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Elizabeth earns place in finals for helping grassroots grow

Music entrepreneur and Brunel alumna Elizabeth Cawein has been nominated for a prestigious award after giving grassroots talent a platform to play on.

Elizabeth, who completed her master’s degree in Contemporary Music at Brunel University London in 2008, was pitched alongside 400 nominees from 70 universities across the country before being named a finalist in the Education UK Alumni Awards.

She is one of three finalists in the USA Entrepreneurial Award category, for innovative new business opportunities with strong growth prospects.

The other two finalists are American students from Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Run by the British Council, the alumni awards exist to celebrate the international student presence from China, India and the USA in Britain.

After completing her degree, Elizabeth returned to Memphis in the USA, and founded Signal Flow PR in 2011 after discovering her passion for music publicity while working for the Memphis Music Foundation.

Elizabeth's business aims to support and generate publicity for grassroots music, while providing an affordable PR, marketing and digital media service. Around half of her clients are independent musicians and half are businesses, including music non-profits and venues.

Elizabeth said: "This is fantastic news and such a surprise for me. My initial decision to study in the UK was because I could not study for a Masters in music in the USA as, although I'd been a musician most of my life, I had no degrees or qualifications in music.

"In the UK and at Brunel, though, I was able to prove I was qualified to undertake the course. Studying in the UK made the pursuit of a dream possible. Years later another dream came true and I launched my own business, something I never would've done if not for my time at Brunel.”

The winners of the Education UK Alumni Awards will be announced on 21st March. Find out more on the British Council website here.