Yanmife explores his future at the BBC

An Instagram post during last year’s Freshers’ Week has led to an opportunity one University of Sunderland student never expected – a summer internship with the BBC.

Going into his second year studying Media Production, Yanmife Oyekan joined 10,000 Black Interns, a UK-wide programme that provides paid internship opportunities for Black university students and recent graduates across a range of industries. He spent his placement with the Operations team at BBC Cymru Wales.

From TV and radio to online content, news and post-production, the experience gave Yanmife the chance to explore the different roles involved in getting content in front of audiences and even see some of his own work broadcast on the BBC.

Yanmife, 19, said: “I actually found out about the 10,000 Black Interns programme pretty randomly on Instagram around the time I had just started university. I remember it was during Freshers’ Week, and I just decided to apply.

“At the time, I didn’t really have any big expectations. I’m honestly someone who tends to apply for opportunities I come across, even if I don’t have all the experience they’re asking for, so I just thought, why not?”

After initially being told his application wouldn’t be progressing, Yanmife was contacted several months later about an interview with the BBC.

“I started preparing straight away, looking up everything I could about the programme, going on LinkedIn to find people who had done it in past years and reading about their experiences.

“With that, I just tried to get a better understanding of what to expect and how to prepare myself. Later that evening I found out I had got it.”

During his time with the BBC, Yanmife was able to move between different teams and get a much broader view of how a major broadcaster operates.

“Rather than being focused on just one area, I got to move around different teams and see how everything works together behind the scenes.

“I got hands-on experience with different parts of the production and broadcast process, including post-production and news editing.”

The scale of the organisation was one of the things that surprised him most.

“There was one day where I was with a team and they had loads of different screens in front of them showing different programmes. I asked them what they did and they basically said, ‘We watch TV.’ They were monitoring the different broadcasts and making sure nothing goes wrong.

“It was funny, but it also made me realise there are so many roles within the industry that you don’t even know exist until you see them for yourself.”

For Yanmife, working with the news team was a highlight, particularly the opportunity to see a live broadcast come together.

“It was really interesting seeing how everything comes together and then going into the gallery and watching the news go out live.

“There were so many things I had never really thought about before. I never knew there was a news style guide, for example, and getting to understand why certain things are done in a particular way gave me a completely different perspective.”

He even saw his own work reach BBC audiences, “there was a story that I edited, and the edit was used for the lunchtime news. Seeing something I had worked on actually go out on the main BBC broadcast was such a crazy feeling.

“I also worked on an article that appeared on the BBC website and a social media edit that went onto Instagram and the TikTok page. So, seeing my works appear on the main BBC platforms was just a proud moment for me.”

The experience also gave Yanmife a chance to meet other Black students and professionals working across the industry.

“Seeing people from similar backgrounds working in different areas of the industry showed me that there are more opportunities available than I initially thought. I think programmes like 10,000 Black Interns give people from underrepresented backgrounds access to opportunities that can sometimes be difficult to find on their own.

“It also helps improve representation within the industry by giving people the experience and confidence to see themselves building a career in these spaces.

"There’s a phrase that says, “You can only dream as far as you have seen”, and I think that really sums up my experience. Seeing these things has definitely made me dream bigger and think about more possibilities for my own career."

Yanmife, who is from Denbighshire in Wales, has this advice for other students thinking about applying for opportunities: “apply for any opportunity you see, even if you don’t think you have every single bit of experience they’re asking for.

“Getting into a real working environment lets you see how experienced professionals actually work, and it also helps you figure out what you like and what you might not see yourself doing in the future.

“You never really know what you’re going to get from an opportunity until you apply, so I’d definitely encourage people to just go for it.

“Overall, I’m really grateful for this experience as it has given me a much clearer idea of what I want from my career.”

For more information on studying Media Production at the University of Sunderland, click here.