A teacher for life

Niomi Daley, 34, is an award-winning British singer-songwriter and rapper who performs under the name Ms Dynamite. In 1978, Celia Greenwood founded Wac Arts, a London charity that gives performing-arts and media training to disadvantaged young people. She is still its chief executive

When I was 15, I left home. I wasn’t just being a hormonal teenager, I was suffering in lots of ways. There was a lot of tension and turmoil in my family at that time. So I lived in hostels, with other young people who were also struggling, some from addiction. Many of us expressed our anger in unhealthy ways. I drank and smoked. I missed a lot of college, I missed a lot of everything. I felt totally isolated, lonely, angry – really at rock bottom. But somehow, throughout all of that, I always managed to do two things: go to work – I needed to get paid – and go to Wac, Weekend Arts College. I’d been going, off and on, since I was five, but when I was a teenager living by myself, I don’t think I missed a single session. That was down to Celia, and her understanding of young people, her belief that she could help them find the best within themselves.