Sarai Richards

Inspirational Adult Learner award

Sarai’s journey started when she enrolled onto a course at City of Wolverhampton College’s Electric Vehicle and Green Technologies Centre to ensure she had the latest knowledge and skills to succeed in this constantly evolving sector. After completing the course, the college were so impressed by Sarai that they appointed her as a tutor. Being a young black female in the industry, she hopes her experience will inspire other women of any background to pursue a career within the automotive industry.

"I wanted to do this course for personal development. With technology being an ever-changing factor in the world, brushing up on new processes and information is always valuable and will keep you-up-to date with the present times.

"I was aware that technology in the motor trade especially, is progressing towards being predominantly electric. With government trying to achieve zero emissions by 2050, I wanted to be proactive and get a head start in obtaining the qualifications needed for this. I hoped that by achieving this knowledge and skillset that it would set me apart from my peers.

"My family and my boyfriend are always the first to tell their friends about my skillset, which in turn gives me a sense of pride as well. Before joining the trade, I had never come across any female mechanics, let alone a black female. I feel very proud of myself for being persistent and achieving what I have attained so far."

Louise Fall, Deputy Principal at City of Wolverhampton College said: "We saw the potential in Sarai as a person and recognised her skillset to employ her as a tutor and coach to other learners. From not having a full time and paid job before starting with us, she has expressed her thanks to us for giving her this exciting opportunity as a full time wage has greatly improved her personal and financial situation.

"Having an engineering background, she quickly realised that knowledge isn’t everything and having the ability to get the message across to students is harder than it looks. The ability to recognise different learning styles and personality types to make sessions engaging, informative and interesting has seen her progress quickly - with fantastic feedback from students who have had the pleasure of her unique and personable delivery style."