Sonita Alleyne

In May 2019 Sonita Alleyne was elected the Master of Jesus College. After attending Cambridge, reading philosophy, Sonita followed her passion for music joining Jazz FM before setting up a media production company, Somethin’ Else. It grew from a five-hundred-pound start-up to one of the UK’s major cross-media production houses and the BBC’s biggest multi-platform supplier. 

She is currently: a Non-Exec on FTSE 250 Wickes PLC, a board member of the Screen Academy Foundation which raises money from the film industry to support the London Screen Academy and East London Arts and Music, Chair of Kettles Yard Gallery and Museum, Chair of the Cambridge Centre for Music Performance, Chair of the Cambridge University Careers Syndicate and Co-Chairs the Cambridge University Black Advisory Hub. 

Sonita has had an impressive and varied career, covering education, employment, and the arts. She has sat on the board of an extensive list of organisations including the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the National Employment Panel and the London Skills and Employment Board, The Local radio Company, The Cultural Capital Fund and Archant newspaper Group. She also served on the BBC Trust for five years and was the Chair of the British Board of Film Classification. She was governor at the Museum of London and sat on the board of the London Legacy Development Corporation, regenerating the Olympic Park post 2012, and the Main Advisory Committee of the arts focused Freelands Foundation.