I am Yewande, a 2019 Jolt Strategy Intern and I have a deep interest in internet and digital culture and know that I am on my way to understanding how to make brands show up in a credible way in this space.

Age? Gender? Ethnicity? While you could label me by these things, I don’t like to be put in a box. My difference comes from my perspective. Approaching the world with a kaleidoscopic view, I combined my love for diverse cultures, current events and understanding people, by blending international politics, anthropology, psychology and languages in my degree.

A foodie with a travel bug, I enjoy writing about and photographing my experiences and recipe attempts. Still a curious kid at heart, I often find myself down a Wikipedia rabbit hole. I’d like to bring my open-mindedness and goal to make advertising more inclusive and reflective of our diverse world.

Nicholas Thompson is a graduate from the National Film and Television School who worked for the worlds largest Media Monitoring intelligence company Cision and in summer 2019 Cannes Lions. His years of practical production experience and detailed customer insight have lead him to pursue a career as a creative strategist within the advertising industry; Nicholas was proud to be chosen to attend the Jolt Academy Strategy Bootcamp which graduates September 27th 2019.

I started my creative pursuit upon taking my gap year at 18, and have never looked back since. I have since been published in Dazed, The Metro, Gal-dem, Highsnobiety and toured around the UK with my films. I have launched my own production company that also runs creative workshops in schools teaching children how to harness the power of story telling. I was once told that to be both black and female is a huge disadvantage but I see it now as my biggest strength; and I am hoping to champion my difference and bring a fresh, new perspective to advertising.

Though my surname is a type of kebab, the real reason it’s twice as hard for me to be taken seriously in the industry is because I am a female. But with inspiration from the diverse, crazily talented team at JOLT, I’ve realised that I am more than just a female.

Learning I could monetise my love of sitting in coffee shops with nice interiors, rabbit holing in research and coming up with ideas was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. I’ve been lucky enough to be acknowledged by D&AD with a One To Watch title, had a feature on AdsOfTheWorld, received a YCN award for my campaign for the Energy Saving Trust and two commendations by Creative Conscious for two personal projects all in 2019. Now, I’m ready to see what 2020 has in store for me.

Though my answer to the obligatory “Have you worked in the industry?” question is a no, I’m confident being a non-native speaker and maverick with experience ranging from B2B banking to digital marketing in fashion e-commerce adds a valuable perspective.

Coming from a small town in Germany where people find a thousand reasons to question ambitions, I moved around quite a bit over the last years. Exploring life in different places opened up many points of view and encourages me to question conventions.

For the last two years, I’ve run a coworking space for an enterprise software company in the San Francisco Bay Area. Recently, I also helped start a strategy meetup there. Not the easiest thing for an introvert that avoids the center of attention.

Now it’s time for a new challenge and move to London. Looking forward to what’s ahead and meeting many inspiring minds through JOLT

My two biggest passions in life are trying to understand people and solving problems. These interests have led me to develop my career as a strategic planner, after 7 successful years as a creative copywriter. I may be French but my advertising heart always dreamed of working in London and I can’t hope for a better place to grow as a planner. Today, I would like to find an agency where I could fully use my 7 years of experience as a creative for devising inspiring strategies for clients and creative teams.

Rap music connoisseur, avid football fan and undercover fine artist. I’m a perceptive Nigerian Londoner who has a knack for making lemonade out of lemons, knowing that the world owes me nothing. I have a burning desire to make waves in an industry fuelled by creativity, because it challenges the status quo, and promotes and provokes a diverse way of thinking.

I have a natural impulse to uplift those around me; and having lived in France and Cuba, I revel in reasoning with and empathising with people from all walks of life.

My POV? Making an impact on culture and providing for my family = happiness = the ultimate goal.

A London girl who is a creative problem solver and an all-around people person with an honest and down to earth attitude. Laughter is definitely my medicine and you can hear mine from miles away.

My journey has not been an easy one, with a few knock backs and closed doors but that hasn’t stopped me from wanting to use and harness my creative and analytical skills turning them into my long term career as a budding creative strategist.

I am a multi-skilled individual who is also over-organised (with an obsession with to-do lists and sticky notes) and passionate (especially with my love for dogs) whilst overall I am just a female who is bursting with ideas looking for her creative happy place.

