Hillary Oluwaseun Coker
Hillary is a Psychology and Criminology student at Keele University, a writer, and the funding and communications lead at a sustainability startup working to make nature more accessible. She is passionate about global education access, especially for women, and sees policy and diplomacy as tools to bridge deep-rooted inequalities.
A co-host of the podcast Migrant Moods and a digital content creator on YouTube, Hillary explores identity, education, and personal growth through storytelling. She has been a psychology research intern at both University College London (UCL) and the Centre for Evidence and Implementation (CEI) and is a contributor on a research review. She was awarded the Silver CREST Award for her research paper Evaluating the No Recourse Early Action Model (NOREAM): What Works for Children’s Social Care.
Hillary is a member of the We Belong Core Group and the Parliamentary Working Group, using her lived migrant experience to advocate for change. She has also volunteered as an administrative assistant at Hackney Migrant Centre, where she deepened her understanding of the turbulence and human cost of the UK’s immigration system.
Having lived across different continents, she reflects on the global imbalance of power:
“When you move from relying on a petrol generator because government electricity is unreliable to having access to 24/7 electricity, you begin to grasp how deeply unfair the world is. You realise just how much the Global North benefits from the hardships endured by the Global South.”
Her favourite quote is:
You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. – James Baldwin
Valentina Andrade Ayliffe
Valentina is a first-generation Colombian migrant whose work has centered around visibility for marginalised communities since the age of 16. Drawing from her lived experience, she uses creativity and organizing to challenge erasure and build community power. She co-created the acclaimed theatre show "My Uncle Is Not Pablo Escobar", using the arts as a tool for cultural resistance and storytelling. As the founder of the South London Latin American Community Forum, Valentina continues to support and uplift Latinx voices through events, initiatives, and advocacy.
Starting in Brixton, South West London, she has helped create spaces for connection and celebration while also beginning the process of archiving the local Latin American community’s history, pushing back against the narrative of invisibility and reclaiming space through collective memory.
Her favourite quote is:
“There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what is cares about” - Margaret J. Wheatley