Chrystalle Margallo Chrystalle: The Real London

I moved to the UK from the Philippines when I was around seven years old. It was a big culture shock. The curriculum didn't reflect me. The college said, “with your grades, I doubt that you are going to get into university”. When I got my final grades, I got two unconditional offers from London Met. I was really happy – I could make my family proud. And I could finally achieve my dreams.

London Met had a really great community online. That's what I was looking for. I grew up in a community that wasn't diverse at all. I found myself being othered every single day. My first day here was really nerve-wracking! I remember walking into The Rocket and meeting different people. How will I know where my classes are? But gradually, I started to feel that this is somewhere that I want to be. 

This community feels like family – I've never felt so at home. London Met is inclusive, it's supportive, it's transparent and they will support you in achieving your goals and your degree in whatever way they can.

My grandmother told me that you have to be a great diplomat. She was the first female Vice-Chancellor of one of the Philippines’ universities. She founded the graduate school – she's always been my hero. She told me that it's so important to change the lives and minds of young people because they're the future. There are so many social justice issues that we see every single day. That's something I want to tackle. 

I discovered my course was about understanding people and conflict resolution. I started to understand that this was something I wanted to go into. With my SU job, I understood that I could have a career in higher education because I was actually good at putting through policies, understanding what students need and ensuring that they're supported.

I'm now the Centre for Equity and Inclusion's Fair Outcomes Projects Officer at London Met. I support different projects to help achieve the University's KPIs around continuation and building an inclusive community. Recently I've created the Inclusion Calendar, which helps students immerse themselves in and learn from different cultures, faiths and religions.

The Centre’s work is really important – I grew up in an institution where they didn't support students of colour. That's something that I want to see supported in different institutions in the future. Hopefully the Centre’s work will inspire others. 

For me, it's so important to help people of colour break barriers, because you see so many injustices in the world today where students, staff and colleagues are not given opportunities or supported.

My proudest moment was definitely when I was in the library writing my dissertation. Just understanding and having that kind of knowledge in your head, because you've learned so many things. When I was SU President, it was implementing a five-day extension to help students if they have an emergency.

"London Met – it doesn't just provide you with academic lessons. It also teaches you life lessons and about different cultures. I think it's so important to go to a university in London because you get to learn from other people too – we're all from different walks of life."

My lecturers were really supportive, helpful and inspiring. I had one of the best. He was always there for me, even at weekends, because he knew I was going through something, and he really wanted me to succeed.  

I’m a big fan of Formula One, so I love karting. It's a good way for me to blow off some steam when I have a lot of work. When I'm in that go-kart, I'm just full focus. It's very similar to the focus I feel when I'm doing my work. It's quite refreshing to have adrenaline and focus at the same time.  

I hope my future's going to lead me one day to becoming a vice-chancellor of London Met or a different institution to help students be in a more inclusive community or study in a more inclusive classroom. I want to be that vice-chancellor who goes into different universities and does what Lynn and Zainab are doing right now. 

I hope to inspire all women of colour that are going through the same thing as I did – being marginalised. I hope to inspire those students that there is an institution that's going to support you – London Met.