It was a pleasure to welcome the truly inspirational Anu Omideyi to Kingham Hill this week. The former Criminal barrister, award-winning choir director, pioneering festival director, producer, musician, singer-songwriter, children’s advocate, and public speaker, came to talk to 4th Form to Sixth Form pupils about her varied career path.
Her theme was ‘Finding Your Path in Life’ and Anu shared her own story about how she embarked on a career in law and practised for 15 years as a highly successful Criminal Lawyer. She achieved a lot of success in her field and ultimately sat on Furnival Chambers’ Board of Directors for 6 years - the youngest female and black person to have done so.
However, when a life event made her re-evaluate what was important to her, she decided that she wanted to follow her true passion and forge a career in Gospel music. She is now Music and Festival Director at Liverpool Lighthouse and the Co-Chair of the Gospel Music Industry Alliance UK. She currently runs three choirs that all frequently appear on national TV or radio or perform at large venues to huge crowds. She was awarded a Fellowship by RSL Awards for her services to music in 2024.
Anu was keen to demonstrate to the pupils that although the two career paths she took may seem completely different, the road to success has required her to employ the same principles in everything she did in order to achieve as much as she has.
Anu’s top tips for success were:
- Work hard
- Be yourself
- Persevere
- Develop good professional and personal relationships
- Feel the fear, but be brave and do it anyway!
Anu’s presentation was hugely inspiring for our pupils and showed that it is possible to choose who you want to be in life, and achieve the goals you set yourself, when you are motivated and prepared to work hard.
