Surge is back! On Sunday 6 September over 100 students arrived for the launch day, student Sharika writes about the day below.
It was an absolute joy to welcome Sonal Patel, Lauren O’Donnell and Beth Horn to NLCS’s Surge Launch Day.
It was fascinating listening to Sonal as she described the mental fitness required to respond to life’s challenges, rather than focusing on the negatives that seem to constantly cloud our daily thoughts. Additionally, Sonal was incredible at describing the concept of the saboteurs and how we should respond to and dismiss negative traits, such as being controlling or being a hyper-achiever, which can come at high costs. Overall, it was a wonderful and engaging talk, allowing many of us to voice our questions in an open and encouraging environment.
Sonal Patel opens Surge 2026 with a talk titled, ‘The Secret Skill No One Taught You’.
It was also inspiring to listen to Lauren, the founder of Oatsu. She emphasised the importance of networking and following your passion, while she herself took an unconventional career path compared to her peers. By leaving the banking industry and finding her interests in the food industry, her career path was very unique and came with numerous challenges, including finding ways to extend her overnight oats’ shelf life without using preservatives. I spoke with Lauren after her talk, and she encouraged me to chase my own interests, explaining how she was not put off by the negative thoughts many people may have when making such a drastic career change.
Founder of Oatsu, Lauren O’Donnell in conversation with Director of Innovation, Robin Street.
Finally, it was an absolute pleasure to hear from Beth Horn, a tech, media and marketing executive. With an incredible portfolio, including working as Vice President of Southern Europe, UK and Ireland at Pinterest and as Director of Sales at Spotify, Beth was extremely engaging and emphasised the importance of having “diverse people in the room”. She included many personal experiences and gave us advice on how to conduct ourselves during difficult discussions. Beth encouraged a positive mindset, telling us to say, “Why not me?”, reinforcing that we have the right and ability to have a seat at the table and have our voices heard.
Overall, it was wonderful to have these three very established and high-achieving women at our school and I am definitely looking forward to continuing my Surge journey!
Tech, Media & Marketing Executive, Beth Horn delivers an inspiring Keynote at Surge 2026.
