A social mobility organisation
led by, and for, state-school educated
university students
pursuing corporate careers.

Get Involved

Our mission

inState is a UK-wide, student-led network, aiming to broaden access for state-school educated university students pursuing corporate career paths.

At the core of our vision is the creation of a social network to empower students from under-represented backgrounds.

As a group of students who have experienced similar challenges throughout our academic journeys, we recognised the importance of sharing our knowledge and opportunities. Having previously engaged with other social mobility initiatives, we saw the value of an exclusively student-led social mobility organisation. inState therefore seeks to both widen and improve the representation of state school educated professionals in corporate careers, in the following pathways:

Commercial Law

Consulting

Finance

Each Pathway delivers a specialised programme of:

Peer-to-peer mentoring
Industry-focused professional development masterclasses
Tailored opportunities listings
Exclusive networking opportunities

Our internal team consists of students from across UK universities who share a common commitment to diversifying and demystifying corporate pathways.

Our team

Trustee Board

Asher Mohammed

Chair

Hi, I am the founder and President of inState. I am going into my final year of Politics with International Relations at the University of York. I am proud to introduce to you, a social mobility organisation led by, and for, state-school educated university students to broaden access to corporate careers paths.
I was born and raised in Walthamstow, London and attended a state-school. As someone who didn’t have family members or family friends in professional careers, I spent the majority of the latter years of secondary school and then sixth form navigating through academic and career opportunities myself. I had the privilege of engaging with social mobility organisations and owe a great deal of my personal achievements to the mentorship and guidance that those organisations facilitated for me. My greatest resource has been the social network of peers across London and now the UK that I have created throughout the years from these organisations. The creation of a social network of state-school educated university students is at the core of our vision at inState.
inState is working to provide tailored mentorship and professional development programmes across 3 main Pathways; Commercial Law; Consulting; and Finance. I am proud of our diverse team of students from 14 universities across the UK who have been working non-stop over the summer in preparation for our launch. Please take a look at the rest of the team to find out more about individual team functions. I am looking forward to sharing our inState journey with you!

Verinda Kaur Sohal

Trustee

Hi, I am the Vice-President of inState and a founding member of the organisation. I am entering my second year studying Law at the University of York.
I grew up in Bedford as a state-school educated student. The biggest barrier I faced throughout my academic journey was a lack of understanding of the distinctions between different corporate careers, as well as pathways into them. Therefore, the most important aspect of inState for me, is paving a path to corporate careers for those with similar experiences to myself.
I have previously interacted with various social mobility organisations and have found that although the focus on social mobility is often clear, there tends to be a divide between the knowledge and experience of mentors and their prospective mentees. With a focus on peer-to-peer focus mentoring, inState brings state-school educated university students with similar experiences together to both build their professional network and share experiences with their peers.
As the Vice President of inState, my role is to oversee and organise the operational-focused departments of inState, including; the Commercial Law Pathway Team, the Consulting Pathway Team, the Finance Pathway Team and the University Liaison Coordinator Team. Working with these teams has already provided me with a rich and insightful experience at inState, and I look forward to what inState has to offer state-school educated university students in the future!

Zain Hussain

Trustee

Hi, I am an internal strategy advisor and a founding member of the organisation. I am entering my second year studying Law at the University of York.
I grew up in East London, and having attended a state-school, it was difficult to access information and opportunities for career development, and so social mobility organisations provided me with opportunities that gave me a sense of career direction, and skills that I would have otherwise not gained or developed, having been the first generation in my family to attend university.
Social mobility initiatives not only enabled me to access opportunities, but to thrive in them. From winning a full scholarship to study Law, and the post-graduate BPTC, to having the confidence to address government officials at the National Assembly Hall in Seoul, South Korea, I owe my personal achievements to each and every social mobility initiative that I had the chance to participate in and learn from, which drew me to co-founding inState.
The underlying impact that social mobility organisations have had is creating a network amongst ambitious youth from state-educated backgrounds with limited access to opportunities. InState brings this to the forefront of social mobility, with these accomplished, young individuals driving the change to break barriers that reduce access to corporate careers for students from state-school educated backgrounds.
As internal strategy advisor, I’m working closely with our Head of Marketing Technology to give feedback and advice on our website and systems development, strategising our long-term vision, and playing a key role in building our brand to ensure that each and every state-school student is aware of our organisation’s mission, and how they can get involved.

