The Mary Seacole Trust is delighted to announce that England rugby star Shaunagh Brown has become an Ambassador for the charity.
Shaunagh, who announced her retirement from the game in December 2022, says she is looking forward to reaching a wider audience outside of sport and is keen to inspire young people who she hopes will learn from her achievements.
She said: “I am constantly being told that I share many qualities and characteristics with Mary Seacole – we are both mixed race women who refused to be defeated when we were told ‘no’. I want to share that message with others outside of sport.”
Shaunagh has been a trail blazer throughout her life, challenging stereotypes and overcoming knockbacks. Born in South London to a Jamaican father and English mother, she later moved with her family to Kent. In 2010, she trained as a British Gas engineer, working for the company until she trained as a commercial diver in 2015. Two years later she began training as a firefighter with the Kent Fire and Rescue Service.
But sport was always an important part of her life and Shaunagh became the first in her family to forge a career in sport both nationally and internationally. She represented England in the hammer throw at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. She also boxed professionally, but after taking up rugby at 25, she made her international debut with the England team in a match against Canada in 2017, going on to help secure a win for England at the 2020 Women’s Six Nations tournament. Most recently, she was part of the England squad taking part in the delayed 2021 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand during October and November 2022.
Shaunagh was a key part of the working group set up by the RFU’s ‘Rugby Against Racism’ campaign. In 2020, she was nominated for Influencer of the Year at the Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year Awards for her Instagram campaign to highlight black stories and history during 2020 Black History Month.
As part of that work she chose to focus on Mary Seacole and realised just how much they had in common.
‘I have to accept that I am a role model, as a mixed race woman in public life, and that comes with responsibilities. I want to use my own and Mary’s experiences to help others achieve their full potential in life, and I am looking forward to having the opportunity to do that through my role with the Mary Seacole Trust.”
MST Chair Trevor Sterling said: “We are thrilled to welcome Shaunagh to the MST team. She is an inspiring role model for young people and embodies so many of the qualities that allowed Mary Seacole to achieve her aim of caring for soldiers in the Crimean war in the 19th century, in spite of being turned down by the authorities in London. Shaunagh represents that spirit for today’s generations.”
