Sophia Thakur

Ever since Sophia Thakur climbed onto the stage at the age of 16 and captivated a room full of adults, she has pushed the traditional boundaries of poetry and literature to inspire audiences across the country. Sophia is an award-winning, best-selling author and performance poet delivering an incredibly powerful message on topics ranging from mental health, diversity, politics, wellbeing to the key issue of the day.

Sophia was the first poet to be invited to give two TED talks before the age of 20, which in turn led to participation at events organised by The Guardian, The Royal Family, Channel 4, BBC and even The British Arts Council. 

Sophia’s powerful messages on mental health, diversity, politics, self-expression, empowerment, women and wellbeing has led to participation at events organised by Google, Accenture, Nike, The Guardian, The Royal Family, Channel 4, BBC, Viacom and the Liberal Democrat and Labour party. She is often invited into work with the creative teams at Nike, Canon and MTV to share her talents for crafting powerful messages.

In May 2021 Sophia was awarded Best Individual Performance at the PR Week and Campaign Magazine's prestigious Brand Film Awards for her piece, There's No Finish Line, written for Unilever's environmentally focused campaign.

Sophia's latest book Superheroes about inspiring stories of secret strength with Merky Books went straight to the bestseller list after launching. Her debut book ‘Somebody Give This Heart a Pen’ became a #1 Bestseller. The collection of stories-in-verse has been named the ‘the only key to empathy’.

Online, Sophia has cultivated a passionate following with over 2million impressions per month across her social media channels. She has inspired young females to pick up a pen or type their own story and is regularly invited into schools to work with students. 

Furthermore, Sophia has performed at the Rockin’ Your Teens Annual Girls conference and is a youth ambassador for the betterment of young black girls, whilst leading BET and MTV’s global female campaigns for International Women’s Day and Black History Month. Sophia’s work also includes intimate forums with cancer patients, Cancer Research UK, Refugees and the Stand For Humanity foundation.

Now a multi-award-winning writer and speaker, Sophia’s mission is to push the boundaries of poetry and literature by taking spoken word into a more commercial space.

In 2019 after finishing a speaking tour across high-schools in Ghana with a band of native musicians she returned to London to fill both OMEARA and The Jazz Café. Merging the sounds of poetry with afrobeats, jazz, neo-soul and Colombian reggae, Sophia has become an expert in telling our stories back to us in a way that both entertains, provokes and evokes empathy and compassion.