Toni
Toni, 26, living in Dumfries and Galloway, felt that there was a missing space in her local community for young people to connect and be heard – so she created Soul Sessions. Soul Sessions is a youth-focused social enterprise that helps build confidence and gives power to local young people’s voices across Dumfries and Scotland’s south-west.
“Growing up in quite a rural environment, I didn’t get the same opportunities as others. I didn’t get the same chances, and lots of knowledge and social skills weren’t developed… and I only learned that as an obvious knock-on that we didn’t have.”
After discovering a passion for nature in her late teens, Toni went on to do a few years at uni in the hope to make sense of things and get her degree in Zoological and Conservation Management.
Toni knew that her passion could be turned into a business, having collected all of that awareness for local and young people. At first though, Toni felt the pressure of not knowing where to begin. “I felt like I didn’t have the skills, I didn’t have the know-how… I felt like I didn’t belong in this field of work. It looked like someone else’s world, not mine. But I realised I was wrong – I knew I cared a lot, and I knew how to do good work and emerge from that personal experience. I started Soul Sessions to focus on using lived experiences and local stories to provide young people like me a voice and hope.”
Coming from a working-class family, Toni worried that she wouldn’t have the resources or networks to make the Soul Sessions project a success.
Toni reached out to The King’s Trust, and with Youth Development Lead at her side and the help of a free Enterprise Course and free fully funded Intro to Business (Blue Skies), she used that to buy insurance and test her idea by running workshops with different groups of children during the summer holidays.
“All the workshops were outside in nature and had a focus on connecting local young people to their own identities. The feedback I got from the sessions was so powerful that it made me realise this is my plan and where people are meant to be.” Toni said. “The King’s Trust plan helped me get insurance and deliver a full set of summer activities and learn new skills. It was amazing to stretch and do that!”
Having struggled in school, Toni was anxious that she wouldn’t have the skills to set and finish her own business, especially through a combination of success in school and then barriers (real and internal). “Even the idea of success was just such a foreign concept to me.”
“The support from the King’s Trust really turned my vision into a reality. I realised that the idea to support young people, manage a business model, and set things up was found in me. It was amazing to speak to funders who believed in my idea!”
