Ayo Sokale – Civil engineer, BBC Presenter, Former Deputy Mayor of Reading, Sustainability Speaker, Motivational Speaker, STEM Speaker, Neurodiversity Speaker

BBC Presenter, Civil Engineer and a leading keynote speaker in her field – Ayo Sokale  possesses an array of talents and expertise, working at the cutting edge of the scientific, environmental and media landscape. 

A generation of young people have grown up following Ayo at the BBC – most prominently as the co-presenter on CBeebies of Get Set Galactic – an entertaining, science-based immersive gameshow, exploring themes from gravity and the Solar System to pollination, energy and much more and showcasing her love of working with children and sharing the joys of scientific learning, exploration and experimentation. Ayo has presented for BBC Reel and BBC Bitesize, where she’s covered the first principles on an array of scientific subjects from the Physics to Design. She also works as TV expert on STEM issues – including documentaries for the likes of the Smithsonian, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, Yesterday TV and Channel 5 – and counts Shell, Heineken, Blue Yonder, the NHS and Thames Water among the leading clients she has worked with as a keynote speaker.

Ayo is a Chartered Civil Engineer and Project Team Manager for the Environment Agency in Eastern England and is a popular Keynote Speaker on the environment and sustainability. She was previously a project manager and BIM lead, pushing for innovative, efficient and sustainable delivery of flood and coastal risk management schemes. Ayo was a Graduate Civil Engineer on the Environment Agency’s training scheme where she undertook internal and external placements which enabled her to sign off her ICE training agreement in 2.5 years and achieve CEng in 3 years. A former Deputy Mayor of Reading, she campaigned tirelessly on sustainability issues in the area.

Ayo was selected as one of Professor Lord Robert Mair’s Future Leaders for his year as President of the ICE. She is one of the ICE’s Water Superheroes aptly named Eco Warrior (previously Angel) and is an excellent Motivational Speaker and Inspirational Speaker, particularly when it comes to inspiring young people to pursue STEM subjects. Ayo is a STEM ambassador and mentor, encouraging others to take up careers in Civil Engineering. She was also nominated for the Top 50 Women in Engineering under 35 initiative run by The Telegraph in partnership with The Women’s Engineering Society and is a popular Diversity and Inclusion Speaker, particularly during black History Month.

In recent years, Ayo has felt more able to talk about being on the autism spectrum. She has a diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome and is an empathetic and inspirational keynote speaker on neurodiversity, mental health challenges and how to overcome them. She is writing her first book in the field of self development to support these endeavours. 

Ayo loves the performing arts, fitness, has a passion for  supporting great causes and has raised funds for a number of charities, using her platform as a beauty queen and finalist for Miss Galaxy England, Miss Earth and Miss Great Britain.

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Please see Ayo’s latest Showreel

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Ayo’s Past Presenting Work

Documentaries

Ayo features on the Podcast series, Moisturise your Elbows in the following episodes:

Season 2 – Episode 13 -‘Authenticity vs Disclosure’

Season 1 – Episode 8 – ‘Our school selves’ 

Season 1 – Episode 5 – ‘Growing old disgraceful’

YouTube

Ayo joins Dr. Shini Somara on her podcast and Youtube series eSTEAMd on women in STEAM industries. Listen to Ayo on Dr. Shini Somara podcast – Innervation in season 2 episode 15:

Ayo features on Engineer Success Podcast – Profile Editions:

Ayo features on the Podcast series, Engineering Success:

Episode 027

Ayo features on the You Unleashed with Femi Akinyemi:

Living Life on purpose with Ayo Sokale

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