I came here in 2022 with an ambition of working on myself, becoming a good leader and to start my studies in MSc Sports Event Management at Leeds Beckett University. I got involved with LBSU and eventually ran and was elected to be the SU President which has helped me development so many skills!

During the course of my studies, I got a part-time role in the SU as a project supervisor. This was my first job in the UK and I was managing volunteers, taking care of two enterprise projects and working on sustainability efforts. In this role, I got to know about LBSU and decided to nominate myself in the Leadership Elections. Thanks to all the home and international students who voted for me, I became the first SU President as an international student!

I am not from a political background, and this was my first step to enter into student movement. In a job interview there’s just few people you're competing with, but in an election it’s an open field where everyone is looking at you. However, the best part about the election is that it’s a kind of recommendation from the students who voted for you, and you worked to gain their votes and build their confidence in you.

During my time as SU President I worked with key Senior Mangers in the University along with the SU staff to bring a positive change to students' lives.

During my term I worked upon key things that brought a big impact in the student community including:

• Developing and implemeniting new SU strategy that is more focussed on community organising and key values of SU
  • This has created more student jobs and a more engaged community model
• Re-structured the executive team and worked on providing more leadership roles to students
  • We will now have 10 Student Officers including 8 Officers from each school
• I worked on getting a multi faith space for students on both the campuses! Now we have a bigger, better multi-faith space for students that is more inclusive & accessible, that created more sense of belonging for students.
• Introduced more diverse food in The Hive like Nigerian and Indian food that was well appreciated by our current demographics and created a sense of belonging for international community
• Worked to get more hardship funds for students and worked with the finance department to get more instalment options for students to help with the Cost of Living crisis
• Worked on increasing the shuttle bus frequency between campuses that has impacted a ton of students. I also worked on the bus campaign with the Mayor’s office and citizen’s UK to bring student voices to action to reduce the price of public transportation for students in Leeds.
• Introduced more diverse cultural celebrations on campus that can act as a bridge between communities
• Worked on abolishing guarantors with our local MP to pass a notion in Parliament
• Represented LBSU across UK and in Scandinavia 

All these experiences and campaigns have helped me to gain a ton of leadership skills! Being an SU Officer has also helped me meet and network with new people, and I've been able to represent the student voice in important spaces. My whole CV is now filled with these new achievements from my time at LBSU and has so far given me an extra edge!

I will be looking for jobs now in my respective field of interest, and I know the experience I gained from this role will be helpful for the future. Being your SU President has given a new recognition, new way of experiencing life and some great opportunities to represent the organisation at higher levels. If you're thinking about running for a leadership position, there's so much you could gain and learn along the way - win or lose.