Award winning Glasgow girl who lives on sarcasm and snacks. I find the world that we live in so intensely interesting and I want to learn about it, and the people in it, as much as humanly possible. I believe the weird is what makes us wonderful and I have plenty of weird to bring to the advertising table. I would love to see a future where there is no longer a need for diversity programmes like JOLT. I have never thought of myself as a female in advertising, but just a hard working individual who is proud of everything she has achieved so far. I would love it if the industry saw it that way too

Hi, my name is Bruno and I am from Argentina.

When I chose to study Advertising, it was because I love the world of ideas. Later, I discovered this industry is destroying the world so I decided to change this. I started thinking how brands can help people and this way of thinking became my Value.

I like to resolve business, conceptual, creative , strategic, and execution problems, think about best insights to provoke behaviour change, pushing boundaries, create engagement, advocacy and brand awareness by raising human potential. I focus on the customer journey experience through all channels and touch points in all mediums.

I love exploring new technologies, expanding the range of channels to reach and empower audiences. I love Aesthetic and by that I mean the beautiful perfection of a project in all his forms from its conception to its creation and production. As a Philosopher I like to look at the big picture, Macro and Micro structure. Multi dimensional layers.

A Nigerian night owl that laughs at anything and finds black British comedians especially hilarious. She’s had two placements so far, most recently with It’s Nice That. If she is ever late for work, she was probably petting a cat or buying retro sweets.

David is from Northern Ireland and came to us via Creative Circle. He has had placements at MRM McCann and Proximity Ltd. He has also won the Digital Cannes Young Lion for the UK.

Art director, Young Lions Digital category UK 2019 winner, Badass Gal nominee, active fighter for diversity in creative industry and constant innovator with passion for ideas that challenge businesses, behaviours and make the world better.  Lily is from Kazakhstan and speaks fluent Russian. She interned at Iris, MRM McCann and AMV BBDO. She has also won the Digital Cannes Young Lion for the UK.

I’m a junior creative, based in London. I spent the last four years getting a first in English lit from University of Manchester. But I also managed to sneak in a charity bike ride across Eastern Europe, a stint as a handbag model in Guatemala, a wine course in Barossa, travelled to 18 countries and a did a lot more in between.

Andrea spent 2 years in video-making and 1.5 years in Production at adam&eveDDB. She has interned at Proximity, Elvis and MRM McCann, won a DMA Bronze and a Creative Conscience award, and has been nominated for 2 Chip Shop Awards. And she hates spicy food.

Stella Heathfield is a hybrid creative with a background in graphic design. With over 10 years marketing experience, she has excellent communication skills, an acute eye for detail and a love for the big idea. Now she is changing career paths and looking to make it as a creative in the advertising industry – a passion she has long dreamed of following.

I’m Charlie, I suffer from anxiety but once I start talking about being creative, you’d never know. There was a young lady I met at an advertising agency and just by being herself she made a huge impact there and I think out of everything that’s what I’d most like to achieve at JOLT, being able to make an impact in the industry just being myself. That’s why I think JOLT will be an amazing opportunity for me because it’s all about celebrating differences.

Something quite weird about myself is that I often get mistaken for a 10-year-old boy!

Everyone has their own quirk; mine is my weirdness…

I have an uncanny ability to raise all eyebrows with intrigue at my eccentric ideas. I want to share this quirk with companies, and show that you won’t get your standard ‘inside the box’ with me. I want to broaden my experience and let loose on projects to realise my potential. JOLT is exactly what fits into these ideals, allowing me to collaborate with other creatives, learn from them, and most importantly; progress towards a career that I wouldn’t need to change myself for.

Fact: I’m allergic to grass and rain.

Hey, my name is Josh and I’m a 21 year old from North London. I recently graduated from Norwich University of the Arts with a degree in Graphic Design. People always seem to find it funny when they hear that I’m named after a character from BBC’s casualty in the 80’s.

I decided to apply for JOLT as it presents a unique and exciting experience, giving me the opportunity to work within some of the country’s top agencies, and allowing me to develop as both a creative and an individual along the way.

