Inspirational M&S Plymouth colleague nominated for national award

Merry Selemun, customer assistant at Marks & Spencer in Plymouth, has been nominated for the Breakthrough Star Award at the Movement to Work Youth Employability Awards 2022.

The Movement to Work Youth Breakthrough Star Award celebrates a recent graduate from a Movement to Work placement who has shown great potential at the start of their career and continues to show progression and ambition.

Nominee Merry, 22, moved to the UK only 5 years ago having fled both Eritrea and Sudan as a refugee. After losing her parents during the war in Eritrea at such a young age, Merry moved to Sudan where she lived with her grandmother and grew up as a carer for her brother. Incredibly determined, when Merry arrived in the UK, she sought opportunities to better herself and gain new skills, however as she struggled to find a job in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Merry was also unable to access formal study programmes.

All that changed when Merry secured a placement with M&S Plymouth on the Kickstart programme. Despite having minimal work experience and no retail experience, Merry made an instant impression at the store. The placement allowed her to realise her passion not only for business, but for leadership and working with others too. Eventually, leading to an application to Plymouth University to study Business Leadership & Management.

Merry is constantly looking to learn and go above and beyond, recently joining the M&S Step into Stem programme where she will be working towards a team support manager role. She has also recently taken on the task of leading sales in the Plymouth store’s Clothing & Home department. 

Commenting on her nomination, Merry Selemun, Customer Assistant at M&S Plymouth said: “M&S has been very good to me, giving me the chance to explore my passions and build new skills in different departments. I always like to say that failure helps us improve and the more problems you encounter, the more solutions you will find. I have learned to be more confident and persistent in my actions and I’m more confident now than I was before I joined the Kickstart programme. I’m really excited to be nominated for the Breakthrough Star Award and can’t wait to see what the future holds for me!”

David Lynch, Store Manager, M&S Plymouth said: “Merry is an inspiration and an asset to the team here at M&S Plymouth. Against the odds, she’s already achieved so much in her life, and she fully deserves her nomination for this award. It’s been amazing to see Merry realise her ambitions over the past year, and we are excited to support her as she begins her studies at university and continues her career progression at M&S.”

The awards will be taking place on 28th March at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane, London. As well as Merry’s nomination,M&S is also nominated for Employer of the Year Award. The Employer of the Year Award recognizes employers who have had a significant impact on young people in the UK and have been innovative in supporting them into employment during the COVID-19 outbreak, via the Movement to Work scheme.

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To find out more about working for M&S, and the roles and training available, visit www.jobs.marksandspencer.com