Visage – Spring/Summer 2023

PROFILE
from paucity to
public life
our new Chair of Trustees
David Ejim-McCubbin is the new Chair of Eastside Young Leaders’
Board of Trustees. He works as Head of Policy and Advocacy at the
Social Mobility Commission.
II David was
however a young
leader and he
decided to make
the most of
this amazing
opportunity and
got stuck in.
Mirabel Agyemang
Only 8% of charity trustees are from Black
and Asian backgrounds, even fewer reach
the position of ‘Chair’, factor in the number
who are former users or clients – you are
into infinitesimal country.
David grew up on a housing estate in
east London with his mum and two sisters.
His mum, a hard working nurse, instilled
in David the importance of character and
determination. David did well in primary
school and progressed to a secondary
school that was in special measures. Difficulties
are often a chaperone to success
and as part of the school recovery plan
EYLA was invited in 2005 to run a leadership
programme. To cut a very long story
short David joined Eastside and began
his journey from poverty to politics via a
bursary place at Rugby School. He recalls,
in an interview with The Sunday Times
(2018), ‘the shock of being dropped off at
his boarding house on the first day in September
2009: “we turned up in a minibus.
Our mums were working and we had no
dads around so Eastside dropped us off.
I remember seeing all the other pupils
getting out of nice cars, but what really
struck me was the presence of two parents
with almost every child. It was weird to see
so many fathers taking an interest in their
children’s education.”’
David remembers how articulate the
other pupils seemed to be and their inherent
confidence. In the beginning he felt
locked out of conversations that weren’t
about football or music. David was
however a young leader and he decided to
make the most of this amazing opportunity
and got stuck in. He graduated from Rugby
in 2011 and progressed to university where
he studied law and business, achieving a
Master’s in Legal and Political Theory at
UCL. In 2015 David spent a year interning at
Eastside assisting with our Scholars Programme,
helping younger students from
humble backgrounds on a similar journey
to his own. He then moved on to work at
the Council to the Bar as a research assistant
and then as a civil servant in the
Ministry of Education, transferring to the
Ministry of Justice before joining the Social
Mobility Commission.
David is married with a son who he
hopes will grow up in a society with fewer
racial disparities. That is certainly a good
enough reason to work at the heart of
policy change towards social mobility and
to give up his time to lead a charity that is
creating tomorrow’s leaders – a mountain
with which he is familiar.
David is the first alumnus Chair of Eastside,
having recently taken over from
Matthew Hagopian who had been chair
for nine years. Alongside Matthew his role
models include Patrick Derham, former
headmaster of Rugby School; Ric Lewis,
who founded the Black Heart Foundation
through which David gained a scholarship
and of course the enigmatic and irrepressible
Ray Lewis. We are all delighted at
David’s achievements and his example of
leadership in our community.
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