Strengths
I’ve worked many retail jobs since I turned sixteen ranging from early morning shifts at M&S to kitchen work in a family run restaurant and up-selling cosmetics for L’Occitane. I’ve always been willing to take initiative an give myself responsibilities, having independently learnt Japanese from the age of 14and teaching myself the entire A Level Japanese syllabus in three months after stepping back and realising that A level maths probably wasn’t for me. Thanks to my diverse upbringing I’ve always found it easy to connect with people from varying walks of life with empathy and a desire to understand.
Inspirations
I am inspired both by what I can and what I can’t do and constantly am hungry to learn more about the contexts of others so that I can work on making the world a space for everyone to have the opportunities and joys a life should have. I know there is always more to learn and I would like to travel more and learn more languages because I think this is how to discover thought I haven’t even thought to think.
Goals
After spending a month on my own in Osaka, I was able to put my previously only written Japanese into spoken practice and was inspired by the progress I made. I aim to grow proficient in as many languages as I am capable of to increase my cultural scope and be able to connect with people directly. I also aim become more educated in the way the world worlds in terms of political and economic infrastructure so that I can come up with realistic solutions that do not end up with marginalised people suffering.I am particularly interested in the criminal justice system as my family have suffered from it’s negligence.
Josephine Lawrence 