Fellow travellers: the John Schofield Trust

The joy of finding people really committed to diversity in the media

Hello, happy Tuesday.

Last week I had the absolute pleasure of attending the 25th anniversary of the John Schofield Trust. After however long of meeting people on Zoom, it was so lovely to get together and talk.

The Trust, named in honour of a young journalists killed in Croatia in 1995, is dedicated to making the media industry more diverse.

To that end, it runs sixth form, apprentice and early career mentoring schemes, and this year I’ve been lucky enough to be on the latter. My fantastic mentor, Mark Wray, was a big help in making the decision to go it alone: we talked through the pros and cons of freelancing, and he encouraged me to be confident in myself and my abilities - thanks Mark!

One of the loveliest things about the Trust is that it brings people together. This had been somewhat curtailed during the pandemic, although a few of us mentees have managed to get together in various pub gardens. Still, it was great to meet the Trust’s small but mighty team and some of the other mentors - and to recognise so many familiar faces in the room. And of course, it was really uplifting to here what mentees old and new are up to now. The amount of talent in the room could have been intimidating had people not been so friendly.

And the Trust had a surprise in store for us.