photography by Sebastian Mullen
No one is happier to be at LSE than Angelica Olawepo. After spending a year on an access programme at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, she applied to study here. She even travelled to attend the LSE Africa summit whilst still attending Oxford. “I never applied to LSE the first time around was because I didn’t think I was going to get the grades to even get here.” Now she’s the recipient of a scholarship that covers her tuition and living expenses.
She says receiving the scholarship felt “amazing” but adds that “there’s also pressure because I feel like someone out there has invested money in me.”
Angelica was born in Nigeria and moved to the UK with her mum at the age of nine. “I knew my life had changed, but I didn’t really understand that I was working class and I didn’t think that there was a reality outside of mine.” She came to realise that she was considered “working class” when she applied for a number of programs with the Sutton Trust and SEO scholars. “It was when I met almost every single of their eligibility criteria that I realised, oh, like, I guess I’m what you call a poor student.”
But her class background hasn’t stopped her from being a fashion icon (more in the Social pages). She credits Joanna Jarjue, a former contestant on The Apprentice, as her biggest style inspiration.
The element of her personal style she says has evolved the most is her relationship with her hair – as black women, both of us recognise this issue is as political as it is stylistic. “I started realising when I was at Oxford that I had a wig that I was wearing and sometimes I’d have my hair out. But then if I have a special occasion, I felt like I needed to go and put on the weave, and I don’t know why I felt like that.” After investigating this impulse and exploring the Black hair community on YouTube, Angelica decided to only wear protective styles that actually reflected her natural hair texture. “The arguments Black women make… like, ‘I’m growing my hair … doing protective styles,’ but then like, why do you have to wear straight Barbie hair?”
In addition to watching Black beauty gurus on YouTube, Angelica also has her own YouTube channel, Angeliculture, where she vlogs about her experiences building her career in law and finance, her time at LSE, and her rigorous study habits. As The Beaver went to print, she had over 3,700 subscribers and over 280,000 views. “When people write to me and tell me how much my channel has impacted them, they’re studying at LSE now or they got an internship, it makes me feel like I have made a difference in the world.” That being said, she feels restricted in the kind of content she can put out. “People subscribe to me for different reasons… [some] for like law or finance… some are there to see LSE. And I feel like I want to please everyone.”
She started Angeliculture for multiple reasons. “When I was applying to LSE, I looked on YouTube for an LSE vlogger and I didn’t see one. And it was really annoying. I guess once I started I thought I want to help someone who might be looking for someone like me – be the change I want to see… The second reason was because I’ve had lots of useful advice from like work experience and programs. And I feel like there definitely is like an information deficit for Black students and also people from working class backgrounds.” She adds that simple things, like suggesting a visit to a firm’s insight day, have made all the difference to some of her audience. She feels it’s her responsibility to give back to people, having been the beneficiary of so much mentorship and having the privilege to live in the UK: “some people don’t live in this country and so there’s no way they know about like access programs and things like that.”
Adding to the voices of those before her, Angelica thinks LSE can do more to help its Black students, and working class Black students especially. “I feel like LSE only remembers that they have Black students when it’s time for Black History Month and even then it’s the Black students taking charge… We’re celebrating Black culture, honour Arthur Lewis beyond the little plaque thing that they have in the Student Centre and do something more than that.”
A lot of people with Angelica’s circumstances would not have made it this far, but her continued success and singular determination continues to dazzle me.
