From Agent to Peer Mentor: A catch-up with Ade
Ademola Adedeji first joined The Agency Manchester back in 2018, while he was still in Year 11. His project, ‘Something to Say’, created a platform to explore the experiences and struggles of people of colour.
But Ade’s relationship with The Agency didn’t end when his programme did. Over the years he’s stayed connected, continued writing and creating, spoken about The Agency at Parliament, and now, eight years after first becoming an Agent, he’s coming back as a Peer Mentor with The Agency Bolton.
So, we caught up with Ade about where it all started, what’s happened since, and what it feels like to now be supporting a new generation of Agents.
Take us back to the beginning!
When did you join The Agency Manchester, and what made you want to join?
I started The Agency when I was in Year 11, so I think back in 2018. The Agency came into school and did a presentation explaining what they do, and it caught my eye straight away.
At that age I was already doing business. I was selling chocolates and drinks in school from my backpack to make extra change and buy my first pair of trainers. In the end it became a bit like a business because I had two other people selling in school for me!
So I always knew I was business-minded, but I was also interested in the creative aspect because I liked writing stories and poems and stuff, so I wanted to explore that a bit more.
Your Agency project was called Something to Say. Tell us a bit about the idea and why it mattered to you.
When people ask me about Something to Say, I could go on for a long time talking about it because I feel like the whole world has a lot of things to say.
At that point in my life, there were things going on in my community that needed a platform for people to talk about their experiences and what they go through on a daily basis.
That’s how I created Something to Say. It’s a book which highlights the struggles of people of colour and outlines the issues they face day to day.
Since being an Agent, you’ve stayed connected to The Agency in lots of different ways – most recently speaking at Parliament. What was that experience like?
You know what, standing in Parliament was a different feeling.
Going from being a young person coming from nothing to now speaking in a room full of important people, and people who actually listened to what I had to say, I felt like I had achieved something.
That was all due to The Agency. They gave me the confidence and the power to be in those rooms and do things like that.
Now you’re coming back into The Agency as a Peer Mentor in Bolton. What do you think you can bring to the new Agents?
I think I can bring a lot as a mentor due to the fact that I’ve done it. I’ve seen it through and I’m still seeing the results of doing the whole programme.
I can be there to help the new Agents and guide them to seeing the bigger picture, because I am living proof that it works.
Away from job titles, projects and all the official stuff, what’s one thing you’ve done or become that you’re really proud of?
Wow, this question is tough because I’ve done a lot of things in my life that I’m proud of!
But if I could pick one, it would be joining The Agency and sticking to it, and letting the ideology do its job.
Through The Agency I met a lot of people, like Roxy, people who have impacted my life dramatically and who I still work with to this day to make the community and the world a better place, one step at a time.
Poetry has been a big part of your creative journey. What does poetry give you that other ways of expressing yourself don’t?
Poetry is like sports to me. It’s another way to release my passion, my anger, whatever feeling I’m feeling, down on paper and not just in my brain.
Without poetry I would not have healed as a person. I would not have been able to express myself in prison when I had nothing but my thoughts and emotions.
Without poetry, I would not be Ademola Adedeji — the boy who can’t be told no.