I’m MFL Mentoring’s Marketing and Communications Officer, which means I take care of our social media channels and marketing materials alongside Becky, and get to shout about all of the wonderful things we do and people we work with! I joined the project in September 2022 from another role within the university, and before that I worked as a journalist for WalesOnline.

I was born and raised in Abertillery, in the Valleys, and went to an English medium primary and secondary school. I always felt quite confused about my identity growing up; my dad is a first language Welsh speaker from west Wales, but I grew up in quite an Anglophone area, and as a result I grew up with what I can best describe as ‘pidgin’ Welsh! I took Welsh A Level and French GCSE, but I’d always loved German and was determined to learn it somehow, so I took it as a beginner alongside my MA Modern History at St Andrews.

I spent a lot of time in Germany during my time at uni and eventually worked in Vienna, Austria for a year as an English language assistant, and I honestly had the best time of my life! Alongside my love of languages and other cultures, I spend my free time lifting weights, playing video games, trying my best with photography, and petting any and every cat I come across!

My absolute favourite thing about the project is the ethos it promotes, which is that languages are for everyone, they are a part of every day life whether you’re ‘fluent’ in a language or not, and questioning the whole idea of ‘fluency’ as a goal in the first place! It’s so, so rewarding to hear from learners, teachers and our mentors that our project has made a difference in shifting attitudes towards languages, and if we can do that for just one person then it feels like it’s been worth it to me! Plus, our mentors are an absolute inspiration, and it’s such a privilege to be a small part of the support system behind them,  allowing them to flourish and help broaden the horizons of learners across Wales!