-level.

This extreme gear change at 18 pulled me from a secure future to risk it all for my passion (which didn’t go down well with my parents, I must admit).

So I chose a degree in TV and Radio at Salford University. I was ignorant to how competitive the industry is, so much so that the first job I applied for was as a camera-operator at MUFC TV, an ambitious and unrealistic move. It was hard.

I studied the industry, which gave me an understanding of it but no access. I tried repeatedly to gain that access and eventually landed my first real job (ever) as location marshall on the set of a major feature film, Genius, staring Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman.

Arrogance set in, and I thought ‘should be easy from here’ … Nu uh!

A few daily shifts won’t pay the bills, no matter how much you want them to. It came to a point where I had to get a job in retail to earn money, but that stint only made me realise how badly I wanted the media. I knew I had to make something happen, so I did.

I sought help, in the form of the Queen’s Young Leaders Programme, to help plug me into the industry I’d flirted with for a while. I needed reassurance, guidance, and to show my parents that the risk I took was worth it.

My mentor Aaron Nelson at ITV got to know me and helped me through some tough times. At a QYL masterclass held by BBC Outreach in MediaCityUK I met Nicola Stead who helped me focus my CV.

Turns out my previous research as well as my trial and error phase weren't for nothing, and after a dozen or so changes to it and studying hundreds of CVs on Facebook groups, I had the CV to take forward to the BBC talent team. My CV was in front of the kind of person I thought was a myth. I got an interview, and Aaron helped me prepare.

And then the BBC phone call – I had landed a short contract as a Correspondence Assistant with Blue Peter. It’s a dream job – in the team that handles thousands of letters a week where every child must feel special in our reply.

It’s weird looking back; weirder than it is to look at the present. How could a wannabe scientist unaware of the TV world go from some work experience to a contract at the BBC in two years?

The answer is a will to not give up, seek help if needed and try. Just go for it! Risk it all for your passions and stay creative. That’s probably the most scientific outlook at things.

Plus I had help from some great people, and this is the accumulation of all the things I’ve been working towards. I’m really thankful. Hopefully this is the start, and I can push on to become the film or TV director of my dreams, the one who has been waiting inside since I was a kid making short films with my family.

Koceila is taking part in the Queen's Young Leaders peer mentoring programme run by Media Trust and supported by BBC Outreach and other industry operators.

BBC Outreach & Corporate Responsibility brings the BBC closer to its audiences - particularly those audiences we have identified as harder to reach - with face-to-face activity, community support and staff volunteering.

Leading the way

2016-06-08T15:22:53+00:00

Sally Williams from BBC Inside Out volunteered to work with a group of young adults developing their CVs and interview skills at the BBC in Salford. A day long workshop helped them reassess their key achievements to date. They were part of the Queen’s Young Leaders programme, which is for 18-25 year olds interested in working in the media.

‘You could visibly see their confidence soar as they rewrote their CVs’

As a 15 year old at a large Comprehensive School on Merseyside, I was laughed at by the visiting careers officer when I told her my ambition was to work at the BBC. “You’re a pretty girl, have you thought of being a hairdresser?” she said with a waft of her hand. The BBC, it seemed, didn’t employ people from my background or from my school. The BBC wasn’t “for me”.

It took almost 10 years to realise my ambition when I was accepted on the BBC’s prestigious Trainee Reporter Scheme. It took a further 10 years for me to realise they hadn’t made a mistake and I wasn’t going to be found out and turfed out of the Corporation for having been to the wrong school in the wrong city.

The careers teacher was wrong; the BBC was for me, just as it’s for everyone of us. It’s this sense of injustice and anger that young people could be discouraged from pursuing a career at the BBC that made me sign up to help at the workshop. I feel very strongly that if the BBC is to remain relevant, it must be staffed by people who reflect our audience.

Queen's Young Leaders gaining confidence at the BBC in Salford

The sessions were for young people aged between 18 and 25 years. They came with varying degrees of confidence and experience, but what they did have in common is they all turned up on time ready to learn, and they all wanted to work in the media. The day started with an excellent session led by Alex Dalton who stressed the importance of good storytelling. This was valuable in helping the young people communicate in a powerful way and to really think about their experiences and skills.

The shy young woman next to me who’d insisted she had “nothing special” to offer was soon opening up and telling me how she spent time in her bedroom writing scripts for TV dramas that she hoped would one day be screened by the BBC. Another young man who was a carer for both his parents had set up a radio station at his college and was presenting his own show. He’d been told at the Job Centre to forget any dreams of working in the media.

The highlight for me was when a group of new joiners arrived and described how they got their first break at the BBC. Their tales of grim determination and enthusiasm were a real inspiration to the attendees who were given an opportunity to meet and question them afterwards. The lesson here was that hard work and tenacity really do pay off in the end and our young hopefuls mustn’t be discouraged or take rejection personally.

The afternoon session was really rewarding as it was more hands on. As coaches, we worked one to one with the delegates helping them to realise that their existing skills – from working in kitchens and shops to helping backstage in their local theatre - are transferable and relevant to life in the media where organisation and innovation are key. You could visibly see their confidence soar as they rewrote their CVs and deciphered daunting job descriptions with renewed vigour. I like to think that the young people left really believing that, despite what they’d been told, the BBC is for them as it is for everyone.