In Partnership With… The Good Nugget

As part of a new partnership we would like to introduce Leo Young from Good Nugget Academy. Leo set up Good Nugget Academy after a successful design career working for numerous agencies specialising in Branding and Packaging.

Leo’s personal experiences have helped shape the Academy with a passion to break the mould, improve diversity and reduce inequality in the creative industry by supporting underrepresented young people. 

    “I have witnessed first hand throughout my 15 years in the creative industry the lack of diverse representation and unconscious bias play out repeatedly. I believe without diversity, life would be a very boring place. Our differences help to generate better ideas, conversations, outcomes and challenges, enabling us to continually grow and learn.

I want to give young people the power to believe in themselves, irrespective of where someone comes from, they should have an equal opportunity at a creative career. Our initiatives are designed to build confidence and awareness and in parallel we are developing strong partnerships with companies with the aim to start challenging industry standards”

By identifying key points of class related disadvantage, the Good Nugget Academy has devised a 360 approach to help raise awareness of the creative industry and bridging the gap between education and the real world. 

Their 2021 pilot mentoring programmes had a 100% success rate, helping 60 young people from low socio-economic backgrounds feel more confident to approach new opportunities and increased their industry awareness within 12 weeks. This autumn, they launch their masterclass series to help young people gain first hand insight from the creatives working in jobs right now, ranging from a ‘Day in the life of an interior architect’, ‘How to set up a creative business’ to ‘Behind the gallery walls’. We couldn’t be more excited to be joining them on their mission by hosting a CV masterclass on the 26th October.

‘I want to encourage everyone with a passion to be yourself – don’t be afraid to be different. If you’re not quite sure where your passion lies, hopefully meeting the professionals in our masterclass series can help spark something. It’s important to be proactive and show initiative – work on side projects, reach out to people/companies you like. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice, we have an open-door policy where we try to get back to everyone who gets in contact with us. We believe collaboration is key, connect with your peers and create your tribe. I wouldn’t be where I am today with Good Nugget if it wasn’t for the amazing people who support me.”

If you’re interested in supporting the non-profit Academy you can sponsor what you can here or alternatively get in touch if you’re interested in playing an active role in their initiatives. hello@goodnugget.co 

Sign up here for access to their Masterclass Series launching this Wednesday 14th September for the full 12 weeks. For more information and an opportunity to meet the hosts on their Instagram here