It’s National Entrepreneurs Day and we want to celebrate some of the ambitious, hard-working young people of Warrington who are striving to make their aspirations a reality!
Today, we shine a spotlight on two of Warrington & Vale Royal College’s amazing alumni who embody entrepreneurial spirit and have embraced the college’s mantra of ‘careers not courses’ by putting their career aspirations at the centre of their education. Both Bobbi Watkins and Molly Horrocks, former pupils at Birchwood Community High School and Padgate Academy retrospectively, have used the skills and experiences gained whilst studying Level 3 Art & Design at the college to set themselves up with their own businesses alongside completing impressive university degrees.
Bobbi joined the college with a passion for art but no clear direction of what she would like to do with her talents. It was not until she worked with one of the college’s art tutors, Becky Rogers, that she explored the possibility of becoming a graphic designer. Upon this realisation, Bobbi worked hard to build her creative digital skills, and eventually left the college with a triple distinction*, which is the equivalent of three A* grades at A Level, to embark on her studies at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Classmate Molly discovered her love for photography at an early age and knew that her dream career would be one where she could stand behind a lens every day. The freedom of the art & design course at the college was ideal for her, as she wanted to focus on perfecting her photography skills while working with the college’s various industry links to build an impressive portfolio. She, too, chose to continue her studies at Manchester Metropolitan University on their BA (Hons) Photography course, taking the vital creative and employability skills she learned at the college with her.
While at university, the friends stayed in touch, continuing to peer assess each other’s work as they had been encouraged to do at college. It soon became clear that both women were ambitious and keen to take their first steps towards starting their own businesses, despite their busy university schedules and part-time jobs. Not people to let an opportunity pass them by, the young women devised plans to launch their businesses and begin to monetise on the skills they had been cultivating since joining the college at age sixteen.
From initially supporting each other to set up their websites and social media platforms, with Molly providing the visual content and Bobbi dealing with the logos and design elements, both budding businesswomen created eye-catching platforms and began to quickly establish their client bases.
