Daniel Agard earned a place with the Amos Bursary as one of 15 students on the 2013 cohort. “I took advantage of every personal development session, workshop, event and opportunity that my schedule would allow me to. Through attending these events and utilising the skills taught, I landed myself various amazing opportunities at top firms and companies locally and internationally.”
Work hard he did, and with determination and the help of various mentors, Alex Wiggins, Fiona Campbell and Tom Watkins, he was afforded many opportunities including a month-long internship in the Linklaters Graduate Recruitment team. Daniel made such a good impression that upon graduating in 2017 with a 2:1 in Psychology he secured a role in the Global & Diversity Recruitment team in their London office where he was responsible for the Linklaters diversity recruitment strategy and graduate hiring in Africa, India, Ireland and the USA.
Daniel’s inspiration comes from the father figure he found in his grandfather, Dennis Dyke. “He may not be a celebrity, but in Montego Bay, Jamaica he is well known by most and in my eyes, he is just as famous as any celebrity is.
He was born in Jamaica where he lived a very humble life. I spent my infant years growing up there with him and my grandmother.
We live in a generation where most people have so many desires, we want everything and yet, many of us are ready to sacrifice nothing. He has sacrificed a lot, worked hard for his family, stayed away from his family for many years, but the end result was fruitful.
I’ve always looked at him as a father figure and like any father he has taught me so many life lessons that have and will continue to carry me through life.”
One of those lessons Daniel clearly learnt was giving to others and his determination to see others receive the same opportunities that he has from the Bursary have caused him to run various competitions to raise funds for the Bursary, including the London Marathon.
Today, Daniel works for Linklaters based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, as an Advisor within the Human Resources Team where he is the Graduate & Lateral Recruitment and D&I lead for the Middle East region. He says “None of this would have been possible without the help of the Bursary. In the Amos Bursary, I found an extended family; like-minded boys with the same values and eagerness to achieve. This is something I had very rarely experienced where I grew up in South London. Being part of the Amos Bursary, I have witnessed the normalization of success and over-achievement of young Black men. This is what the Bursary is all about and I’ll forever be in debt to Colleen and all the other fantastic Amos volunteers for the work, time and consistent commitment they’ve put into developing me.”