RSA NextGen: ZeZe Sohawon

Reading time

Two minutes

In our regular series of interviews with young Fellows, we speak with Zaynab ‘ZeZe’ Sohawon, a youth mental health advocate, about her ambitions, passions and inspirations.

Where did you grow up?

Birmingham.

Do you have a nickname?

ZeZe is my nickname, but Zaynab is my birth name.

What did you want to be as a child and what are you now?

I wanted to be a doctor as a child, and now I am a neuroscientist.

What’s your idea of misery?

Being alone. Loneliness is something a lot of young people struggle with these days that is not spoken about enough. As a care leaver, and a child who grew up in care, loneliness really impacted me. I did not have a typical healthy relationship with my biological family.

What’s your favourite way to spend a Sunday morning?

Sunday mornings are church and worship mornings. I like walking to church, spending time speaking with friends about faith, worshipping, listening to a sermon and then eating a post-church lunch with my friends.

What are you most passionate about and why?

I am passionate about transforming the service provision for autistic young people with severe mental illness, because I have schizophrenia and complex PTSD. I was sectioned for four years of my life as a teen and I want to utilise my experiences and transmute that pain into energy that catalyses meaningful change in the world around me. I want to empower other young people to build a life worth living, where their mental health is no longer a barrier to them accessing rich life experiences.

If you had one wish to change the world, what would it be?

It would be for youth to have an active seat at decision-making panels and have youth representatives for each government role. Young people are the future and deserve to have their voices amplified and the opportunity to drive greater change for their generation. I believe having youth at the table would equate to a fairer, more efficient, more just world.

If you couldn’t be yourself, who would you be?

Dr Ally Jaffee, an inspirational nutritional psychiatrist. Dr Ally’s work is revolutionary; she uses nutrition as a tool to leverage better mental health outcomes, and she is so kind and open with her patients – I would love to be as awesome as her, even just for a day!

What is the one thing every person should be doing to help the planet?

Empowering young people in senior leadership roles. If we help young people to run the world, we will see a lot more innovative solutions to our societal (and global) problems.

Why did you decide to become a Fellow of the RSA?

I became a Fellow to reach more people with my message about changing the world, and to surround myself with a network of ambitious individuals. The company you keep says a lot about who you are, and I felt the RSA Fellowship would be a community which would motivate me to continue making impact and striving to achieve.

Watch ZeZe’s TedXYouth@Brum talk.

This feature first appeared in RSA Journal Issue 4 2024.