Project ambassadors

Adonai is our youngest ambassador. She was chosen by her fellow Steamettes for her dedication to sharing her knowledge and inspiring other young women to get involved in STEAM.

My name is Adonai Chinyama, a 14-year-old student in year 10. I have a keen interest in STEAM and have been working on various coding projects and their practical applications.

I am part of the Essex Steamettes where I deliver workshops on bbc Microbit, python and scratch.  In order to share my coding projects with more young people I started a YouTube channel AC_CODER. I am part pf the Young Coders Meetup in London where I started my journey in coding by attending monthly meet ups. Through this, I learnt about Virtual Reality. It was interesting to see how virtual reality can be used in the wider community other than games. Virtual Reality can be used as an interactive way of learning, it can help students to be more creative with their ideas, have an active experience, and help them understand complex concepts.

It is important for girls from all backgrounds to be given opportunities to explore STEAM. This will enable girls to make choices in STEAM fields and explore their interests and strengths.  It is important STEAM is portrayed using female role models (from different backgrounds), if girls and women see others already working in the STEAM field this will encourage them. Delivery of activities and clubs should consider how girls and young women with disabilities can access and explore STEAM. I have learnt that online learning and events can help with accessibility although it can also be difficult if there is no access to laptops and the internet. Libraries could be places where STEAM events are held so that those without laptops can access the laptop and internet at the Library. Brail material and sign language material would also help those who have visual and hearing impairments to take part.

I want to be involved in the Snapping the Stiletto Project to break the stereotypes about Essex girls.  It is important to portray different aspects of girls and women and what they enjoy doing. Girls and women can make positive contributions to their community through technology. I am glad to be sharing the work that I do and get many more people involved in technology. Being more aware about how girls and women can be involved in technology means that girls can contribute to issues in their community and also issues that specifically affect girls and women. Being involved in STS gives me the opportunity to share my experiences, skills and encourage others.

Lisa is an artist, activist, and lecturer. She has created an online community through her Instagram account @bluebaglife, where she shares her stories and those of the people she connects with online. She was nominated by people who have been helped by her and admire her commitment to giving voices to people living with addiction.

My name is Lisa, I’m an artist, educator and activist. I run an Instagram account called @bluebaglife. This is an online archive, resource and active community for people to connect through sharing their stories. My writings and images invite others to share their sentiments. The personal and the communal are interdependent, mutually beneficial and empowering.

I talk with women who are hiding, working every day, women who are carers, but not recognised as such. I talk with women who are supporting their loved ones through prison sentences and keeping things going, raising kids, or unable to raise kids or have kids, going to work, not going to work, or too sick to work, whilst navigating the prison system and the stigma that, unfortunately, comes with it. I speak with women who have kept silent about their addictions or their loved ones and their addictions, through fear and to protect themselves and the people around them. I’ve spoken to women who have lost loved ones through addiction related issues and felt unable/not ready to tell the world, not ready to be judged or have people say, “They didn’t look like that sort of person”.

These women are exhausted. These women care. These women need care too. These women need help. These women need to be recognised for the work that they do. These women support women who find themselves here, living these lives. These women hold women through their first and last prison visit. These women leave soup on women's doorstep and pick up the phone at 3am. These women work for free, running 24hr forums. These women rarely meet in person, yet they are there, through care. These women raise money and speak out for women in need. These women are women like me. I now give what I needed, and what others gave to me.

I'm proud to be an Ambassador for Snapping the Stiletto: Campaigning for Equality. It's important that we change public perceptions about women, and around addiction and incarceration, to do this we need to join with individuals and their loved ones who are directly affected by these issues. By supporting one person, we can support countless people. This is about empowerment and making trauma count in our communities.

Simone Xue set up and runs Colchester Chinese Cultural Society. She was nominated by members of the society who have joined the community she has helped build, and by people across the county who have interacted with her through her many creative and inclusive projects.

I am Simone Xue, chairman of Colchester Chinese Culture Society. My passion is to promote culture diversity and equality. Especially to promote Chinese culture and art to the Chinese community in the UK and the general public. Through the years, with the help of CCCS volunteers, I have produced a wide range of arts and cultural activities. These have included Chinese New Year variety shows; Concert of UK Chinese Music Ensemble; Japanese Erhu Orchestra; Chinese calligraphy workshops to local primary schools.

Our projects work towards improving the wellbeing of others as well as to create a more vibrant and happier community through these activities and events.

I want to be involved in STS because it is a great opportunity that provides a platform for an ordinary woman of Essex to share my stories to a wider audience. A group of 11 women from CCCS are working in partnership with STS on a story sharing project that will culminate in an exhibition of traditional Chinese Costumes for the May Chinese Festival in Colchester.

Pepi runs a charity cafe in Colchester, provides young people with additional needs and disabilities with training and opportunities in order to prepare them for employment, and supports other at risk groups in Essex. Pepi has been nominated by people who have worked with her and individuals she has helped through her community projects.

My name is Pepi Sanchez,  I am a Director of a Social Enterprise non profit organisation called GO4 Social Enterprises CIC. We give voluntary work, training and support to unemployed people, homeless, people with additional needs and disabilities, to get them into employment. Most of the time in life you just need someone who believes in you and gives you a chance, no matter what you have done or going through, what matters is what you can do in the future.

As soon as I heard about STS and what it could mean for me personally to share my history and to inspire other women, I couldn't wait to get involved.

It took me quite a long time to develop a  voice , and now that i have it , I am not going to be silent. We are strong, beautiful, independent, powerful, and intelligent. We can unite in our differences to fight for our rights.

Nina has built up a following on her Instagram account by sharing her experiences as a disabled woman and engaging with issues including ableism and accessibility. She is a trained counsellor and mentors other disabled people. Nina was nominated by her partner who wanted to celebrate how she uses her platform to inspire confidence in other disabled people and change perceptions of disability.

I'm Nina and I'm very proudly Disabled, I'm a Mum to four kiddos, a Disability activist, writer and mentor and I love a good kitchen disco in my wheelchair. I was nominated by my partner Jase for the work I do online to not only empower other Disabled people but also to educate around ableism and to break down the narrow and outdated stereotypes around disability.

I was so excited to find out I was a STS ambassador, Disabled stories are rarely told and when they are they're often shaped by nondisabled people to be inspiring or pitying. Accurate representation of disability is rare and I think it's amazing that this project is going to highlight voices from all different communities that often go unheard.

I'm so looking forward to listening and learning from all the amazing women involved in this project and I'm really excited to connect with other Disabled women in Essex and hear their stories too because they all deserve to be told.

Hephzi is a science communicator who is passionate about increasing the accessibility and inclusiveness of science, particularly those from those underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and maths. She set up Basildon Street Science, and runs educational opportunities for young people and their families. Hephzi was nominated by a former colleague who wanted to highlight her work with underrepresented communities.

It's a wonderful feeling to be nominated and shortlisted as one of six ambassadors to champion the amazing Snapping the Stiletto: Campaigning for Equality project.

There's a traditional stereotype about Essex girls and this campaign is the much needed facelift to showcase the Essex Girl identity and represent what it is to be a woman living in Essex today. I love Basildon and it's an honor to be a chosen face for Snapping the Stiletto.