The 'Mind the gap' Breakfast

This month’s breakfast was my very first, taking place at the exact mid-point of my 8-week internship, and what a privilege it was to get to attend with such an inspirational speaker. We got to hear from Mo Kanjilal, Co-Creator of Watch This Sp_ce, as she talked us through her professional and personal life - from the racism her and her family had to endure arriving in the UK from India, how they overcame it, her career in sales and later setting up diversity and inclusion consultancy, Watch This Sp_ce.  

Owning being different was the making of me

Mo started by sharing the story of her family. Her father studied medicine, and in 1968 he travelled to the UK with his wife and sister. It was a cold, British December day, and Mo says they recall the darkness and coldness of it. They were, sadly, met with the same energy from the locals, having come at a time during which racism was extremely prevalent. Not only did her family have to adapt to an entirely new country, but they also had to do so without being able to rent, find secure jobs and being spat at on the street.

With Mo’s father's qualifications not being recognised, another layer of difficulty was added to their lives. They decided to move to a town in Suffolk, where her father was the town doctor. Being in a small town in England at that time meant Mo’s family was the only one of colour, but she certainly didn’t let this deter her from finding a sense of self.

Mo began to bend the rules, and her small acts of teenage rebellion (think wearing brown shoes when she was meant to wear black ones, backcombing her hair), made it easier for her to find comfort in being different. She told us that, “owning being different was the making of me.” 

If you can change young people’s lives, there’s a lot you can do

Before diving into academia, Mo continued being different and decided to take a gap year, volunteering at an orphanage in Bengal for a year, teaching English, and living with her Bengali family. It was, as she put it, a completely transformative experience.

Returning to the UK, she moved to Brighton to study English at the University of Sussex. She fell in love with Brighton and, like lots of people who go to University here, ended up staying.

Mo as a Sussex student in the 90’s (taken from the Sussex Alumni spotlight website)

You have to put up with a lot when you look like me in business

Having graduated from university, Mo did what she says most English students do - and got a job in marketing. She quickly realised that it was sales she had a natural talent for, progressing in large corporates, working in mostly male-dominated sales environments, where she was often the only woman, let alone the only person of colour.

During this time Mo sold lots of complicated tech – from space to radiotherapy. A tip from her success, is to clearly and simply explain the product you’re selling.

Even in these more senior roles, she experienced racism and sexism (although took great pleasure in proving these people wrong, and even becoming their boss) - and advocated for other women and people of colour in the business.

At a panel event for The Girls Network, she met her now business partner Allegra Chapman, and a Zoom call in lockdown was the beginning of Watch This Sp_ce.  

Helping businesses work better together

Watch This Sp_ce is a diversity and inclusion consultancy, working with employers and businesses to map out their inclusion journey. Core to their business is believing that everyone has to see the value in diversity and inclusion, and since starting out they’ve worked with Councils, big corporates, growing and smaller businesses.

Mo said there were lots of things on their vision board when they started Watch This Sp_ce – including winning lots of awards, speaking at TED X and writing a book. They’ve achieved these (and more) – their book, The Inclusion Journey, will be published in August of this year, and Mo gave a talk at Ted X Brighton.  

If you say you want to do things they can actually happen

Mo’s talk was more than the story of her life; it was a reminder that there is still a lot of work to do when it comes to diversity and inclusion, but there’s still lots of hope too.

I think it is safe to say that everyone left Mo’s talk feeling inspired. 

With special thanks to Mo Kanjilal for being our June Chamber Breakfast speaker. Read more about Watch This Sp_ce on their website, and preorder The Inclusion Journey here.

Another thank you goes to Clean Growth UK for being the sponsor of this month’s Chamber Breakfast. Find out more about them here.

For our monthly Chamber Breakfast events, plus more networking, learning and topical events with Brighton Chamber, head over to our events page.  

If you want to contribute to the Chamber blog, contact us on hannah@brightonchamber.co.uk