Former BAME Rep Renée Landell introduces Christabel Adansi's story, the second in a new series of blogs aiming to showcase amazing and talented Black Royal Holloway students, as well as inspire the next generation.
Welcome to the B(l)ackstage Stories blog series, my name is Renée Landell and for Black History Month I asked a few Black students and alumni to tell me their story.
This series aims to showcase amazing and talented Black Royal Holloway students and alumni in the hope of inspiring the next generation of Black students. Over the next few days I will be sharing their stories of ‘becoming’, overcoming and succeeding.
Christabel’s Story
(Alumni, Economics and Mathematics)
“Hi, my name is Christabel Adansi. I studied Economics and Mathematics from Foundation to degree level at Royal Holloway, University of London. I graduated in July this year and I am currently pursuing a master’s degree in Business Economics and Finance at Aston University.
Aside from education I have set up my own dessert company called ‘Pancakery’ which is based in my hometown, Ghana; I am also a very keen photographer. My journey of owning a dessert shop started four years ago before I got into Royal Holloway. I have always loved pancakes, so I decided to turn it into a business. After my A-levels I wanted to be productive and so I started making desserts from my mum’s kitchen and made money from there.
When university started, I had to leave my country, so I was making various treats giving them out free of charge so that I could take some time to improve on my skills, learn more about pancakes and get creative. For three consecutive years, I hosted Pancake Day at my place of accommodation for students. In September 2018, I decided to take it seriously, and so I started investing in cooking equipment and trying new things. In 2019 I registered my company in Ghana. I have since organised a taster session and in December I will be hosting my own event in Ghana. #PancakeQueen
I got into photography because of a friend. She took pictures of me and I was inspired, motivated and realised that I can do it as well. So, in April 2017, I got my first camera. Before that I used to love to hold my friends’ cameras and play around with them. If you know me well, you would have probably heard me say that everyone is a model, and I barely photograph actual models, because everyone can have a perfect picture and I like to portray various characters in my work.”
To know more about my desserts, please follow my social media accounts:
For photography: