Personal statement

As the Enterprise Coach within the Careers and Employability Team, Jai Tyler plays a key role in supporting the strategy to embed and support students to work for themselves and make a living doing what they love. With a background in diversity and inclusion, Jai has a particular interest in supporting those that need it most. This informs all her work at BSU, centering inclusive practice and focusing on a student led approach to all the enterprise support that the team delivers.  

In this role, Jai is responsible for supporting and encouraging BSU students and graduates who want to work for themselves, be it professionalizing a side-hustle, working on a freelance basis, or starting and scaling a business. Jai offers 1:1 coaching, writes resources such as workbooks and short-form videos, and delivers workshops on key enterprise topics. Jai also oversees the Enterprise Awards (Explore It, Launch It and Grow It) which offer financial grants and wrap-around coaching to students and recent graduates looking to explore, launch or grow a business or freelance practice.

Additionally, Jai is actively involved in shaping the long-term strategy of the team, spearheading new projects to aid students and graduates, such as the development of a freelance agency to connect the student body with employers seeking freelance talent and a writing a new series of online courses that will cover the fundamentals information individuals need to consider and reflect on when starting a new venture.  

Throughout Jai’s career she has been driven by a desire to support those who need it most and demystify the world of working for yourself. She takes an open, warm, and frank approach to coaching and events – often encouraging speakers to tell the ‘real story’ and focus as much on their challenges as their successes. After all, starting a new enterprise is often a process of learning from one's mistakes.

Jai also sees that a key barrier for students and graduates on this journey is a ‘fear of failure’ at the outset, or the challenge of persevering through setbacks. She regularly draws on her own freelance career, sharing her own setbacks and successes and sharing tangible and actionable advice.  

Throughout her career Jai has always run her business alongside part-time employed roles at key organizations. Jai began freelancing during her second year of university, running photography workshops for excluded young people and young offenders through the Real Ideas Organisation.

Jai has now developed over 15 years of experience running their own business, she has offered arts and enterprise workshops and developed inclusive evaluation practices, collaborating with organizations such as The Photography Foundation, Tate Modern, ArtQuest, and Ealing Council. Their specialization in working with young people who have faced systemic challenges or require additional support and encouragement underscores their commitment to inclusive practices. 

A graduate of Falmouth University with a BA in Photography Jai began her (employed) career as an intern at The Photography Centre at Falmouth University. Here she set up a new programme of outreach workshops that offered fun creative sessions to local schools. She then moved to The Photographers' Gallery in London, as Curator of Young People’s Programmes. In this role Jai founded the Develop programme. This programme responded to challenges faced by many of the young people Jai was working with. They wanted to work as photographers, but had no idea how to 'get a foot in the door’ or who to ask. Jai approached private financial donors to support a new series of creative and careers workshops that would help to demystify this career and create new entry level roles in the industry. The Develop programme is still supporting budding photographers to this day.  

After almost 5 years at The Photographer Gallery, Jai moved to University of the Arts London to establish and lead Creative Shift, aiming to shape a diverse creative industry by supporting the students who need it most, whilst also challenging and aiding the creative industries to adopt more inclusive recruitment processes. After taking a break to travel around the world, Jai moved to her current role, at Bath Spa University, developing strategic long-term programmes to aid graduates in freelance work or business creation.  

Currently, Jai is focused on developing a freelance agency aimed at connecting employers with students and graduates, fostering freelance job opportunities, and equipping students with the skills needed for the professional world. Additionally, Jai is creating a series of online courses designed to guide students and graduates through the essentials of self-employment and business setup. These free, accessible courses will assist participants in developing a simple business plan, identifying their value, understanding their potential customers, and navigating the practicalities of running a business. 

Jai's career has been underpinned by a genuine desire to support the people who need it most and create valuable, longstanding change. She wholeheartedly believes that BSU students and graduates can offer real value through their freelance work and businesses. Jai is committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive enterprise community, where every individual can overcome limiting beliefs, get guidance where they need it, and thrive and make a living doing something they love – as she has done.  

Academic qualifications

  • BA Photography, Falmouth University  
  • Foundation Diploma in Art and Design, Falmouth University  
  • Mental Health First Aider, MHFA England. 

Training completed

  • Mentoring: The Next Creative Generation, OYAP 
  • Photography as a Social Practice, Photofusion 
  • Creating Safety: Child Protection & Youth Arts, Lyric Hammersmith 
  • Arts Award Advisor: Bronze & Silver, A New Direction 
  • Introduction to Trans Awareness, Gendered Intelligence 
  • Thinking Teaching, University of The Arts London  
  • Teaching and Mental Health, The Photographers' Gallery 
  • Philosophy for children, SAPERE 
  • Action Learning, A New Direction 
  • Transactional Analysis Psychotherapy. Plymouth Adult Education Provision 
  • Business Start Up, Outset 
  • Writing Learning Outcomes, University of The Arts London. 

Professional memberships

  • Member of Association for Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS)
  • EEUK (Enterprise Educators UK) 
  • The Artists' Network

Other external roles

Jai runs her own business alongside her role at BSU working with many organisations across the educational sector and cultural and creative industries.  

Areas of expertise

  • Inclusive practice  
  • Inclusive recruitment practices  
  • Entrepreneurship  
  • Opening up routes into the creative industries  
  • Student led programme development  
  • Funding opportunities for student and graduate enterprise  
  • Supporting students/grads who want to work on a freelance basis  
  • Developing resources for enterprise or freelance work.