I was born in Kabul and I also have Cerebral Palsy. Although the media would like to class me as BME and disabled, I would like people just to see me as Yama, a young lad who likes football, hanging about with my mates and chasing the odd girl or should I say, being rejected by the odd girl!

I suppose some people would see me different to them due to the obvious reasons, however I see myself different to some of my peers because I want to achieve something in my life, such as a career, having a family one day and not use my disability as an easy excuse to do nothing and just get by. Hopefully I’ll become an inspiration to others.

Almost as foxy and daring as the premier league winning football team, I’m a Leicester girl through and through. Fluid, full of flair and occasionally funny, my work meets at a precarious intersection of illustration, animation and graphic design.

Commonly you can catch me doodling on anything I can get my hands on and nodding along to some weird beat from my head phones. Fun fact? I’m a junior silver medallist at the European champs in Karate. 1st the worst, second the best right?

Brummie, Iranian, Welsh and a member of the Baha’i Faith. State educated with a passion for travelling. Worked in both India and America and now ready to take on London! I have finally found something that suits me creatively with an element of problem solving and solutions finding.

I want to build a strong/diverse portfolio, learn skills needed for my creative career, work with innovative teams, bring my unique ideas/qualities to briefs and make a significant contribution to creative communication, engaging an increasingly diverse audience.

I love grime music, baking wedding cakes and have a phobia of ketchup.

I’m a 55-year-old writer and cartoonist, which marks me out as the ‘grizzly old git’ in most ad agencies, a blot on the vista of a vibrant open-plan landscape. JOLT offers the chance to show I’m neither that grizzly nor too much of a git, and am still capable of generating insightful and engaging ideas. What I hope to achieve through JOLT is to find myself working on interesting briefs for clients and agencies that value creativity.

Fact: I was an only twin.

My name is Jack Clark. I’m 25, an Illustration graduate and I’m a registered carer for my autistic brother and cancer survivor.

Being a part of JOLT means the world to me, not only is this my chance to get into the industry and make the impact I’m hungry for, but it is also as part of a diversity and inclusiveness initiative? Sold! I’m chatty, enjoy working in a team and I’m always up for a laugh, and a weird fact about me is that during my cancer treatment, I lost the use of my arms, so I would build LEGO with my feet!

I’m Charlie, 18. I’ve just left everything familiar behind and moved here from rural Warwickshire. London is the renowned design capital of the world, and I can’t think of a better place to try to launch my dream in the creative industry.

From the age of 11, I began reading Computer Arts Magazine and knew that I wanted to be a creative. Since then, while my friends would play Xbox and go down the pub, I’ve embarked on design projects across the world. Working to independently set up my own design business during Sixth Form and being enrolled in the D&AD shift program. JOLT, for me, would mean my first steps towards a career in something I truly love doing.

Andrea is from Guatemala, 10.000km apart from Spain, where Lucia was born. We grew up surrounded by very different cultures and families. For four years we’ve absorbed knowledge from Madrid, Hamburg, Paris, New York and London. That’s why, we can proudly say that our team brings together very different perspectives of the world.

Finding your place in a new country and selling yourself is not easy, but it’s an exciting challenge. JOLT is an amazing opportunity for us, it brings us a bit closer to find our spot in this market and gives us the chance to prove ourselves.

‘Diversity’ was something I had to learn to love. It’s another word for ‘different’ and it sucked being the odd one out. I was never into girly things. I never met another Brazilian who grew up in Yorkshire or moved to Switzerland with £200 and a backpack at 18. I did social sciences before visual arts. I worked in Amsterdam…and I took a job in client services so I could move to London and be closer to the creative department.

So, diverse does mean different but I learnt that isn’t bad. And I want to work with some of the best creatives in the industry to show why that is the case.

We are Mirella and Ellen, or Mirellen for short. Our hair colour is blonette, our nationality is Britalian, we’re a copy director and art writer, and our favourite food is pizzazza… It’s just pizza.

We love being an all-girl team, but it’s weird being considered ‘diverse’ in the ad world. More senior creatives are often surprised when we do work they like, (it makes us look great), but we don’t think it should be a surprise when a female team does good work. Through JOLT, we want to make women in the creative department a necessity. A job would be nice as well.

