In my final year at Uni in 2009 i had a car accident that left me disabled. I was in hospital for 3 months and broke (most notably) my neck, back, legs, pelvis, punctured both lungs (it was pretty gruesome!) I was struggling. I was behind my peers in terms of completing my degree as i had to return to Uni and finish my final year, behind my peers in terms of career and life experience. I was struggling to find myself. Disabled and gay. I didn’t know, or understand where I fit in with regard to the professional world or society more widely. As I began to heal physically and mentally, I got back into work. Working for a recruitment agency and conforming to their expectations of me. I knew i wanted to work somewhere where i could be myself, but wasn’t sure on how to achieve this. I was aware of EY and the Big 4, but i thought these firms were too big for me. How can someone be valued and appreciated in a company soo big. Whilst in agency, I heard that EY were recruiting. I reached out to someone in EY recruitment team, who put me in touch with Amanda Rostan and Amy Ward. They asked me what I wanted, and I told them that D&I was important to me, for the above reasons. They immediately stated to tell me about the plans they had around D&I. Straight away, I knew i wanted to work for EY. Fast forward to today, I am the D&I champ for Assurance, I am the Partnership lead for the relationship with the charity Whizz Kidz (where we have just made our first hire, I’m so proud of this). Being at EY has allowed me to be myself and get involved in the areas that matter to me. I’d love to be able to share this with others.