Natalie Jolly

Trustee

Hi, I am Lead Commercial Law Pathway Coordinator. In my role, I will be overseeing the peer-mentorship programme as well as working hard to compile lots of opportunities and resources for our users. My aim is to help level the playing field, especially in an industry as competitive as law, I wish to do this by helping to bridge the gap caused by lack of connections and opportunities and making law more accessible.
I grew up in Hong Kong and Macau, before moving to the UK and studying at a grammar school in Surrey. I recently graduated with a degree in Law with a Year abroad and I am about to start the Barrister Training Course at BPP in September.

Sami Berisha

Trustee

Hi, I am on the Internal Strategy Advisory Team and, here’s a curveball, I am going into my sophomore (second) year at an American university called Northwestern University. This is usually met with shock, as how does a state-school educated individual from North London study at a prestigious and private University in the US, and how do I afford it? The answers to these questions are social mobility organisations and a scholarship.
This forms the largest part of my impetus to join inState, as I owe much of my achievements to social mobility organisations and the mentorship and networking opportunities afforded by them. Volunteering with InState allows me to give back through helping others traverse barriers such as a lack of a foundational network which I, just like hundreds of other state-school students, had to build-up alone. inState therefore enables me in the process of aiding students to access the same opportunities I had; opportunities which might very well change the course of someone’s life as they have mine.

Natanim Fekadu-Dessie

Trustee

Hi, I am the Head of Strategy. I am from East London and a third year History and Politics student studying at Cambridge.
Attending a state-school and being the first in my household to go to University, I struggled with accessing key information and opportunities. As a result, I became a member of a number of access initiatives which helped me immensely, and through that, I was inspired to become heavily involved in delivering access initiatives to other students. I became an editor at InsideUni, started my own access initiative and took on the role of Access Officer at the Cambridge ACS for a year.
My role as Head of Strategy includes overseeing the foundational procedures for establishment, liaising with our Internal Strategy Advisory Team and External Strategy Team made up of recent graduates and young professionals, as well as helping guide the future of the organisation more broadly. I joined InState as it is a refreshing and new take on access, providing a completely student-driven service which is what I believe makes it so special. I am beyond excited to be leading a group of bright minds and to be a part of a wider inspiring team!

Executive

Asher Mohammed

President

Verinda Kaur Sohal

Secretary

Alaa Fawaz

Head of Strategy

Hi, I am the Head of Strategy at inState and I am a second year Law student at the University of Warwick. I was born and bred in Slough and my community there has influenced my identity and purpose massively.I began my journey in commercial law through social-mobility initiatives, growing with other students from state schools and low socio-economic backgrounds. There, I discovered how important it is to have a network of students in similar positions to yourself. It bred a comfortable environment to ask questions and learn about the various corporate pathways. Using my role at InState, I aim to bring about that same positive impact and aid students' professional journeys.As Head of Strategy, my role is to work with the incredible internal strategy advisory team to oversee the direction of inState and ensure that we work towards our core mission and values. I look forward to seeing the growth of inState and its impact on the next generation of go-getters and leaders. As a team, we aim to demonstrate that our differences are our greatest assets!

