9 minute read
“It’s a South London Thing.”
“It’s a South London Thing.”
Sandie Okoro OBE explains how her upbringing taught her not to accept 'no'
Growing up in South London used to have a stigma attached to it - contrasted with the kudos of being North London born and bred. Add to that being in a minority group, perhaps from a poor family and the doors to life’s greatest opportunities can be pretty firmly shut in your face.
But it's a South London thing not to accept no for an answer.
Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jnr was born in Croydon and grew up in South Norwood. He grew up with his single parent Ghanaian mum and three siblings. At school he was always on the verge of getting expelled; he was basically written off as a badly behaved boy. Against the odds, he got 13 GCSEs and five A levels. He went on to become one of the world’s most famous music stars. Today he goes by the name Stormzy. Determined that others will not be told no and discouraged, he set up the Stormzy Scholarship programme at Cambridge University. The awards are offered to black students from low income and/or disadvantaged backgrounds. They cover tuition fees and a significant contribution towards living costs for up to four years of study. 36 new Stormzy Scholarships will be awarded to UK black students over next three years, totalling 81 over eight years (2018-26).
It could be said Sandie Okoro is the Stormzy of the legal world. At the top of her profession, Sandie also works endlessly to help others achieve greatness through their own merits irrespective of their race, gender or class. Sandie may not be a household name or a rapper but, just like her South London neighbour, she is one not to take no for an answer even when, on paper, everything was against her.
Sandie grew up in Balham with her Nigerian father and Trinidadian mother. At nine, she became pretty obsessed with a legal TV series called ‘Crown Court’ and it totally captured her imagination.
“I wanted to be in that courtroom - probably as the judge.”
Her schoolteacher informed her that this was not possible as little black girls from Balham did not become judges. This had the effect of spurring Sandie on rather than deterring her. Fortunately, whilst her primary school may have not been the most supportive, nothing could have been further from the truth when it came to Sandie’s family and her secondary school.
Sandie’s mum and dad - as with most immigrant parentsprioritised education above all else and, her mum in particular, encouraged her daughter to have her own career and to never depend on a man for money, a way of thinking that was somewhat atypical of the time.
“A legal career did not feel like I was reaching for the stars but at the same time it did not seem easily achievable. At the time I was growing up, women, especially women of colour, were not seen as role models for success. There were not that many women at the top of the legal profession - but there were a lot of women leaders in the world. There was a lot of change happening; people were fighting to stop apartheid, there were moves towards equal pay. Yes, it was a traditional time but it was embarking on a moment of transformation.”
“I think the Arts hold up a mirror to society”
Sandie’s secondary school was an all-girls one where they were taught that as girls they could do anything they wanted to do. And so Sandie did.
She studied Law and Politics at the University of Birmingham (at the same time as Nazir Afzal - it was obviously a good year for future eminent lawyers). After Bar School, Sandie was admitted as a barrister but quickly realised she did not come from the “right kind of background” that would allow her to carry on at the Bar so she requalified as a solicitor. This coincided with the 1986 ‘Big Bang’ in the City and she got a job as an in-house lawyer at Schroders working in Asset Management. The City and the finance sectormore through circumstance than choice - became the backdrop of her working life.
To list her achievements would take up more space than this entire article but the condensed highlights include; her current day job as Group General Counsel at Standard Chartered. Before this, Sandie was General Counsel and Senior Vice President, and Vice President for Compliance, at the World Bank Group. She is an Honorary Bencher of Middle Temple and has been named one of the Upstanding 100 Leading Ethnic Minority Executives (2016), Top 20 Global General Counsel (2019) by the Financial Times and was recognised as Britain’s 5th most influential person of African and African Caribbean heritage by Powerlist (2018). She runs marathons and is a mum of two. She has also just been honoured with an OBE for her contribution to diversity in international finance. Interestingly when asked what she considers her greatest achievement to be so far, it is not from the list above that she talks.
“I have done a lot of ad hoc mentoring, talking to young lawyers who need some guidance and direction. Watching the successes they have had has given me much more pleasure than any of my own successes. The power to inspire is something very special”. Sandie obviously inspires. But who in her life was her inspiration?
“Without doubt, my mum. She could be challenging but she had so much energy. She never allowed me to think there was anything I could not do. Self-doubt was not an option. She was forward thinking, had her own career - and wanted that for me. Even though we did not have much money when I was growing up, somehow my mum always found money for me to go on the school trips, the plays - she never wanted to hold me back from experiencing an adventure. I learned my resilience from her”.
Sandie’s biggest passion is the Arts (she used to be on the board of the Royal Shakespeare Company and is now a Governor)particularly theatre, literature and television. Her theatre buddy is her godson and she says her favourite play from 2023 was ‘The Motive and the Cue’ the story of John Gielgud directing Richard Burton in Hamlet. Once a dancer herself (she actually momentarily contemplated a career in modern dance), anything to do with culture is close to her heart.
Sandie believes culture plays a huge part in changing our world.
“I think the Arts hold up a mirror to society. They move so much along. They can highlight and bring subjects to the fore and effect societal change. They are crucial to our hearts and our souls and our joy. Without them we would be lost.”
“I wanted to be in that courtroom probably as the judge”
Combining her love of the Arts with her desire to effect significant change, Sandie is the Chair of WOW (Women of the World) an organisation set up by Jude Kelly who used to be the artistic director of the South Bank Centre in London. Originally, Sandie was asked to be a panellist talking about the politics of black hair - but stayed closely involved as the concept of promoting women’s rights through the Arts was one that resonated with her. Timing meant she had to stay at arm’s length but when she returned to the UK after a stint in Washington working for the World Bank, the stars aligned and she took up the post of Chair.
Sandie says that while we have come a long way in terms of equality in our profession and in the world more generally, there is still a long way to go - and she strives to play some part in effecting this.
“I am very concerned about the level of gender abuse and domestic violence - which now affect one in three women worldwide, according to a survey conducted by the World Health Organisation*. No matter what success we gain, if we do not make the world a safer place for women we can never properly hold a seat at the table. We will never reach our potential across the world. We do not need a hand up or a handout - what we do need is to get rid of the obstacles in our way. We can do the rest ourselves”.
Just as Sandie has defied preconceptions all her life, she continues to do so in the sectors she has chosen to work in. Like it or not, top brass in both law and finance tend to be male, white, public school, Oxbridge and, often conservative and somewhat unapproachable. The polar opposite of the warm, welcoming, enthusiastic, effusive and funny lady I had the privilege to meet. Her clothes are flamboyant, colourful, and beautiful. She is obviously a woman who loves fashion but very much has her own style. She doesn't just tweet about the law, or finance or even changing the world but about her love of Tina Turner, The Specials, Peaky Blinders and how her dad was a dead ringer for Sidney Poitier. Sandie is confident and very real - to use that overused word - authentic.
If South London had its own language and you asked Google translate its word for ‘no’, it would be ‘YES!’. Despite everything Sandie has achieved thus far, she still has not fulfilled that childhood dream of becoming a judge. I have no doubt that if she still wants it, it will happen. ■
*https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-againstwomen
By Maroulla Paul
Maroulla is a writer of short stories, a food and wine critic as well as a legal journalist.
