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I would never say I’m someone who is against education. I actually think most of the worlds problems could be solved if we all had better schooling.That being said, my degree is completely useless, and if I could give it back for a refund I would.
I studied Music - it’s what brought me here to London in the first place. I had wanted to be a musician for as long as I could remember. I was always singing and dancing, writing songs and short film scores. Music was one of my first loves. But with no way of getting into the music industry from my small town in Kent, I decided to immerse myself in it at uni.
I was so excited.
It was 3 years of hard work, stress, confusion, and, at most times, despair, that, let’s be honest, was never going to amount to any skill or job. I was exhausted by the time it was over! Yes, I am indeed a Bachelor of Music, but all I really left with was the question “What on earth am I going to do with my life!?”
Months after I graduated I had no work, no career prospects and less than no money (which means I was in a whooooooole heap of debt). I had no idea how I was going to survive.
So I did what anyone would do in my situation…Commiserated at a bar with a friend over a large glass (*ahem* bottle) of wine…(or two).
It was at that bar in Kings Cross station, asking that age old question “What am I going to do with my life?” when my friend candidly uttered “I’ve always thought you’d be good presenter, you’ve got a great speaking voice and your good at chatting to people”. For some unknown reason when she said those words something in my mind sort of clicked. It actually felt like something I could do. I’m not sure I can describe the face I pulled during that small epiphanic moment but its that thing people do when they’re thinking something over. They look up to the top left hand corner of the eyes, squint a little, pause and go ‘huh’. A miniature realisation.
Now, I realise that presenting is so much more than speaking clearly and smiling — trust me, I have learnt that over the years! But at that moment in time it really felt like those were the only “skills” I had.
Akylah is a dynamic presenter based in London, who’s worked in both TV and Online shows, Radio, live events and voiceover work. She can currently be heard on BBC Radio London and Wandsworth Radio.
Her accomplishments have led her work to be shown at the BFI Southbank, receiving awards at the Edinburgh International Television Festival and nominations at the Royal Television Society Awards. Her radio show #NewMusicMonday has also gone on to win the award for 'Best Specialist Show’ and by popular demand is now a budding YouTube channel.
Having always been a fan of music Akylah often reports backstage at festivals for both her radio shows and online channels and writes music reviews for online magazines. She shines most when interviewing and has chatted with the likes of Katrina and the Waves, Tom Walker, The Osmonds, Rae Morris and Dawn Penn. She was recently featured on BBC One as a music expert and continues to create playlists for BBC Introducing as well as her own shows on Wandsworth Radio.
As a presenter Akylah has shown she has a natural charm and charisma that translates well on both TV and radio. Her love of meeting and working with people ties in well with her down to earth nature which makes for a likeable delivery on camera. She's engaging, hard working, and takes on projects with confidence and vitality. A pleasure to work with and fun to be around.
When I got home I mentioned the presenting idea to my housemate, and she did the same thing, eyes to the top left corner, half a second pause and ‘huh’. Was it farfetched, or did it make complete sense?? My mum even had the same reaction, eyes to the left, squint, pause, ‘huh’. She said it was something that made so much sense she wasn’t sure why it hadn’t been said already. So with that in mind I charted a course out of hopelessness towards this new venture. It was time to leave music behind and move on to the next.
It must be said that it took me a while to start though. It’s hard letting go of something you’ve always wanted and worked so hard for. Plus, I had HEAPS of debt, and that took me a while to sort out. I worked in some of the worst jobs to do it, some even at record labels in the music industry, but eventually I found my feet and decided to give this presenting thing a try.
(By the way, if you’ve ever had anyone call you at 9pm asking if you want to talk about cancer research, or give money to save the pandas, there’s a small chance that was me. A very small chance, but still, Sorry!)
My first regular gig was on the youtube channel Reggae Vibes. 20k+ subscribers all interested in Reggae, and all wanting to see me interview well known Reggae Artists. Talk about deep end! I remember the audition. I walked in there as if I knew exactly what I was doing, but deep down my insides, I’m pretty sure, had turned to goo. I remember praying that the fire alarm would go off, or there’d be a problem with the sound, or camera, or something that would mean I could get out of doing the interview without losing face.
It didn’t.
