Isabelle Jani-Friend and Mo Kanjilal return ‘virtually’ to Norwich High

Last week, we were delighted to ‘virtually’ welcome back two Norwich High School for Girls alumnae – Isabelle Jani Friend (Class of 2016) and Mo Kanjilal (Class of 1992).

On Friday, award-winning sales director, mentor, writer and co-founder of Watch This Sp_ce, Mo Kanjilal talked to our Senior School girls about her current work around diversity and inclusion. Her presentation gave a brilliant insight into why understanding diversity and inclusion is so important, and included some examples of inspiring work that Watch This Sp_ace are currently delivering in Brighton and Hove. She even took the time to share some of her photos and stories from when she was with us in 1992!

Isabelle, a freelance journalist with articles in a number of nationals including the Guardian, the Independent and VICE, delivered her talk, ‘Living with an invisible disability and how I am overcoming disability discrimination’ last Wednesday. Isabelle talked about how she wants to diversify the media and elevate underrepresented voices, with our girls having the opportunity to ask about her journey during an enlightening online Q&A.

As someone with an invisible illness, Isabelle wants to continue to highlight disability discrimination and fight for an accessible and accomodating society for disabled people. She also campaigns around access to essential medications and the NHS. Here is her latest article (Huffington Post) about living with a life expectancy of 44 and having to spend a year of that locked indoors.

A huge thank you to Isabelle and Mo for highlighting that we all have a voice and encouraging our students to use theirs. Our girls enjoyed hearing from both of you.