We sat down with presenter, campaigner and writer, June Sarpong MBE for an exclusive chat as part of our NMP Live Meets…series. June discusses working in the US, presenting Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday, and co-founding 'Women: Inspiration and Enterprise'. Watch the full interview or read the transcript below.
In conversation with June Sarpong MBE
How did you get into presenting?
My first job in the media was actually in Radio. I did work experience at Kiss FM when I was 16, and it was the year that Kiss first became legal. So, it was amazing because it was sort of half-legal, and half-not, though it was actually legal.
But it was such a great time to be there, it was the sound of young London. All of the big DJs that you know now, and all of the big names in music, started there, so as a 16 year old I had this amazing access to some of the best people in the business who fortunately are still good friends of mine, it was a great place to start!
Have you always had an interest in politics?
I have always been interested in politics for a number of reasons. I grew up in a very working class area – I grew up in Walthamstow, East London – though it’s not working class any more! It’s so gentrified I cant recognise it every time I go back! But I saw first hand growing up the importance of social mobility. You know, I was very lucky – I had aspirational parents who wanted the best for us, not all my friends at school had the same.
What was very interesting about my school was that it was one of the best in the area, so you had the local kids like myself from the council estate, but then you had the kind of middle-class upwardly mobile families that didn’t want to send their kids to private school who sent them to our school, and they were all on the parents association so our school got all of the perks, but it was a really good example of the haves and the have-nots. Not about ability, really, it was just about who was fortunate enough to have a family that expected more from them, because the school itself was actually decent, but the kind of system around you had a really big part to play as well.
So that has always been my passion, how you level the playing field and how you use politics for what it is for.
You spent a number of years in the USA. What prompted the move?
The reason I decided to move to America was for a number of reasons. I was very lucky, I had a good run in this country, and was in a position where I was able to do lots of different types of jobs. It’s quite rare for a young presenter in the sense that I could still do a pop interview with a Beyonce but then I was still lucky enough to be able to interview the Prime Minister, so that in itself was quite rare.
So, I thought ‘well, I have this kind of good platform that, fingers crossed, if it doesn’t work out over there, I can come back to’, and I almost wanted to be scared again. I think for anyone who has been in a job for a while, even if the job is good, the minute you get comfortable I like the idea of sort of testing yourself and seeing what else you can do.
So I was lucky, I moved to the states and I had a job more or less straight away, but it was very different, it was like starting all over again. The nice thing was to start all over again with experience as opposed to starting all over again as a nervous wreck.
What I found really helpful, and I am so glad I did it, was two things. It definitely helped in terms of my confidence, because when they talk about that American ‘can-do’ approach it is real! You know, when you go there, if you have an idea someone is going to give you a chance. I don’t necessarily know if it is exactly the same here, I think we have a way to go on those things.
In America, my friend and I, came up with the idea for a women’s conference – we had never done an event before – and our first event Sarah Brown, Arianna Huffington and Donna Karen came on board! Only in America, that would never happen here!
It was lovely, I got to meet lots of people, I definitely was able to present some really cool exciting shows, but also develop the more business side of myself, which was nice. Also to understand the corporate world, doing the women’s conference meant that I liaised with a lot of women, high powered women in the corporate world.
So, yeah, I am really glad I went but it was time to come home, it was British trifle that brought me back – they don’t have trifle in America – and I have been eating lots of it since I have been back.
What are the stand-out moments from your career?
The stand out moment for me, in terms of presenting, was for sure Nelson Mandela’s 90thbirthday party. It was such an honour to be asked! I had done some work with him and his foundation over the years, and you never think they will say ‘oh June, will you present his birthday party?’ ‘sure’, ‘oh, and Will Smith’s doing it’, ‘sure, haha’. It was actually one of Amy Winehouse’s final gigs.
I remember, what was so amazing about that event was that we had the most phenomenal line up – every body turns up for Nelson Mandela, especially when he is 90! – and it was brilliant you know, it was Hyde Park, and the weather was good too, the weather held up that day. Amy was the final act, and no one knew that she was actually going to turn up. She finally arrived and it was really interesting to see because it was the beginning of when you could see things sort of unravel, but somehow she still put on this amazing performance, amazing! That’s how magical that evening was, everybody gave their best to make his birthday special. So, yeah, it was wonderful.
Other people I have interviewed over the years I have loved. I did one of Beyoncé’s first ever British interviews. I have been interviewing them since they were 16, and the thing with this job is that when you interview people throughout their careers, especially when you get them at the beginning, you sort of get to know them.
I remember the funniest thing with her was, I cant remember who… it was a British… it might have been Jonathan Ross or someone, who at the time had signed a big television deal, and the deal was a £3million deal, and we were all in the dressing room cause we were about to do an interview, looking through the magazine and she’s like ‘oh my God! £3million deal! That’s like, $5million!’ I was like ‘yeah’ and she was like ‘oh my God, Dad, can you imagine if we are ever worth that much?!’ So whenever I see her I’m like ‘how’s that 5 million?’ So yeah, it is just lovely to see that progression. And she is still the sweetest, nicest, unaffected star there is.
You co-founded Women: Inspiration and Enterprise. How did this come about?
WIE, Women Inspiration Enterprise, was founded 2010 in New York, and it was as a result of a dinner. As I was saying before, this could only have happened in the states in this way. I had just moved to America and over the years I had interviewed Sarah Brown’s husband so I’d got to know her a bit, and she invited me to a dinner that was called the ‘Important Dinner for Women’.
Obviously as a woman, when you get that invite you think ‘well, I better go, it’s important!’ So, I went to this dinner. Doing the job that I do you meet so many big names, it’s rare to get intimidated cause you just get used to it, well I was completely intimidated in that room! I was a nervous wreck. Everyone you could imagine from Nicole Kidman, Hilary Clinton, Queen Rania, it was ridiculous, only in that American way. And Martha Stewart! I said to Sarah, this is amazing but the problem here is that all these women are at the top of their game, and they don’t necessarily have anything to teach each other, what we would need is something for the next generation so that these women could sort of impart their wisdom and knowledge to the ones that are coming after them, and she was like, okay, great!
We ended up standing up in front of this whole scary room saying we were going to do an event, never done an event before in our lives and then it meant that we only had 3 months to put it on! Because, to get the calibre of speakers that we wanted we needed to do the event during UN week, because everyone was in New York at that time, and so we somehow pulled it off and got some amazing names for our first one, and now in America its become the market leader in that space over there, and we are here – in a smaller capacity here – and also in Africa. So yeah, it kind of worked out okay in the end.
As well as hosting events do you deliver keynote speeches?
Yes, I do keynotes. Really, the thing that I am passionate about is diversity. And by that, I mean in the broad sense. Obviously from the perspective of whether it be the BAME community, gender, but also disability.
I think going forward we have to figure out a way to get corporations to think, and actually see the benefits of having a diverse workforce, not just at the lower and mid level, but at the senior level too. As data shows, it's better for the bottom line, it’s better all round just because you have a different perspective in the room. For me, that’s the stuff I really like to talk about.
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