Omah Howard – If you haven’t heard of this presenter and broadcaster before, go check out the interview we did with him following his stint with The Hundred last year, where he co-hosted the stage at The Kia Oval. His energy is infectious and his ambition knows no bounds, he wants to do it all, his words.

The Voice have a sneaky suspicion that following the 2021 he had a few more people in powerful places are aware of him and it’s not going to be long before he becomes a household name. Having being awarded his own Kiss Fresh show, he now also has a weekend show on Kiss FM, hosted with Sam Darlaston.

Hannah John – Currently the Resilience Manager at Black Cultural Archives, Hannah John is fast becoming a leader in the culture, arts and heritage sector. Hannah has historically worked within the charity sector and on community-based projects such as Tea with the GP, looking at social prescribing for older people suffering with loneliness. She has global experience, having volunteered in townships in South Africa and holds ties in Sierra Leone. Her strategic mind mixed with an interest in people allows her to combine two often very polar, but necessary worlds. 

Stephen Bediako – Stephen Bediako OBE is an innovator, designer and evaluation expert. Hailing from the heart of East London, Stephen now splits his time between the UK and the US, driving change across multiple continents for everyday people. Awarded an OBE in the 2021 New Year’s Queen’s Honours for innovation in charity and social enterprise, the legacy of Stephen’s work spans across some of the biggest and brightest names in social innovation.

Sheila Nortley – It’ll be a strong year for Shelia. Her forth coming feature film Birdsong was selected by industry heavyweight Deadline as one of their “2021 Lineup Of Best Unproduced Film & TV Scripts Revealed”. She’s an award-winning filmmaker who has written, produced and directed several internationally renowned projects including Zion, Victim and feature film David is Dying . In November 2020, Sheila secured an unprecedented development deal with the national broadcaster, SKY. Shortly after this announcement she was selected to join the BFI Network x BAFTA Crew 2021. Sheila recently produced Stay Close starring Cush Jumbo for RED and Netflix.

Natalie Fiawoo – Natalie Fiawoo is a vanguard on the British creative scene, building iconic legacies with some of the biggest names in arts, culture and heritage. A producer and cultural curator with a career spanning over a decade, she has an insatiable passion for telling stories of the African Diaspora, uncovering tales overlooked by the mainstream. In the last year alone, Natalie has curated Africa Writes for The Royal African Society, produced the Apples and Snakes podcast with season one celebrating the best in Black British poetry talent, and curated Before Them, We at Black Cultural Archives.

Karen Arthur – Karen is a woman with a powerful message to send. A former teacher, she’s a fashion creative, private sewing tutor, stylist, model, content creator and speaker who has been honing her craft for over 40 years. Not only has Karen been asked to use her design skills to dress a 14ft statue of Queen Victoria in Liverpool as part of the documentary Statues Redressed , she’s also taken her experiences with the menopause to the world creating the podcast Menopause Whilst Black, appearing in Channel 4 documentary Sex Myths and Menopause and speaking to parliament’s women and equalities committee on Menopause in the workplace. She lifts the veil on the inevitable and fundamental changes that every woman will go through. She sheds light on coping with the realities of the transition for young women and reminds mature women to own their value and to buck convention, stereotypes and the world’s attempts at erasure. All this with a wicked wit and uncompromising truth.

Backroad Gee – Heavily influenced by his mother blasting Congolese music in the house as a youth few artists in the scene right now carry the effervescence possessed by Backroad Gee. On the red carpet of the 2020 MOBO Awards he told The Voice that he was targeting ‘greatness only’ and after the year he’s had, which has seen his co-signed by some of the biggest names in the game, it’s easy to see how the rapper has endeared himself to his legion of fans so quickly. He’s definitely one to watch in 2022.

Enny – The only person to make it on the list who was on the 2021 Ones To Watch, Enny is far from just any talent. Nope, this young lady has that thing, that edge, poise, a universally endearing vibe about her that is still evolving (she is only 17), yet defining all at the same time. Her music belies her age but at the same time she speaks for her generation, most importantly of course she speaks to them. Asked what she wanted 2022 to look like at its greatest, she told Lifestyle editor Joel Campbell: ‘2021 on steroids, that’s what I want.’ Enny, we get it. Good luck, not that you need it.

Rellik Tha Don – A host and award-winning radio presenter from London, Rellik Tha Don can be heard regularly on Represent Radio and has also appeared on No Signal. The 26-year-old is making big waves having interviewed the likes of Kojey Radical, Mahalia and Raye. Last year Rellik hosted The Cloud X Festival and took home The Golden Halo Award for Best On-Air / Digital Personality and he’s only at the beginning of what he’s going to do. 2022 is set to be a huge year, so watch this space.

Samson Kayo – the Voice have got a real feeling that this actor and writer is going to start popping up on radars further and wider afield than his core fanbase are used to and more power to him. His role in the Aml Ameen Boxing Day movie was brilliant, it was what we know he can bring to the table. In the TV series Bloods , he spread his wings and confirmed his talent knows no bounds. It’s understood a new series of the Sky show will be airing later this year but aside from that, expect to see him in a plethora of places.

Ayra Starr – Nominated for her first MOBO Award in the Best African Music Act category last year and named as one of Spotify’s Equal Artists Of The Month all the signs are that this young artist will be here for a while. The only one we’ve featured from overseas, the Afro-pop future stars self-titled EP and debut album 19 & Dangerous racked up over 45 million global streams. Look out for some successful link ups.

