51Âþ»­

A graduate from 51Âþ»­ Leicester (51Âþ»­) has landed a job with one of the world’s biggest PR companies.

Toyin Peters, who studied Media and Communication and graduated last year, started this month at Golin PR in its London office.

SUCCESS: Toyin (front, on the right) with the rest of the team on the Taylor Bennett Foundation scholarship

The company represents giants such as Cadbury Schweppes and has offices around the world.

“I’m really excited about it,” said Toyin. “I’m still pinching myself about getting such an opportunity. I did work experience there and it was amazing.”

Toyin decided PR was for her after taking it as a module, taught by PR lecturer Liz Bridgen.

Toyin credits 51Âþ»­ and Liz in particular with helping her land the job by suggesting she apply for a place with the prestigious Taylor Bennett Foundation.

This is a training programme for graduates from African Caribbean and ethnic minority backgrounds to increase the diversity of the industry.

Toyin said: “I found out about Taylor Bennett when our PR lecturer Liz Bridgen did a career tutorial and mentioned it. I thought, this is for me so when I graduated, I applied.”

After a tough interview and assessment process, Toyin was offered a place. “They called me while I was on the train and I was screaming with happiness,” she laughed.

The training programme is an intensive, high-pressure course. Only six people were chosen from around the country.

During the course, each graduate has a mentor and they are taken to visit major media companies and given practical assignments and coached in interview techniques.

Toyin said: “It was hard work but it was such a good experience. After the course finished, I contacted Golin because we had visited them and I got two weeks’ work experience. When I finished they told me about another job which was coming up and I got it!”

Toyin is now a consumer connector trainee at the company working on its high-profile Consumer PR accounts.

Her former tutor Liz Bridgen is delighted. She said: “It’s terrific news for Toyin and I hope she does well. Toyin is the second 51Âþ»­ student to secure a place on the training programme – in 2012 Francis Graham  joined the training programme and now works in PR with a major London agency.”