Kandra Obeng has grown up in an African household in Tottenham. Growing up in a deprived area she faced a lot of barriers such as schools not being good enough and people around her rebelling. As a member of the community, she witnessed a lot of people she knew being excluded from school and getting involved with gangs. However, she couldn’t just be a bystander so in 2023 she decided to join the peer action collective as a young peer researcher. Within her time there she joined an amazing team of young people aiming to find causes and solutions for knife crime and youth violence in London. During her time as a researcher, she enjoyed analysing and coding data that she collected. Also, the opportunities her work gave her to be creative on the team, such as allowing her to use her spoken word and poetry skills to communicate the findings to fascinate a younger audience.
When she came across the Racing Media Academy’s opportunity, she knew it was something she wanted to do. Doing a media course in school has inspired her to pursue a future career in media. She is excited to be part of a team and exposed to other people aspiring to be involved in media. She thinks this will be a great stepping stone for her future and will be able to exercise her skills and gain new skills and experiences on top.
The RMA opened my eyes to an industry that I would have never imagined myself entering. It took just one week with them to realise how exciting the horse racing industry is. I had once thought it was only about the presenters, race goers, jockeys and horses but I discovered there are so many layers to horse racing. I’ve always been curious about the media world, marketing, social media and sharing creativity online. Then found that horse racing is also about that.
I joined The Jockey Club on a social media placement which was an experience I wouldn’t have had without the RMA. During my month with The Jockey Club, I gained insight to how the marketing team operates. I got to bring in new ideas to the social media team, learn how to create a competition page on the jockey club website, create posters and even write an article. Learning about how things are done is great but getting to experience the process of creating content sparked a feeling of joy in me.
I had an unforgettable time with both the RMA and The Jockey Club.
