Tessy Ojo at Roedean for Black History Month
It was a great privilege to welcome Dr Tessy Ojo CBE to Roedean this week, as the guest speaker for our annual Black History Month lecture. To provide context for the amazing work she does, Tessy spoke a little about her background and experiences. She is CEO of The Diana Awards, an organisation which partners with young people to drive change. She works closely with Princes William and Harry, and she is incredibly proud to have been entrusted with their mother’s legacy.
Tessy spoke about ‘becoming’ as her overarching focus, namely that we are all constantly developing and assimilating ideas and skills, and these form the ‘toolkit’ which we can use to effect change. Throughout our journey, we are able to borrow other people’s assets, so that our skills and knowledge become greater than ourselves, and therefore more effective and powerful. Tessy described how, as a child, she heard about Sickle Cell Anaemia, and also that it affects certain demographics primarily. This made her ask why, and led her to the realisation that privilege brings with it responsibility. She understood that we each have a purpose, and that she should try to use her abilities to make a change.
Tessy encourages everyone to channel their audacity. This is the ability both to say ‘no more – we want a better outcome’, and to be proactive, sometimes irrespective of the consequences. We need to be audacious in situations where we come the the point when we have had enough. To illustrate this, she played a video featuring the voices of young black people sharing their negative experiences in schools. Under Tessy’s leadership, The Diana Awards’ programme is designed to challenge racism in UK schools, and to help young people to aspire higher.
The last principle Tessy advocates is ‘curiosity’ – we must all ask questions, notice other people, widen our focus, and be determined to be proactive in ensuring inclusion is the norm. Modern society should dictate that everyone deserves their place at the table, irrespective of their gender, ethnicity, orientation, or background, and there should be no need to feel proud of being included since it should be an expectation. She said, ‘Having a badge of honour for being the only black person or the only woman – that’s so yesterday!’ Tessy’s final statement was that we should collectively call out behaviour which excludes others – ‘Be an upstander – don’t be a by-stander!’
The theme of this year’s Black History Month is ‘Saluting the Sisters’, and this chimes perfectly with Tessy’s lecture, the School’s ethos, and the Month we are marking. It was wonderful for the whole school to hear this address, along with 50 Year 10 students from the local state schools which are part of the Roedean Academy. Thank you to Dr Tessy Ojo CBE for such an inspirational lecture.
Dr Barrand
