Five minutes with… Beth Taswell

December 20, 2019

We got to know Beth, Access and Support Officer (KU Cares) at Kingston University London. From a care experienced background herself, Beth is a NNECL ambassador and actively engaged with the AccessHE Care Experienced and Estranged Students (CEES) Forum.

Describe your institution in a few words.
Eclectic, Lively, and Supportive!

I do what I do because…

As a care-experienced person myself, I have been very fortunate and been given a lot of opportunities to completely transform my life. My role (and the related work I do outside of it) is my way of giving back to a sector that gave me a chance, and to help ensure that all young people who haven’t had the best start in life are given the tools and opportunities to achieve whatever it is they want to achieve.

At work I’m always learning that…

You’re not alone in wanting (and working towards) things changing for the better. There are so many compassionate people doing amazing work, which can be hard to remember when everything seems to terrible. Link up with those people and bask in the positive!

If you could go back and meet your 16-year-old self, facing decisions about your future education/career, what advice would you give?

Be open to different opportunities, and don’t wait for people to tell you that you’re good enough to take them up. Messing up is good for you and you will learn so much from the things that don’t quite work out.

If you could invite four people – living or deceased – to dinner, who would it be?

Michelle Obama:…obviously.  Vladamir Lenin: regardless of what I think of his politics, he gets stuff done! Plus his theoretical work is super interesting. Iris Murdoch: because I’m in need of a good long (non-Nietzsche-esque) conversation about Good and Evil. And  Jameela Jamil: for sass and for sense.

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