Story

Guess what? I got more than 5 GCSEs at grade C or above which is what I’m starting with because I worked FAR TOO HARD on those for them to not mean anything to anyone ever again. (I also have a Diploma in Creative Media, which may be slightly more relevant)

Hi potential employer, rival or just someone who found this site by accident, I’m Jacob, the strange human that runs things around here! On this page I want to detail to you facts about myself and the work I do. If this intro was enough to make you want to hire/work with me then skip to the good bit by emailing jacob@jacobedward.org!

The Bio – Jacob Edward

I’m 20 years old, which makes me young enough not to care but old enough to know better. I’m an INFJ according to the Myers-Briggs personality type test, meaning I’m a rare find (well done, you found me!) this means I’m “not an idle dreamer, but a person capable of taking concrete steps to realise their goals and make a lasting positive impact”

As a child, everyone thought I’d become a scientist or something because I was quiet in nature and good at science in school but that’s not the case these days, I’ve found a love in storytelling, usually through audio, though I have tried my hand at visuals too. Discovering my sexuality and gender identity also had an impact on the path I wanted to take, activism, speaking from experience at events and helping young people in places I was in not long ago has also shaped where life has taken me. I’m happy with this as it’s given me options when it comes to jobs I could do and love doing, but I have no doubt whichever becomes a career, the other will still remain a hobby of mine.

Over the years, I’ve wanted many jobs. Train diver, Lego designer, Animator, Voice Actor. The one that I’ve settled with as my ultimate goal in life, is to be Radio 1’s first non-binary presenter, and the first non-binary person to present Radio 1 Breakfast. If only Ben Cooper would answer my emails!

The Jobs

Life decided I shouldn’t have a ‘normal’ job, no 9-5 for this enby! Instead I’ve pretty much been freelance my whole adult life. Finding work wherever I can, it’s not easy and causes it’s fair share of mental health breakdowns but at least I’m doing things I love, some of the below are jobs and some are volunteer roles, I’m not putting which here because I want this to be seen as my experience, not what I get paid to do.

YoungMinds

I’ve worked with YoungMinds for nearing two years now. Those two years have been the making of me. They were the first charity I had to travel down to London to work with and for an anxious 18 year old that was terrifying, nowadays that’s just my commute!

Being a mental health charity they’ve been nothing but brilliant and understanding towards me. Essentially they created this monster! I only have the public speaking skills I have today because of them. I work on the Amplified Program, which is a 4 year project funded by NHSE to improve young people’s involvement in their mental health care decisions, this is often called ‘participation’. I’ve been to conferences, trained professions and causally met with the Prime Minister on world mental health day.

Weirdly not the first time I’ve been to 10 Downing Street either… YoungMinds continues to be my main body of work outside of Manchester at the moment, if you’re not following the charity already you definitely need to get on it asap!

NCS – The Challenge 

In the summer of 2018 I started facilitating workshops for 15-17 year olds as part of the NCS program in the West Midlands. Much like with YoungMinds two years ago, I’d never done anything on the scale of NCS before, working with up to 90 young people, managing behaviour and keeping them engaged was a new concept all together! After a (very) rocky start however, The Challenge (the company that runs NCS in the Midlands) has created a monster! Working with these young people has been such an honour, seeing them seek and develop stories is just amazing! I want to do more now, I’m looking into other roles for the 2019 program because it’s just so wonderful!

Stonewall

In 2017 I was part of Stonewall’s Young Campaigners Program… yeah another monster was created! I can’t remember the exact reasons for signing up for the program but I left wanting to do more! For the first time in my life I was surrounded my LGBTQ+ people, people who ‘got it’, understood all the stuff we go through and it even helped me discover my own identity better than ever before. Since the completion of the program I’ve since worked with Stonewall on several projects, including a sex education blog and video, being one of the people featured on their Facebook ads (look out for me on your timeline!) and another trip to 10 Downing Street, for a ‘celebration of pride’ and the launch of the GRA Consultation. 

Audio & Such

I’ve done so much audio stuff I’ve decided to whack it under one header! I fell in love with Radio officially when I joined an internet radio station back in 2013, eventually working up to joining my local community radio station TCR FM (ah the memories!). I was at TCR FM for most of my teenage years, working up from a (lets be honest here) shocking presenter to a half decent one who also happened to be on the management team at age 17! After running out of funds and changing management I stood down from all my responsibilities at the station to focus on going to university and setting up my first ever podcast! The Podcast wasn’t an overnight hit like ‘My Dad Wrote A Prono’ but going from 2 listeners a week to over 2000 in just 6 months is a big achievement in my books! I’m clearly onto something people want to listen to! As of the last few weeks I’ve also joined the team at Gaydio! An LGBTQ+ radio station based here in Manchester and available all over the UK! There I’m producing, editing audio and panelling on a few talk shows (and hoping to work up to being a presenter their one day too). – UPDATE 2019: I cover a lot of local output shows now in the North West region!!

The End

Of course there’s more, humans live because of the experiences we tell through stories, they shape who we are and how we act. I’ve tried to give you a look into my world and my story, but these brief overviews of what I’ve done/am doing! Only really scratch the surface of it all. If you’d like the chance to see more of my life on an everyday basis, check out my Twitter! @ItsJacobEdward! And if you ever need a presenter, creative producer, facilitator, host, LGBTQ+ youth or mental health related speaker and so on… then do please get in touch! jacob@jacobedward.org!