Magazine's most influential honour took educator by 'complete surprise'

Ellisha Soanes, who lives on the outskirts of Ipswich, is the head of diversity for West Suffolk College, Suffolk One and Abbeygate Sixth Form.

She discovered she'd been recognised by the magazine by 'complete surprise' while flicking through the article and said: "Glamour was my go-to magazine growing up - I was really shocked to see myself."

Ellisha's students have bought her copies of her name in print and she added: "It's a great honour and of all the achievements to my name, I think this is the biggest one."

Last year, she was awarded the Association of Colleges' President's Award for becoming the first lecturer in the country to teach the true width and depth of Black history across the year.

She added: "I've always modelled my ethos on Nelson Mandela's belief 'Education is the most powerful weapon to change the world.'"

As well as leading on equality, diversity and inclusion for three Suffolk colleges, Ellisha leads mentoring groups and is the co-director of social enterprise Aspire Black Suffolk.

Recently, the group released three versions of a new interactive history book - entitled 'Elimu - The Little Book of Knowledge' - which tells untold stories from Suffolk's Black community.

Their exhibition of costumes from Marvel Studios' Black Panther has reopened and they'll be offering 100 young people the experience of playing with the African drummers involved in the production of the movie.

"We can see from the work that we've done that recognising Black history is starting to become the norm," said Ellisha.

"Particularly in 'sleepy Suffolk', I would argue that we've woken up actually."

Ellisha wanted to thank her fellow co-directors of Aspire Black Suffolk for their work in "inspiring each other and their communities".

"I'm always learning, it's non-stop and I love it," she added.

"I'll definitely be continuing to campaign for Black history to be taught across the year."