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Alumni News Where are they now and what are they doing? Sonal Chohan I graduated with BA (Hons) Applied Psychology degree in 2010 and went on to do an MSc in Developmental Psychopathology and remained a member of John Snow College. After working as Admissions Secretary and Resident Tutor at John Snow College, Queen's Campus, I moved to Durham City to work in a sabbatical position in Student Recruitment and when the contract came to an end in 2013, I decided it was finally time to travel a bit. I moved to Italy as an au pair, initially expecting to return to Durham after six months, but quickly found a full time job in a private Cambridge English School as an English Teacher - Durham degrees are clearly highly valued everywhere! During my six years abroad, I travelled extensively within Italy and Europe, learnt to speak, read and write Italian, and enjoyed some of the world's finest food and wines, whilst absorbing Italian culture and their way of life. I have now returned to the UK, a more cultured and well-rounded individual, with my Italian partner, two year old daughter and another little one on the way, ready to set down my roots in my hometown, Leicester. I can honestly say my vast and varied experiences at Durham University, as an active student and member of staff set me up for an exciting and successful future, and without it I may not have achieved some of my lifelong dreams.
Georgie Toft I graduated in 2015 with a 1st class honours degree in Business and Management. I wanted to move to London but I wasn’t sure of which area to work in, so I started working in recruitment. I enjoyed my time in this sector but it wasn’t what I wanted to pursue as a career, so after 18 months I enrolled with FDM, a graduate training company, to qualify as a Project Manager. After completing the three month training course, I was placed at IHS Markit working on projects for MarkitServ, a platform providing end-to-end trade processing and workflow solutions for OTC trading. I’ve worked here for over three years and have retrained as a Scrum Master (agile software development) and currently lead three teams in software delivery. I am also Head of Events for the IHS Markit Women’s forum, organising events that empower women and promote gender equality in the workplace. Outside of work I captain the London Orca Women’s Waterpolo team and compete in international leagues!
