Community Champion and Events Entrepreneur Scoops Prestigious City Award

Events entrepreneur, Tru Powell, was last night awarded the coveted title of Birmingham Young Professional of the Year (BYPY) in the Marketing and Communications category.

Tru is the Director of Birmingham based Event Management Company, Alternative Events & Weddings. He beat off stiff competition to win his category which included Sunny Gill from Silver Mountain and Beth Sadler from Aston Business School.

The judges of the Awards, which is now in its 18^th year, said they were impressed by Tru’s inspiring story and his passion for enterprise which enabled him to overcome adversity. Tru was born in Birmingham and raised in a single parent household in Newtown along with his six siblings. Despite his challenging start, from an early age he developed a passion for enterprise, the arts and events.

As the founder of Alternative Events, Tru has used his expertise to build a solid reputation for delivering high quality events for corporate clients across the city. However, he has not forgotten his humble beginnings and as director of the highly revered Aston Performing Arts Academy, he has been instrumental in improving the life chances of hundreds of disadvantaged youth from the inner city. Tru’s experience in event management and business has led to him being recently appointed as a visiting lecturer at University College Birmingham teaching Event Management and Business Studies.

Commenting on his award win Tru said: “I have worked tremendously hard on my craft and I am truly honored that the judges saw something in me. My goal is to inspire the next generation and winning such a prestigious award will only support me in my mission.”

Further demonstrating his passion for youth, he went on to say: “This award is bigger than me. It is telling young people from disadvantaged backgrounds like myself, that if you put your mind to something, you can achieve it despite your circumstance. I am grateful to BYPY for providing such a platform where I am able to inspire the next generation.”

The BYPY ceremony was held at the prestigious ICC last night and hosted by TV personality Rick Edwards. More than 1000 guests were in attendance including some of the regions most talented young professionals. Other award winners on the night included;

Finance: Laura Thursfield – Mazars LLP (overall winner)

HR, Recruitment & Training: Gishan Abeyratne – BCL Legal

Legal: Chrissie Wolfe – Irwin Mitchell LLP

Marketing & Comms: Truchio Powell – The Alternative Events Company

Property & Construction: Kuli Bajwa – RPS Consulting Services Limited

Technology: Sarah Mullett – Legal and General

For pictures of the awards from Edwin Ladd, the official photographer please click here: BYPY Images