I was up and I had to shine. So I grabbed the mic, sat down in my chair, I just said to myself, ‘you got this’.
And got it I did. The job was mine! I was officially a presenter and I had youtube videos to prove it, (we all know it’s not true if it’s not online). I worked for that channel for roughly a year, interviewing artists in the studio and backstage at festivals, whilst finding work wherever I could to gain experience.
I worked on documentaries, game shows, gossip sites, anything and everything that would hire me. Just to learn, just to get better, just to find my voice, and the things that I wanted to talk about. But there was one thing that I kept getting hired for, despite me trying my hardest to get away from it - music shows. It’s possible that I got hired mostly for music shows simple because there are just more of them out there, but low and behold the majority of my work was music related.
My first music show was an entertainment show called Live East. I interviewed a few guests and we played silly games a quizzes all before they performed on stage. It was incredibly fun! And it ended up being my first ever television appearance. It was broadcast on freeview back in 2016, and I managed to miss it, because I was stuck in traffic on the M1!
I continued to work on music shows mainly because, they were the people hiring me. When you spend hours trolling the internet for just a glimpse of a job you don’t turn it down, (shout out to my fellow freelancers. You know what it’’s like). But I was still trying to find where I fit into the world as a presenter. What was my niche, the thing that made me stand out from other presenters? What stories did I want tell, and how can I make it something that it pays my rent!
It’s at this point that I feel I should point out that when I first started presenting I was advised not to go into music by a top UK TV producer. He said I didn’t have the right vibe, that I was more intellectual, and not like the bubbly, bouncy teenage presenters you would see on MTV or T4. It’s weird being told you’re too old when you’re in your early 20s. I’d barely even started living my life and apparently it was already over! I didn’t quite know what to make of what he said. I didn’t take his words to heart but I didn’t not take them on board either. I considered what he said. I had spent all my time just surviving in this city, I had no idea who I actually was. I certainly wouldn’t use the term ‘bubbly’ or ‘bouncy’ to describe myself, but I do have an energy and I do have a personality, and now seemed like as good a time as any to explore it.
In an attempt to try something new I applied to work at a local radio station, Wandsworth Radio, where I was asked to read the news on Tuesday evenings. It was volunteer position, (not great), but I decided to give it a go, because hey, it can’t hurt to learn something new, right? So I tried my hand at news. Each week I researched stories and created bulletins to read every half hour, and under the advice of the station tried to make it as relevant to my local community as possible.
I wasn’t great to begin with. Really, I was bad. I’m pretty sure there was some on air swearing on my first ever read. But over time I got into the rhythm of it, and got better at researching and following up on stories. Not a bad skill to have!
After a few months some positions opened up to present a show. I had to pitch an idea for a show and it had to work during the chosen time slot. This, I thought, would be a great opportunity to explore other topics other than music. Ones that effect people like me, social topics, lifestyle, pop culture.
I pitched an idea for a local based show that highlighted positive things that were going on in the community, whether that be in business, or personal triumph, or a positive discussion on social issues that effected the borough or Wandsworth. I won the bid and got the show, and 3 hours on Monday afternoon’s became my regular slot.
Turned out, I was no good on radio. No really! I thought I was bad when I started newsreading, but this, this was much worse. I strolled into the studio with my show in hand and nearly froze! I had no idea what I was doing! I didn’t even know how to use the equipment let alone speak into a mic in a room on my own! It was very different to being on camera. On camera I knew who I was speaking to. Here, I didn’t.
It was a disaster. I wanted to run out the door immediately. It didn’t come naturally and I wanted to quit. But I was there. For 3 hours. With who knows how many people listening. And I had to do something. So I put on a few songs to give myself time. Rihanna, The Chainsmokers and Spice Girls - what a mix. I didn’t pick the tracks, they were already lined up in the system, but boy I knew them well. The Spice Girls were the main reason why I wanted to perform music in the first place, (I was an impressionable 3 year old), The Chainsmokers where currently on their rise up to the next big thing which I had been following and Rihanna, I’d done my dissertation on Rihanna! So when the tack ended and the jingle played I knew enough about each artist to blag some form of sentence together and link it into the show.
Success!
Ish.
It was the first of many shows where I stumbled over my words and tried to figure out what to say