What’s your job title and how long have you worked at Loughborough?

I’m a Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and I’ve worked here seven and a half years.

Tell us what a typical day looks like for you?

At Loughborough London we deliver modules in blocks so a typical day varies quite a lot depending on whether I’m teaching or not. When teaching, I deliver lectures for two hours in the morning, give myself and the students an hour for lunch, and come back for a 90 minute seminar in the afternoon. When not teaching or marking, I start the day with correspondence and scholarship and then take meetings in the afternoon. I find it easier to be creative before the noise of the day gets too loud. Currently, I am simultaneously in the writing-up stages of some empirical projects and at the beginning of a few new collaborations, so my scholarly hours (when I’m not reviewing for academic journals!) might be spent fine-tuning a manuscript, on a call with or writing to a co-author, or – my ideal day – reading, thinking, outlining and free-writing. I also meet regularly with other leads in the BAME Staff Network and hold office hours twice a week, when I make myself available for consultation by students or colleagues, many of whom are involved in advancing the equity, diversity, and inclusion agenda at the University.

What’s your favourite project you’ve worked on?

Being a part of the London start-up and tech scene when working as a project evaluator for the the OneTech project – I gained invaluable insight into the world that I study and theorise.

What is your proudest moment at Loughborough?

Designing and collaboratively delivering the Race Equity Town Hall (2021) to begin a culture of transparency and accountability around challenging institutional racism at the University and in the sector.

Tell us something you do outside of work that we might not know about?

I am a poet and a hip hop emcee, and spent many years organising open mics and writing circles in my hometown of Seattle, WA.

What is your favourite quote?

“The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.” – Charles DuBos

If you would like to feature in ‘5 Minutes With’, or you work with someone who you think would be great to include, please email Soph Dinnie at S.Dinnie@lboro.ac.uk.