UCL Laws graduate and Intellectual Property lawyer Sharon Benning-Prince is using her voice to fight for social justice, tackling domestic violence, human trafficking, and unethical supply chains.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sharon Benning-Prince was taking on the fashion industry, using her fierce advocacy skills to fight for more transparent supply chains.
This was more than a COVID side-hustle. Sharon was determined to make the Ready-Made Garment industry more ethical, founding CIC JusticeInFashion as a response to an exploited female work force and increased gender inequalities during the pandemic.
I'd previously had the privilege of working with survivors of the Rana Plaza Collapse in Bangladesh on a compensation scheme, so JusticeinFashion felt like the logical next step.
All in a day’s work for Sharon, whose life’s passion, when she’s away from her corporate clients, is her pro-bono work in anti-trafficking, domestic violence and female empowerment. She has been a trailblazer in this space since 2008, working in collaboration with social justice organisations like the Medaille Trust and International Justice Mission and supporting policy change to better serve survivors of abuse.
Sharon grew up in Southampton, the daughter of south Asian parents who believed in the power of a well-rounded education. They encouraged her both academically and creatively, sending her to drama, dance and elocution lessons, “I was quite the project,” she quips.
These experiences helped her develop her voice. She recalls entering a competition for a role on the Radio Asia Network, and after making it to the final three, lost out, being told her voice was too ‘Jazz FM’. She decided then to use her voice to fight for others, a skill she honed at law school at Queen Mary & Westfield and later, at UCL, where she completed a masters in IP law under Professor Dame Hazel Genn.
She was drawn to UCL’s cosmopolitan community and its core values of inclusion, integrity, respect, and care. These values kept her coming back to UCL for alumni events, and she continues to mentor Laws students.
Politically we are being moved into a trajectory that doesn’t feel comfortable for me personally. We are not caring and respectful enough of one another. We don't give each other space to be our authentic selves. But when I come back to UCL, I have hope. There is such dignity here as an institution.
Between her corporate and pro-bono work, she still makes time for fun, moonlighting as a Zumba teacher, a reiki practitioner and, years after that initial rejection, as a community radio presenter.
You know, I say to my children life is pretty hard, but you've got to find the silly amongst the serious. I see the most horrific things in my work, and so these side quests allow me to breathe out and enjoy the time I have.
For Sharon, experiencing all life has to offer is what gives her the courage to step outside of her comfort zone and create real and lasting change.
