Someone once said to me it is more important to be influential than to be a social media influencer.

My daughter said the only thing that matters is the outcome, not the journey. 

These two things came to my mind on 4^th December 2025, when I was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the Black Business and Tech Awards (Tees Valley), which celebrates the excellence, innovation, and resilience of Black entrepreneurs, creatives, and tech pioneers across the Tees Valley. It is an honour to receive an award in recognition of my work in the community in the northeast for the last 30 years.

The organisers asked me to list five things I have achieved on this journey that I am proud of. Here they are – 

1. Being the first black careers advisor in the Tees Valley.

2. My poetry being used to teach diverse perspectives in schools and colleges (English Martyrs School, Hartlepool and Stockton Sixth Form are the most recent ones added to the list).

3. My poetry being used by York St. John University to promote black entrepreneurship.

4. Winning the Best New Business Award (Community) in 2005 for my social enterprise called SOLZAF for its innovative work using music and creative arts to give disadvantaged groups employability skills and nationally recognised OCN qualifications in previously unaccredited areas such as DJ-ing and graffiti art. SOLZAF worked in over 60 schools community groups and with thousands of young people in its time.

5. Promotion of a positive black narrative on ITV News and BBC.

6. Mentoring people in the northeast for 30 years.

I’ve been doing this for so long that there are things I’ve forgotten, it is moments like this which jog my memory – such as my heavy involvement in the first iteration of Musinc (the Middlesbrough based music initiative), my input enabling black-led music projects to get off the ground using the studio facilities at Middlesbrough College, or the young woman who stopped me in the street and said she used to live in a children’s home and I changed her life.

It is important to mark achievements and successes, no matter how small they may seem, because they all add up to something bigger at the end.

I’ll tell my daughter that the journey and the outcome can both be celebrated.

Click on the photos below to find out more about the Black Business and Tech Awards (Tees Valley)

The event was organised by Sticks and Stones organisation who reach over 250,000 people regularly throughout all their social media platforms and flagship publication, Sticks and Stones Magazine — with copies circulating across all regional airports, thanks to their amazing partners @klm.