Leanne Alie – The podcast host did an a w e s o m e audio documentary on who runs the black hair industry in the UK last year. Her rise and rise is a testament to the growing army of fans who are very active when it comes to sharing her work. Mainstream platforms are watching and so are we.

Henrie Kwushue – By her own admission her success of recent is down to ‘god’. We’ve seen her work hard and plug away and whatever she’s putting in her breakfast, it’s setting her up nicely for each day. the radio and TV presenter, host, voiceover artist and DJ can add influencer to her list of monikers but we feel it’s her creative spark and amenable smile which will see her continue to shine this year.

Makala Green – You may have seen this young lady on these pages last year or you may have taken in the interview we did on our YouTube channel, either way, you would know that where finance and money are concerned, the first ever black female Chartered Financial Planner has you covered. Look for her name to ring out this year as she continues to dish out top grade advice on how to look after your pennies.

Zara Afflick – From an early age Zara was inspired by the craftsmanship of clothing and the world of creative arts. Her company, Box Of Prints, founded in 2016 with the aim of releasing boldness, optimism and passion to prints, has seen a rapid growth of interest over the last year. From the first letter of these words, was created Box of Print, BOP. The company creates exclusive prints, often regarded as vibrant and rich in layered textures used for interior and fashion Zara desires to see a greater interest in the world of textile printing.

Shiloh Defreitas – Nicknamed ‘Sugar Shy’, where this young boxing hopeful is concerned the sky is the limit. His pro debut last October ended in an exciting victory and in his second fight just before Christmas he demonstrated again why so many are tipping him to go the distance. Looking forward to the year ahead he plans to be busy. After his last victory he said: “It’s still early days and I plan on having a long career. We’re pushing for six to 10 fights in my first year as a professional, and I want to be as active as possible.”

Juanita Rosenior – Juanita is the founder and Managing Director at TGRG (The Girl in the Red Glasses), a boutique Marcomms, PR and Talent agency. Their roster includes talent from across a number of sectors including arts and heritage, social impact, media, health and wellbeing and social justice. From running virtual literary events with the likes of Benjamin Zephaniah, Alica Garza and Dorothy Koomson to clients working with the likes of Sky, Netflix, Sir Steve McQueen, Channel 4, Channel 5, Net A Porter and more. Most journalists understand the need for good PR representation and Juanita is building a cutting-edge agency which is disrupting the talent landscape.

Margs – A lot of the newer Margs fans might not know this man’s ‘real’ journey, but trust the Voice when we say, the transformation is real, and we love to see it. Reading his post on Instagram last year highlighting how far he’d come with his creative media endeavours, will serve as great motivation for a lot of the community who identify with the brand of content the east Londoner is famed for. One hundred episodes, one million+ streams, three million+ views and three sold out shows is no mean feat, we definitely agree that his ‘little podcast ting is doing alright’, and this year could definitely see @nobehaviourpodcast to da world.

Alana Maria – Born and raised in West London and inspired by the likes of Brandy, K e h l a n i and Summer Walker, 19- year-old Alana’s been steady building throughout the whole of 2021 which saw her drop her debut EP Lala. The impact of her hard and diligent work was there for all to see when she held her own show at the back end of last year. The former model, who recently featured in the JD Sports X Kickers campaign, has already earned co-signs from the likes of PA Salieu, Tion Wayne and Pink Sweats and is on her way to cementing her status as the princess of R’n’B.

M1llionz – Who doesn’t rate M1llionz, like, seriously? Who didn’t like Provisional Licence , the debut mixtape he put out last year? His rise has been measured and decisive. There’s a drive about the young man that let’s you know he’s about his business. There’s an authentic rawness about him that underpins his popularity and something tells us that this year could be a massive one for him. As music evolves standing out from the crowd is a must and M1llionz does that and then some. Standards are high in the 0121, make no mistake about that, but he’s carrying the load of expectation on his shoulders well.

Clive Lewis – MP Labour MP Clive Lewis, 49, challenged for the leadership in 2020 but the Corbynite wing of the party went for the librarian-esque Becky Long Bailey instead, who lost out to Sir Keir Starmer. Since then, the outspoken Mr Lewis has been impressing progressive party members with regular appearances on podcasts such as Novara Media and Owen Jones. He now stands in poll position to win the ‘Left’ ticket should Mr Starmer fall under a political bus, and *if* the Left can unite behind a single candidate, which is not a given. However, many Left members have literally left over the treatment of Jeremy Corbyn, so even if Mr Lewis does carry the red flag in a contest he would be a longshot to win it.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng MP – It has just been one year since Kwasi Kwarteng made history as the first black Tory to get into the Cabinet when he was appointed Business Secretary, but he’s already being talked up as a leadership candidate should Boris Johnson be dethroned, which might well happen this year unless their polling picks up.

The 46-year-old son of Ghanaian parents is doing nothing to stop the speculation. Whether his party is ready for a black prime minister – even an Eton and Oxbridge-educated one – remains to be seen. Stranger things have happened in Tory leadership contests, but a tilt at the top job might well earn him the one of the ‘big’ departments of state – Chancellor, Home Secretary or Foreign Secretary