Brandan Powell-Josiah

Head of Operations

Hi, I am the Head of Operations. I am a third-year History student at the University of Oxford, born and raised in North London. I have been engaged with social mobility organisations since the age of 5, working with a local charity which encouraged disadvantaged young people to pursue careers in music, dance and the arts.
Growing up in an environment such as this has inspired a passion for work with young people, which continues to be central to my life to this day. After spending three years volunteering on this group’s Summer Vacation Scheme, I acted as a Committee Member/ Publicity Officer for a student-led charity offering mentorship for aspiring university students in Kenya, served as a consultant on a child-safeguarding project in Uganda, and most recently I have been working as part of a team developing a business strategy for a UK-based start-up supporting young people impacted by mental health issues. Now, I hope to continue supporting and empowering young people with inState!
As Head of Operations, I will be overseeing and directing the Commercial Law, Consulting and Finance pathways alongside our incredible team of pathway coordinators to plan and execute deliverables, while more broadly supporting the organisational and strategic direction of the charity as a member of the Executive board. I am extremely excited to take on this role alongside such talented and brilliant teammates, and I look forward to providing state school-educated students with the knowledge, connections and resources to break into the top corporate careers!

Stiofán Folan-Hasici

Head of Marketing & Technology

Hi, I'm a Marketing and Technology Lead here at inState, and I am going into my second year of Chemistry at the University of York. I grew up in East London, and attended a state school for my secondary education alongside Zain.Social Mobility in the United Kingdom is amongst the worst in the world, and its greatest drive is disparity in education. Volunteering at inState will allow me to play a part in instigating change that may one day change the shape of our rigid class system.As a Marketing and Technology Lead I will ensure every aspect of our online presence perfectly embodies our ethos, and complements our content. Utilising design theory and marketing strategies can be an incredibly powerful tool in driving organisational success and helping us achieve the levels of outreach we need.I am excited to see what the future holds for our organisation, the bright minds of our team, and of course our Members.

Marketing and Technology

Raghib Mirza

Website Development Lead

Hi, I'm the Website Development Lead.
I'm a third year Computer Science student at UCL. Having attended a state-school for all of secondary school and sixth form, inState's goals resonate with me deeply and I am eager to help build a platform that allows other students from a background like mine to get the experience that take them just that one step closer to the success which they deserve.

Don Charles - Lambert

Web Design Lead

Hello, I'm the Website Design Lead.I'm a third year Computer Science student at UCL. Having grown up in Croydon, inState's ideals resonated with me profoundlyand I was enthusiastic about designing a system that enabled hardworking students to attain the opportunities thatthey desire.

Internal Strategy Advisory Team

Sam Edwards

Partnerships and Collaborations Advisor

I read History at the University of Oxford, having previously studied at a non-selective state school in Cornwall. I am currently undertaking the PGDL ahead of joining Slaughter and May in 2022. In my role on the Internal Strategy Advisory Team I support the creation of key targets and help formulate policy for inState.
There’s a plenty of initiatives that seek to improve access and representation at leading universities, but too often these initiatives stop at the point of admission. At inState we take things a step further by bringing together various strands under one platform in order to support access to competitive careers.

Sami Berisha

Funding Advisor

Mohshin Mannan

Partnerships and Collaborations Advisor

Hi, my name is Mohshin, and I am a recent Land Economy graduate at the University of Cambridge. Having attended a non-selective state school in Hounslow (West London), I understand and appreciate the critical importance of ensuring the success of state school students. For me, the most significant barrier facing students today is a lack of information regarding the opportunities available to them. I hope that, through my role as an internal strategy advisor, I can help inState tackle this and many other important issues.

Niall Lamont

HR Lead + Internal Legal

Hi, I'm Niall and I study Law at Durham University. I'm excited to get involved in inState's Internal Advisory Team. I too was faced with the adversity of pursuing a corporate career from a state school background. However I was helped immensely when I took part in a social mobility programme. This helped me to understand the importance of advocacy and inState's mission to target state school inequalities for students pursuing corporate carers. inState represents an innovative student-led approach to tackle these pervasive barriers, which stops students reaching and realising their true potential. I'm looking forward to give back the support that I received and promote inState in its mission!

Pathway Coordinators