Pride on Campus - Guest Speaker Sanjay Sood-Smith

Sanjay Sood-Smith, 28, is well known as a Candidate on the 10th series of BBC's 'The Apprentice' (2014) where he proved that nice guys don't always finish last, narrowly missing out on a place in the 'Final Five'. His energetic and positive approach culminated in the final where he played a major role in helping the winner to victory and was described as his 'guardian angel'.

Prior to appearing in The Apprentice Sanjay enjoyed a successful career in banking after studying Mathematics with Business & Management at The University of Manchester. Following a graduate scheme where amongst other roles he worked for one of the Group Executives Director's, at the age of just 23 he became one of the youngest branch managers in the country for Lloyds Banking Group. Just a year later he was put in charge of the sales and service performance of fourteen Central London branches where he moved their national ranking from 90th to 2nd in the space of six months. He was promoted to a Senior Management position in Strategy and eCommerce where he was in charge of developing high level strategy and online sales capability across three brands, all before the age of 26.

Taking part in The Apprentice inspired Sanjay to leave banking and he is currently developing Tuk In, an Indian curry-in-a-naan microwave meal for supermarkets. He is also working with the charity Stonewall, acting as a 'school role model' where he talks to children about his experiences of homophobia and overcoming being bullied when he was younger for being different. Sanjay was recently shortlisted for the Positive LGBT Role Model award at the prestigious National Diversity Awards for his extensive work on fighting homophobia with young people.

During this talk Sanjay will look at a number of topics including motivation, goal setting, making plans, seizing opportunities, self-development and standing out from the crowd. He will also talk on the topic of anti-bullying and diversity issues where he draws on his own personal story and talks candidly about being bullied when he was younger and his experiences of racism and homophobia. Delivering a  strong message of embracing each other for being different and celebrating individuality.There will also also be a short question and answer session.

Come along and listen to Sanjay's  story and be inspired!

FREE TEA / COFFEE

To book your place please email k.l.weatherill@exeter.ac.uk