Nikesh Bhadlia and Sophie Darlington: The Power of Mentorship and Standing Out

Season 1 - episodes produced by Bloomsbury Institute.

Welcome to Take A Chance On You hosted by Alexandra Forsyth, cyber security expert, advisor, coach and public speaker. 

From GCSE’s to graphic design, retail to creative industry, facing rejection head-on, learning the art of self-taught study and mentorship; this week, Nikesh and Sophie walk us through their incredibly determined and witty stories so far! 

Nikesh and Sophie are two apprentices working in London with Music Maestro, a creative marketing and production company hosting a portfolio of record labels for content creation, radio and video content, visualising and marketing assets. 

Music Maestro also have their own podcast diving into the behind the scenes world, and talking to executives about music. 

Nikesh and Sophie have embedded themselves in the creative industry, with Nikesh sharing his passions for creating digital designs and photography, which led him to build a portfolio through his own projects from his A-Level Graphic Design course, later using this to apply for apprenticeships. Meanwhile, Sophie began working with premiere Adobe suite and general Media studies during school, before going onto study full-time Media at college through to university completing her degree in Film Production over three years. 

A fantastic resource worth mentioning this week is Big Creative Education (BCE), with Nikesh and Sophie sharing how they had help through the interview process, coaching, and long-term collaboration with other creatives in the industry. 

Nikesh began his journey in electrical engineering, finding a passion for buying soldering kits and LED lights online, practicing putting things together. 

Nikesh feels very strongly towards self-taught study, and figuring things out along the way, skills he has passed onto Sophie when helping mentor her within their collaborative roles. 

Sophie gets real with us about the impacts of lockdown and COVID on graduation and being able to film her final project before the required deadline. 

Sophie spent time in hospitality and retail, continuing to apply for roles in film and creative. In an inspiring turn of events, Sophie tells us how she pushed through multiple rounds of rejection, ending up in her dream career with Music Maestro, prior keeping in the right mind frame via creating vlogs during her travels. 

Nikesh believes his personal development stemmed not from his casual CV,  but his portfolio and the power of sharing personal projects in film, helping him to thrive and getting the roles he wanted / professional experience in the industry. 

Nikesh and Sophie end by detailing the power of friendship in the workplace, guiding each other along the way and building a strong foundation for future team members.