Through being a female creative team going into such a male-dominated industry, it means we can bring a different perspective when tackling briefs. We want to get stuck into all kinds of briefs, meet lots of new creative people in all kinds of environments to feed our curious minds and make us the best creatives we could possibly be. Ultimately were hoping we can find our perfect agency match and put our all into it through a full-time job.

Interesting facts about us: Amy can lamb a sheep, Alis’s first language is Welsh.

I’m Gayatri, a lover of eating ice all day, everyday! In the Indian culture being a female creative is often frowned upon. I believe that the JOLT internship is an invaluable opportunity that will help me to change this view and prove that being diverse can enable me to succeed, bring innovative ideas and skill to the advertising industry.

During JOLT, I want to build my creative network, learn new skills and strive to make the most out of the opportunity to learn from others, on the job. I am highly committed, driven, outgoing and love that JOLT embraces diversity.

Melody is the name and creativity is my hopeful game. My difference comes in the form of my outlook, having studied International Relations. I have a wholly rounded view of various aspects of society. An ability that will prove to be functional in the mixed-bag world of advertising.

JOLT gives me the opportunity to pursue a route I’ve always considered but deemed inaccessible due to my academic choice to study International Relations. I want to realise my ultimate level of creativity, and fruitfully communicate it in the work I produce.

We’ve always been creative. Chrissie’s designed watches, worked in production and sales – meeting Miss Universe, making (numerous) clouds, and even selling time-share on canal boats. Adam’s worked in journalism, music and the building industry – asking centenarians how they lived so long, flogging Snoop Dogg t-shirts and learning Polish.

It’s given us a unique skill set, and led us both to advertising. But as outsiders, we need that foot in the door to do this every day. We’d use this opportunity to build on what we know, learn quickly, and make an impact.

As a young man from a run-down area in Tottenham, I’m committed to overcoming all odds. In an industry where only 20% of the workforce represents minority groups, I’ll bring a fresh, challenging perspective to ideas. I lack the social capital: networks and experience to find the right avenues to showcase my talent and get a foot in the industry.

This placement will give me what I need to overcome these barriers. I want to be the Steve Jobs of advertising. Producing innovative, impactful, technological ideas that will change the world we live in today.

I’m not too superstitious, but my grandmother, in the recent years told me that our family line carries power in our hair… so I’ve been growing mine ever since! I carry my culture and background with me as one of my greatest strengths as it broadens my societal and political understandings for a more worldly view.

The JOLT internship will be a great opportunity to learn, apply myself and really crack into the industry, mastering my design skills and creative thinking! My objective is to work on meaningful projects and use my creativity to help those in need.

The imagination is underrated in a world of inundated content creation. Resourceful creativity is exponential and I’ve grown up using innovative techniques. I enjoy exhausting the options, dissecting the problem to understand the solution; It will take 1000 good ideas to produce 1 successful idea. I’m interested in getting people involved through identifiable voices, I have a personal responsibility of creating an identifiable representation and creativity is the best voice for it.

I’ve been heavily influenced by diversity; Growing up second-generation Iranian, adds to the intersections of my own identity, which relates to other underrepresented audiences.

Imaginative, curious and a full-time lover of the world’s most hated chocolate bar, I’ve always been different and strived to make a difference within life’s tedious routines. From the bowels of China to the VCCP Ad school, I have constantly thrown myself into new opportunities that will challenge me and help me develop as an advertising copywriter.

It’s these reasons why I long to be in advertising; to make exciting difference and make an actual change. And an opportunity to evolve under the tutelage of incredibly renowned agencies will certainly help me get there.

I may be from the quiet county of Devon, but I’ve learnt a great deal from my time in London. Now, I’m itching to transfer those skills onto something new. Something I love. Every time I see an amazing advertisement I wonder, “Wouldn’t it be awesome to be part of that creative process?”.

For me, this internship is the perfect chance to make that a reality. You could say it’s part of my bucket list, which also includes treasures like ‘Visit New Zealand’, ‘Eat a ghost chilli pepper’ and ‘Punch a seagull’. I regret nothing.