Ep 9: A story of fearlessness and following your passion - with MARVIN SORDELL, former Premier League, England and Olympic footballer, turned creative producer, writer and mental health ambassador.
Play • 32 min

In this episode of our podcast, Donna spoke with Marvin Sordell, former Premier League, England and Olympic footballer, turned creative producer, writer and ambassador for mental health. Marvin shares his stories on leaving the footballing world, being fearless whilst striving boldly into a new industry and his advice on how we can all achieve our dreams.

Born in 1991 in Northwest London, Marvin achieved great success as a professional footballer, making more than 300 appearances and scoring a total of 73 goals over the course of his 10-year career. Highlights included playing in the Premier League for Bolton Wanderers after signing for a fee of £3million, and proudly representing England Under 21s and Great Britain at the London 2012 Olympics. In July 2019, Marvin’s career ended prematurely at the age of just 28 after he decided it was time to retire, for his mental health's sake.

Following his decision to retire, Marvin channelled his efforts into setting up a new business, in a new industry – Oneighty Productions – with two of his close friends. The company focuses on producing story-driven content for a range of video projects and has already scooped two industry awards: for discover. film and the Independent Shorts Awards in 2019 and they masterminded the England Football’s film for Mental Health Awareness Day. He has taken great strides to raise awareness about mental health, he has become an Ambassador for CALM, and appeared in the BBC documentary entitled ‘Football, Prince William and our Mental Health’ broadcast early 2020. He also recently launched Transition FC, a platform for former footballers as they navigate changing careers.

Donna O'Toole is CEO of August, she has had the pleasure of supporting entrepreneurs, business leaders and teams to win the most prestigious awards in the world. Seeing first-hand how receiving awards and recognition has motivated teams, solved problems, supercharged brands and raised their profiles, helping businesses to grow and do even more good things for their employees, their industry and their community.

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