Sarah Chew

left 1995

In 2003 I set up an international theatre development organisation, Critical Mass, with a bursary from Cove Park Foundation. Inspired by my role as production director at the newly-restored Municipal Opera House in Saigon (Vietnam), I became interested in work with a more global vision and how the lessons learned from international collaborations can fuel work to promote cultural inclusion in the UK. These days I juggle the conventional career of a young UK theatre director with running a company whose work has taken me to the national theatres of Uganda, Israel and Palestine and learning new skills such as marketing, fund-raising and financial management.

Karen Jones

left 1983

As a teenager, a career as a flautist opened up for me after my success in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition and it had been my childhood dream to play professionally in a symphony orchestra. Privately, however, I also harboured a desire to have a family. These two aspirations don’t necessarily go hand in hand but I simply assumed that I would have the life I wished for (how St Paul's of me!). And indeed, as well as raising two children, I'm managing to have the varied and high-profile career I wanted – I've played solo at Carnegie Hall with Pierre Boulez and the London Symphony Orchestra, recorded the soundtracks to Harry Potter films for John Williams at Abbey Road studios and made my own solo albums. The biggest challenge is to leave the house with my head full of shopping lists, football boots and Brownies and then turn up at a concert hall or studio, sit on the hot seat and sound like I’ve been warming up all morning.

Charlotte Rusby

left 1995

I left St Paul's in 1995 and graduated with a BA in biochemistry from Cambridge in 1998. Tired of learning by rote and not that enthused by the idea of a PhD, I looked for a job related to my main hobby – classical music – and in 1999 started work for one of the major international artist agencies, Harrison Parrott Ltd. As an assistant artist manager I worked on a portfolio of artists, project managed several chamber music series and heard some outstanding London concerts. Eventually concluding that I missed science and the scientific way of thinking, I returned to academia in 2003 and took up a PhD position in biophysics at the MRC Centre for Protein Engineering, working on the self-assembly of protein molecules (protein folding). In 2008, I moved a little closer towards biology and am currently working as a postdoc at the Institute of Cancer Research on the structure and regulation of proteins involved in mitotic cell division.

Bonnie Chu

left 2001

I left SPGS in 2001 and went straight off to university to commence the six-year process of qualifying as a registered architect. I wanted to challenge my perceptions about architecture and go to an institution that shared my opinion that architecture is not just about buildings, so I have been at the Architectural Association since 2005. I've since researched the impact of the Kings Cross urban development on local communities by working with local youth groups, I've been able to combine architecture with development work in Thailand. As a member of the national architecture students' association ARCHAOS I've also led a campaign for all architecture students to be appropriately remunerated in the practices they work for.

Samantha Musoke (née Lancaster)

left 1992

It was music that first brought me to Kampala in 1997. I left St Paul’s in 1992 and read natural sciences with an organ scholarship at Christ’s College, Cambridge. With no idea what to do next, I took the opportunity to volunteer on a building project in rural Tanzania for three months. Afterwards, I accepted a friend's invitation to give an organ recital and master class in Kampala. There's a huge need for accountants in Africa and an old missionary friend here advised me to train as one. It wasn’t remotely what I had in mind but three and a half years later I was qualified and back in Uganda. I now work as a financial consultant and trainer – and I love it. All my spare time is devoted to being treasurer of Kampala Music School, which was founded in 2001 and has been nurturing amazing local talent and enthusiasm. My husband, Fred, is the head of keyboard studies.