Meet Naomi Gahie who hopes to be in Brussels for the June workshops. This Q&A was done by Charlie Tshibangu, Rahim Amin and Favour Ekengwu.

Naomi Gahie (c) Hugh Gary Photography

NAOMI GAHIE, 23
Q: Where are you from?
I was born here. But my parents are Iverian (Ivory Coast) so I speak French. I was brought up in Bolton (from the age six). I’m 23 now and work in customer service.

Q: What are your interests?
Main interest is singing and reading. I’m reading Kill Me Again by Rachel Abbot – the last back in the DCI Douglas series.

Q: Who influences you the most?
I love Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s writing style. My favourites are her books Americana and Purple Hibiscus. She’s also very famous for her Ted talk We should all be feminists and also the Danger of the single story)  When it comes to singing my influences are neo soul artists like Lianne La Havas and Solange.

Here’s a link to Chimanada Ngozi Adichie’s Ted talk. https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_we_should_all_be_feminists?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

Q: What’s wrong with London at the moment?
I hear a lot about knife crime being on the rise and all these negatives on social media, but I can only sympathise from observational perspective. It’s hard finding jobs. The main barrier I had was not that they weren’t available, it was because there is so much opportunity in London but I had mental health issues. Now my sister wants to come to London and nurse here for the opportunities.

• Naomi is a fab writer. You can read her account of the Women’s Procession across London on our blog here. (to be posted w/c 18/6/18)