Sola Naomi Cotton

Member of the Dean's List, class of 2023

Community focused

Sola has consistently integrated social responsibility into her student experience, as a proactive Student Ambassador and Student Mentor. As Inclusions and Volunteering Officer for the Management Society she created skills sessions about budgeting and interviews to be delivered to secondary school students in Sheffield. Sola is a regular Unit Helper with her local Brownie Girl Guiding Unit, a longstanding commitment that she began during sixth form and then maintained through University vacation periods during her degree. 

During her time as Publicity Officer for the Women in Business Society, Sola boosted her digital marketing skills whilst contributing to student life, by managing the society’s social media accounts and increasing the engagement rate across their channels by 18%. 

Commercially aware

To improve her employability experience and skills, Sola worked part time as a Sales Advisor in a busy H&M retail store. After noticing that many organisations are aligning themselves with environmental concerns, she undertook a 7-week long online course on ‘Organising for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’ to improve her knowledge and awareness. 

Sola completed a three-day virtual internship in Business, Operations and Marketing and a second internship in Consulting, both with the Bright Network. She was then selected as one of the top 250 Bright Network members to undertake the Women in Leadership Internship.

Before starting her placement year, Sola undertook an Insight Week at NatWest as a Change and Business Solutions Intern, where she had the opportunity to explore different areas of the business and develop her commercial awareness during her first experience of a corporate environment.

Sola undertook her placement year at PwC as Social Mobility Advisor in charge of the North and Scotland schools, arranging for over 250 PwC volunteers to visit schools across the UK. As a result of her high performance, her contract was extended for three months at the end of her placement. Sola then became a PwC Ambassador, alongside her role as Placement Ambassador in the Management School, supporting second year students with their placement decisions and applications. 

Sola brought her connections to PwC back to the University, returning to the Women in Business Society in the role of Vice President and hosting a PwC Application Process Workshop to support fellow society members. 

As a result of the success of her placement year, Sola secured a permanent position at PwC as Management Consultant on completion of her degree.