Khushi leaves College with First-Class Honours degree and a CV bulging with industry experience

Khushi, 21, capitalised on the expert tuition available on our Foundation and BA (Hons) Top-up degrees courses – a standard of teaching that has spurned Oscar, Emmy and Bafta winners over the past two years.

She took advantage, too, of the theatrical opportunities available to our Higher Education students in York – a city long renowned for its love of the arts.

A skilled wig maker, Khushi enjoyed showcasing and developing her talents at the York Theatre Royal and Grand Opera House for shows such as The Little Mermaid, Joseph & His Technicolor Dreamcoat, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Sweeney Todd and Young Frankenstein.

She secured the chance to expand her portfolio through York College connections, her networking enthusiasm and a drive to gain as much practical experience in the profession as possible – even if that meant a three-and-a-half hour round commute by train from her home in Manchester.

“My first theatre production was Sweeney Todd and I worked with an alumni who graduated from York College,” Khushi explained. “I mainly worked on the wigs and, from there, I started making connections with more people and I’ve done a bit of film and TV with wigs as well.

“For The Little Mermaid, there was a lot of creativity with the shoot for the theatre production at York Theatre Royal. The lead make-up artist said she wanted me to just go ahead and do my own little thing, so I was guiding the promotional shoot and we gave Ariel a red wig and put some scales on her.

“We also worked on King Triton, so it was nice just to let all my creative freedom go. I did York Fashion Week and Manchester Fashion Week, too, when I was at College.

“I got paid for some of the work, but I was also happy to work voluntarily during my studies and do anything that could help get my name out there. It also gave me the confidence of knowing that I can do it now and I’m excited to see where that will take me one day.”

Khushi added that anybody wanting to pursue a career in media make-up, special effects and hair design should not shy away from self-promotion with social media offering a great platform to advertise your work. 

“I did a Scare Festival in Manchester because my old college tutor in Manchester contacted me for it,” Khushi said. “She told me she’d seen my work everywhere!

“We had to do loads of prosthetic work and I had to make a fake brain as well, which was kind of creepy but quite cool!”

Khushi generally travelled into College from Lancashire twice a week during her studies but admitted she was in “five days some weeks” as she approached the end of her degree and perfected a final project that saw her truly push boundaries creatively. 

“I covered Islamophobia which was a difficult topic for me as a Muslim, but I tried to produce four images that really showed the message I wanted to portray, without hurting anybody else,” she declared. “That was quite hard to navigate but, with the support of the tutors, I felt I could go ahead with it.

“I felt like I learned a lot during my final year and I received a lot of guidance and support with whatever I was doing.” 

Having completed both her Foundation and BA (Hons) Top-up degrees at College, Khushi also enjoyed two Graduation ceremonies at York Minster in consecutive years.

Along with celebrating her First-Class Honours result, meanwhile, her family saw Khushi presented with the York School of Art Outstanding Achievement Award in the world-famous cathedral.

“It was amazing to graduate again,” Khushi confessed. “It felt like a big achievement to have finally completed the degree, got a First and, then, receive the award.

“Everyone in the classroom was telling me I’d get a First, but I didn’t feel as confident and the end of the course was quite stressful but, as soon as I opened up my grades, I started crying.

“Then, I called my mum and she started crying, too! That day was amazing and I was on a high.

“My grandma came to the second graduation. She wanted to come the year before, but just couldn’t.

“She’s 77 and it’s the first graduation she’s ever been to. She definitely wasn’t going to miss this one!”

To learn more about our Foundation Degree in Media Make-up, Special Effects and Hair Design, please click here

For more details on our BA (Hons) Media Make-up, Special Effects and Hair Design Top-up degree, visit here

Information on all of York College's University Centre courses can be found here

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