How will you use the 1,000 Dreams Scholarship?

New York is incredibly exciting but also expensive. My immediate aim with the grant is to buy art materials (clay, casting plasters, pencils, and paper) and my courses’ reading list of books.

How is this scholarship helping you get closer to your dream?

This scholarship will allow me to make my artistic ideas come to life. Having money is so crucial to making art; it lets my imagination expand and play, as I have better materials to work with in the workshops. In addition, there is very heavy weighting on the theory part of our course, so this scholarship will really help me access recently published books, and in turn, push my own work to address modern, technological issues — specifically those pertinent to young women and non-binary.

​What advice do you have for other young women who are wanting to pursue their dreams?

Never underestimate your own skills and your own uniques ideas. Be ambitious and excited for everything life has to offer! Stay on top of technologies, software, and new ideas. Don’t waste energy feeling envious of others who appear to be doing better than you. Remember everyone has their own path to take and that you’re an individual with your own unique talents and personality. Most of all, trust in the journey and always act from a place of self-love and integrity.

​Have you had any setbacks? How did you move past them?

I can think of a few times in my life where I have been very stuck and things were not progressing at all. One such time was when I was working as a waitress in a south London restaurant for a year and a half. I was struggling to make my rent and pay my bills, working 12- to 14-hour shifts, six days a week — even taking extra catering jobs in hotels to make my train ticket money. I got very low in this job and had terrible backaches and circulation problems from standing all day. I lost a lot of confidence in myself and I lost my passion for art — it was a very tough time. I remember after a particularly long shift, I took two days off to rest. I had a long think and got some support from my friends and an old university tutor. I spent those two days emailing everyone I knew to ask if they had any jobs going in the art world. I called everyone! Just by chance, someone needed a helping hand running an exhibition at Goldsmiths University in the Digital Art area. I pushed for them to take a chance on me with little experience! This broke the cycle of labour and got me onto the next step, and amazingly, two years later the same company paid for me to go to St. Petersburg in Russia to show my own art in a major exhibition with the same team!

What’s next for you? What is your next goal?

My first goal is to finish my studies at The New School and, in particular, get through the first year. My next goal is to try and do some lecturing at Parsons to younger, first-year B.A, students and share my experiences as an artist in London. I am hoping this will lead into exhibition opportunities of my drawings, sculpture, and computer artwork in New York at Parsons and at other venues in the