Ashley John-Baptiste

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Ashley John-Baptiste (born 1990) is a BBC broadcast journalist and presenter. [1]

Contents

Childhood and education

Baptiste was born in 1990 in Southwark, South London. [2] From the age of two until he was 18, he grew up in four foster families and spent two years in a residential care home. [3] [4]

After attending three different primary schools, his secondary education was at Bacon's College, a comprehensive school in Rotherhithe with a higher than average proportion of pupils from troubled backgrounds. [5] He was suspended several times, and had already been issued a final warning when the opportunity arose to visit a summer school organised by the Sutton Trust at Cambridge University. [6] This was when he realised that he would have to take responsibility for himself and that he had the potential to succeed. [7] [8]

With the encouragement of his then foster parents and his MP, in 2008 he won a place at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, to read history, graduating in 2011 with an upper second. [9] [2] [10] During this time, he mentored other students from similar backgrounds to his own. [11]

Career

Baptiste was a member of the band The Risk. In 2011, he quit the finals of ITV's X Factor to pursue a career in the media, and soon after obtained a place on the BBC creative access scheme [12] and began working as a broadcast journalist. [1]

From 2015 to 2018 he presented documentaries for the Victoria Derbyshire programme about the care system, children with facial deformities, and the Grenfell Tower fire, [1] [23] [12] and has also made original documentary films on interfaith foster care and bullying. [20]

He is currently an RTS-nominated BBC broadcast journalist and Digital Senior Reporter for BBC News. [20]

He is an ambassador for The Fostering Network, a fostering charity.[ citation needed ]

He is the founder of Be Inspired, an organisation working in collaboration with Southwark Council, and Care Leaver Covenant, which have the aim of connecting care-experienced young people with each other and help them achieve their aspirations. [24] [25] [ better source needed ]

Awards

In 2018 Baptiste was shortlisted for the Royal Television Society's Young Talent Of The Year Award. [1]

Personal life

Baptiste met his birth mother, who was a care leaver herself, at the age of 10 for the first time since going into care. [26] [6] He has never met his birth father. In his mid-20s, in spite of having been told by social workers that he was an only child, he found out for the first time that he had four older half-brothers on his father's side, one of whom he has met. [22] [27]

At the age of 14, his St Lucian foster mother took him to a Salvation Army church where he became involved in the youth group. This led to a moment in his faith journey when he prayed, "If you are real, I want you to be my Father". [28] He credits his mindset of having potential and his sense of self-worth to having grown up in an environment where faith was very important. [7]

Baptiste sings and plays the piano. He considers that music-making has been crucial to his personal development and well-being. [28]

He is married to Joanna John-Baptiste, a maths teacher. The couple have two daughters, born in 2020 and 2022. [29]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Furn, Daniel (6 December 2019). "Who is new The One Show presenter Ashley-John Baptiste?". Radio Times. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  2. 1 2 "Fitzwilliam's X Factor ex-student". www.fitz.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  3. 1 2 "From care to Cambridge: Ashley John-Baptiste inspires students at Havering College of Further and Higher Education". PRWeb. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  4. ↑ "Foster care: Meeting the boy who lived at 35 addresses". BBC News. 23 July 2012.
  5. ↑ "Ashley John-Baptiste announced as first RTS Bursary Schemes ambassador - Bacon's College". www.baconscollege.co.uk. Archived from the original on 13 August 2020.
  6. 1 2 Ashley John-Baptiste interview - music by Jack Cook, 6 January 2015, retrieved 29 January 2022
  7. 1 2 Raw, Gemma. "Exclusive interview with Ashley John Baptiste". Sanctuary Personnel. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  8. ↑ "You and Yours - X Factor's Ashley John-Baptiste - Why I Quit - BBC Sounds". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  9. ↑ "Foster care: Meeting the boy who lived at 35 addresses". BBC News. 23 July 2012. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  10. ↑ John-Baptiste, Ashley (6 October 2020). "Being black at Cambridge, I had some good times, but I struggled to feel I belonged". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  11. ↑ "On being black at Cambridge". University of Cambridge. 2 October 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  12. 1 2 "What makes a great journalist with Ashley John-Baptiste - BBC Young Reporter". 18 December 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2022– via YouTube.
  13. ↑ "BBC Three - Care Home Kids: Looking for Love". BBC. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  14. ↑ "Singer provides young people of South Tyneside with the X Factor - South Tyneside Council". www.southtyneside.gov.uk. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  15. ↑ John-Baptiste, Ashley (11 July 2018). "Ashley John-Baptiste takes the temperature in Russia". Television Magazine. Royal Television Society. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  16. ↑ "For Love or Money | Apple TV". Apple TV. 3 November 2019.
  17. ↑ "The Mangrove Nine". BBC News. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  18. ↑ "BBC Two - Stories of Us". BBC. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  19. ↑ "BBC World News - Being Black at Cambridge". BBC. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  20. 1 2 3 "Ashley John-Baptiste announced as the first ambassador for the RTS bursary schemes". Royal Television Society. 3 June 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  21. ↑ "Split Up In Care - Life Without Siblings". 26 January 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  22. 1 2 John-Baptiste, Ashley (26 January 2022). "'I grew up in care alone - why did no-one tell me I had siblings?'". BBC News. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  23. ↑ "Meet...Ashley John-Baptiste". Royal Television Society. 29 June 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  24. ↑ "Be Inspired – An inspiring and entertaining virtual experience for care experienced young people across the UK" . Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  25. ↑ Campbell, Joel (9 July 2021). "Inspiring care experienced young people". Voice Online . Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  26. ↑ "BBC The One Show 14/01/2019 Ashley John-Baptiste". YouTube . 23 March 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  27. ↑ John-Baptiste, Ashley (26 January 2022). "A moment that changed me: a stranger contacted me – to say he was my brother". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  28. 1 2 "The Sunday Hour - Ashley John-Baptiste - BBC Sounds". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  29. ↑ Hannam, Laura (4 May 2021). "Ashley John-Baptiste in for Love or Money: How old is he? When was he on X Factor?". Entertainment Daily. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
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