Warwick Women: Charlotte Dukes

In honour of this year’s International Women’s Week, we spoke to some of Warwick’s most inspiring women. Charlotte Dukes is a great example of a Warwick student who has gone above and beyond. Some of her most recent achievements include hosting a #NoCeilings campaign for UNICEF and sourcing sanitary products for refugees, among others.

You hosted and moderated a speaker’s night at Warwick as part of the #NoCeilings campaign week. What is the #NoCeilings campaign and why is it important?

The #NoCeilings speakers’ night was part of Unicef’s campaign, aiming to celebrate gender equality in the university community. The panel consisted of young women who had a message to share about the importance of breaking down barriers. Such barriers may seem insignificant, such as feeling like you can’t speak out in a seminar or feeling worried about how you’ll fare in the world of work after university. But in the #NoCeilings campaign it was important to highlight that breaking even the smallest barriers could change your life trajectory. Many students gave up their Thursday evenings to come and support the event and we were extremely fortunate to have panelists from NGOs, finance and social enterprise respectively, giving a diverse insight into some of the trials and opportunities within very different industries, leaving everyone with a refreshing sense of empowerment.

Last year, you managed to raise money to purchase over 1200 sanitary products for female refugees at the Dunkirk refugee camp. How did you go about raising this money and why is it an important cause?

I volunteer for an organisation called WCAVA in Leamington Spa and one of the in-house health workers asked me to source as many sanitary products as possible to take over to the refugees in the Dunkirk camp. On reflection I felt that humanitarian crises attracted charitable attention for food and clean water yet the dire need for sanitary products were often grossly overlooked, I realised how pivotal these items were to a woman’s dignity and feeling of self-worth.

The fact I only had a week to turn around the project was useful as it helped me to focus my energy into concentrating on the most efficient means of money collection. Using Facebook to run the campaign, many students and friends made online donations and I was also able to collect donations during a PPE society circling event. While you may argue it’s immoral to collect money from inebriated students, the loss of three shots in Kelsey’s cannot be comparable to the small steps towards restoring female integrity, even temporarily.

What is your proudest achievement during your time at Warwick?

My proudest achievement at Warwick (ironically) occurred when I was procrastinating during my second year exam period. After googling ‘how to get rich quick’ I invested some of my ever-looming student loan into cryptocurrency. This somewhat reckless decision led me to rigorously explore precisely what I had put my money into, and this in turn led to create content on cryptocurrency. I wrote a beginner’s piece on the topic, which received 550,000 views on LinkedIn. Due to that moment of severe procrastination over exams, I have since been incredibly fortunate to have presented to government on cryptocurrency, written scripts for high-profile Youtubers and moderated the FinTech panel at this year’s Warwick Congress. Probably the only good thing that’s come out of procrastinating ever for me.

What is the biggest challenge you have faced during your time at university?

The biggest challenge I have consistently faced over my time at university is FOMO (fear of missing out). If there’s a conference, netball match and society event all on the same day, I will try and fit in all three, as well as reading for my degree. While doing ‘everything’ can lead to incredible experiences I have often sacrificed part of my well-being to maintain all the different activities and plans at university. Thankfully, my friends know precisely when I’m burning out and they’re incredibly supportive and can always provide an emergency brunch meeting to calm me down. While university is an incredible time in life to achieve exceptional things it’s also one of the only times in life you can be in total control of your own agenda, so this year I’ve enjoyed lie-ins, and taking afternoons off to just do nothing.

What changes would you like to see on campus?

I’d like to see three key changes on campus. Primarily, more engagement with the local community. Warwick students have remarkable potential; they’ll go on to achieve incredible feats in the world. Local charities and schools could use more student capital resources, so it only makes sense for there to be an effective channel designed to ensure students help locally.

Secondly, I’d love to see more diverse assessment methods. Most of us won’t be churning out essays on a day to day basis in the world of work, so why are we constantly matched up and tested against rigorous academic criteria? The modules I’ve enjoyed most have tapped into more creative assessment methods such as film-production and self reflective pieces. They are the modules I’ve grown the most in.

Finally, Warwick could do with a cultural change on perceptions of what constitutes an ‘impressive’ career. While corporate jobs should be taken seriously, there’s a great deficit in the representation of creative industries, no one should be stigmatised for wanting to follow their dreams and the university should have the infrastructure to support each student, regardless of their life plans.

What is the best piece of advice you could give to young women?

My best piece of advice comes in the form of one of my favourite quotes by Marcus Aurelius:

‘If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but your estimate of it; and this is something you have the power to revoke at any moment.’

I think it’s super important to realise that other people are beyond your control and that you have total power to control the impact other people can have on you. When you meet so many people at university, particularly during freshers, it can be overwhelming and it’s easy to let others dictate your own goals. The most liberating thing to do is to live life freely as your own self, focus on your development and allow others to flourish in their own way. Personally I find that lots of people mock my somewhat ridiculous music taste, but I know whatI love to listen to, even if it is a playlist consisting of Nicki Minaj and the Moana soundtrack. Also if you’re a young woman at Warwick, I highly recommend attending the ‘Sprint’ programme, it developed my self-awareness and confidence in first year and laid the basis for many of my achievements.

What woman inspires you and why?

I have always seen my mum as my number one inspiration. She started her own business two years ago and I’ve watched her build it from scratch and grow from strength to strength in the process. I hold all of my actions to the highest standard thanks to my mum and if I ever feel that a situation has caused a conflict of my principles, I can always pick up the phone and speak to her openly. She made me walk around National Trust properties when I was young and introduced me to healthy eating. Both things I hated at the time but have served me well going forward in life.