What type of mentoring did you take part in with Urban Synergy?
When I joined Urban Synergy, I had a mentor for one-to-one mentoring sessions who helped me with my soft skills. The experience really helped prepare me for what was ahead. Then I joined the ‘DreamBig’ programme, a three year personal development programme with WTW and Urban Synergy. I also had a WTW mentor and each summer I had 4 weeks of paid work experience at the WTW office in London.
How did you first hear about Urban Synergy?
I actually got a phone call from my computer science teacher, as our school partnered with Urban Synergy. He nominated a few students from his class and presented the opportunity to us, asking if it was something we’d be interested in. I said yes and from there, everything was set in motion.
What was life like before Urban Synergy? Did you already know what kind of career you wanted to pursue?
Yes and no. I always had a few ideas about what I wanted to do, but none of them were in the insurance sector. For example, I was originally leaning toward something language-focused, maybe linguistics or translation, or something more manual and hands-on. Those were my two main options.
Then my mentor came along and introduced a third path, insurance. And ultimately, that’s the one I ended up choosing.
Who was your mentor?
My mentor was Giulia Rosato, and funnily enough, it was her first time mentoring, so it was a first-time mentor, first-time mentee situation. At the time, she’d taken a pause in her career to go back to studying, and she was working in the FinTech sector.
How did your summer internship placement with WTW help you?
Honestly, no one really wakes up and says, “I want to work in insurance,” so it opened my eyes to a world I hadn’t really thought about before.
Coming from south east London, it’s rare to find people already in the financial sector, let alone in insurance, even though the industry is right there in places like London Bridge. There are a lot of stereotypes and misconceptions about finance and insurance, but once I got involved, I found it to be full of life and actually really interesting. No two days are the same and you’re constantly on your toes.
The internship was designed to span three years, starting in the summer of Year 10 and continuing through to Year 13, with the potential to progress into an apprenticeship. My cohort and I completed work experience over two summers then began applying for apprenticeship roles, it was a brilliant learning experience.
What are you doing now, career-wise?
I’ve just joined WTW full-time, I started in September. My official title is Client Service Assistant. Essentially, my role involves a bit of broking, but I focus more on client servicing. That means gathering information from clients to understand their needs, putting together the right contracts and quotes, and sending those out to the market. It’s a great way to build on everything I learned during the internship.
What advice would you give to someone thinking about becoming a mentee with Urban Synergy?
Keep your mind as open as possible. A lot of people come into mentoring with preconceived ideas of what it should be, but really, it can be whatever you make of it.
Whether it’s learning how to transition from school to work life, building your career, or improving your personal brand, you can explore anything you’re curious about. My advice would be to go into it ready to absorb as much information and guidance as you can.