Ayo Sokale
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 on 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 – 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 are among the leading clients she has worked with as a keynote speaker. She is also working as a Presenter on another major BBC project coming to your screens soon.
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 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.
Testimonials
Ayo was fantastic and the session went down really well. Please extend my thanks to her for such a well presented and well-rounded session, not only touching on race but also neurodiversity a topic we have also presented on earlier in the year.
“Ayo was a brilliant addition to our International Women’s Day celebrations, bringing infectious energy, positivity and great insight. We’d recommend her to anyone looking for a warm, energetic and uplifting speaker for their event!’
“Ayo did an incredible job this morning (even in the face of Zoom sound difficulties) and we’ve all left the call with her positive energy ready to #choosetochallenge!”
“Ayo was an excellent speaker for DVERSTY’s Intentional Engineering series, we were humbled to have her. She represented her experiences as a Chartered Civil Engineer and Councillor extremely well. Delivering her presentation so eloquently, Ayo gave our guests an insight into the DNA of Civil Engineering. We’d like to thank Ayo for encouraging everybody to use their ‘voice’ to challenge injustices seen in their environment.”
“What a wonderful evening you gave us! Who would have thought that sewers could be so 🤔 interesting!”
“Brilliant talk. Ayo was so enthusiastic.”
“What a wonderful speaker! Very dynamic, informative and entertaining.”
“Thank you so much, Ayo and organisers! I feel so inspired now”
“Thank you, Ayo!- a very interesting and thought-provoking presentation”
“Thank you so much, leaving the session feeling so inspired”
The event was hugely successful and Ayo was truly inspirational! Could you please convey our thanks and appreciation to Ayo for a very engaging talk – feedback has been very positive.
Very interesting – such a positive force of nature…People often say that change happens because people ‘stand on the shoulders of giants’. Today, I think we’ve all just met a giant! Ayo’s presentation was definitely another success. Our audience totally loved her. Very inspiring and memorable.
Ayo, I just wanted to say thank you very much for the talk today. Your energy and passion was incredible and you brought some very valuable insights and practical tips, for which we are very grateful. I truly don’t know where you find the time to do it all, but the talk and what you are achieving was a real inspiration both for me personally and I know for the 120+ people listening in.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for your invaluable contribution to our very first virtual IEMA members’ conference for environment and sustainability professionals. We were all so deeply inspired and empowered by what you shared with us, particularly in the area of tackling the sustainability challenge as professionals and for your ongoing commitment to a more sustainable future. We have already received so much positive feedback from our members around how beneficial and motivational they found the day and how brilliant our speakers were. This event would not have been possible without you, so thank you for giving up your precious time to be a part of this exciting inaugural event.
The session earlier today with Ayo was simply amazing I have never come across such an inspirational speaker
Ayo’s BHM session was full of energy and we had lots of interactions from the 40+ audience who were in the online session. The discussions were focused on career progression, especially for People of Colour. The feedback has been really positive and all of us on the call were truly inspired by Ayo.
BBC Bitesize Science Presenter
Showreel
National Trust Virtual Conference
The Delicious Flavour with a Toxic Secret
Ayo Sokale Apprenticeship Webinar
Specialist Speaking Topics
Civil Engineering
Flood and coastal Risk Management
The Environment
Environmental Injustice
Water
Project Management
BIM – Building Information Modelling
Digital Twins
Digital Transformation
Sustainability
UN’s 17 sustainable development goals
Construction Health and Safety
Infrastructure
Diversity & Inclusion
Women in STEM
Women in Engineering
Technology
London’s Underground Sewers
Motivational speaking
