Sophie Boxall | Teenage Girl Struggles (Body Image, Food, Feminism, Finances, Therapy), From Middle to Working Class, Inspirational Family (Brother w/ Autism, Sister w/ both Oxbridge, Parental Sacrafices), Inequalities | Coffee's on Me, David Quan 权丁文

Coffee's on Me, David Quan 权丁文

Episode 83 of #CoffeesOnMeDavidQuan: As the youngest child of 3, Sophie Boxall (Education @ Homerton College, University of Cambridge) is all too familiar with the struggle to meet the achievements of her siblings. She has an older brother with autism who defied expectations of him based in ableism and graduated from University of Portsmouth with a 2:1 in Biomedical Science after being told he couldn’t even attend a mainstream secondary school let alone go to University. To continue to raise the bar, her sister achieved the highest grades she could have at every educational level (annoyingly for Sophie) and graduated from the University of Oxford with a BA in English and to top it off did a masters at Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge, during Sophie’s first year at Cambridge!

A passion of Sophie’s is striving to achieve inclusive education and an inclusive society, this is particularly due to her experience of living and struggling with a hidden disability, her role as a young carer and her time working with children with additional needs. Sophie has been a feminist since the womb and feels this has created a perpetual undertone (or a very obvious one) of anger to accompany this, causing her to develop pretty good debating skills, which is a nightmare for anyone she argues with.
Sophie has struggled with mental health issues through a prominent part of her teenage years, with a lot of trauma and anxiety causing her first year at Uni to be fairly tumultuous to say the least. During her teens, Sophie’s family experienced a lot of illness and her father being made redundant, so she experienced the move from middle (ish) class to working class. Sophie believes that this period of her life has been very significant in shaping her understanding of the world and definitely solidified her already firm political beliefs, and despite the cultural weight offered by 2010s in terms of pop culture (carried mainly by Glee and the british youtube scene), for Sophie it’s been a decade of feeling the expectation of figuring out her extraordinary “dreams” whilst just feeling pretty ordinary.
“Speaking to David was well worth the excessive amounts of tubes, whilst giving legacy worthy interviews he has also created his own legacy of learning and sharing experiences in an open and non judgemental space; all the while prioritising the stories of others over his own, a truly impressive feat as most people love to talk about themselves (me included). Being given the opportunity to explore my own story made me feel valued and David has a way of making nothing off the table, i truly feel the puzzle of my life has gained a lot following my discussion with him!“ - Sophie Boxall
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WHY? COFFEE'S ON ME, DAVID QUAN 权丁文
TL;DR: To process my emotions after a grueling campaign for President of The Cambridge Union, I reflected upon the influences of my late Grandfather and wrote him a letter: https://linktr.ee/DavidQuan . Drawing inspiration from him, I hope to learn more from others through genuine discussions – giving listeners heartfelt conversations filled with authentic insights, and giving guests legacy-worthy interviews to treasure. And the best part for guests? Coffee’s on Me, David Quan 权丁文
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NOMINATE A GUEST
Please contact me to nominate someone. This would really help identify the anonymous extraordinaries！
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CONTACT ME
Having grown up in Xi'an, China, and Adelaide, Australia, I am a Double First-Class Clare College, University of Cambridge Graduate (Class of 2023) and current Goldman Sachs Analyst. Please do have the courage to say hello!
Please do have the courage to say hello!
LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/DavidQuan
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dingwen-david-quan/