JAMEELA JAMIL

Having an education is extremely valuable, but we need to help people connect their choice of studies to a potential career at an earlier age so that they are better prepared to get the job they want when the time comes.

I'm not trying to prove myself, and I'm not trying to shock anyone.

I'm acting in a new show on NBC with Kristen Bell and Ted Danson, which is definitely the scariest thing I've ever done.

I got my transferrable skills from working at entry-level, gauging what I wanted from my career, and making sure I had what it took to get the one I truly wanted. But now there's a Catch 22: school leavers need experience to get jobs, but they can't get experience without jobs.

One of the perks of growing up, but also one of the biggest challenges, is making decisions about the future. Deciding what kind of job you want, whether you want to finish school, or whether you want to go to university are huge choices to make.

Britain's way of dealing with disability is just to try and pretend it's not happening. A swift sweep under the carpet.

Radio 1 has always championed women; take Annie Nightingale, for example. One of my heroes.

When I was a model at 15, I was eating one red pepper a day, and if I had a big day of castings, I would survive off a bag of Haribo, which gave me the 500 calories a day that would keep me alive. I was congratulated daily on my appearance - the more vertebrae upon my back you could count, the better my auditions went.

What does this Heidi Parker look like pregnant? What does she look like first thing in the morning? Or bending over? What do any of these bloody 'journalists' look like that makes them find the normal appearance of celebrities so offensive?

I think compassion is the only way to approach any subject, especially if it's to do with physical appearance. I don't think it's really about tearing something apart.

It might seem a psychotic, insane thing, quitting a job after I'd built a great career over eight years, but it was a wake-up call. All too often we ignore those, forget that we don't know how long we're here for and that we need to make the most of every moment.

Surround yourself with people and things that inspire you. Learn everything you can.

I get particularly depressed by the way teenagers are portrayed in the media. They are massively underestimated. They are bright, intelligent people who are given less and less opportunity. They are an ignored generation.

To those out of work, it may seem unfair for someone to complain that they aren't happy with the type of work they are doing, but the more we like our jobs, the better we do them. In the long run, this doesn't just make us happy - it makes businesses more successful and increases employment even further.

If you want someone, you have to be willing to wait for them and trust that what you have is real and strong enough for them to wait for you. If somebody jumps ship for you, that fact will always haunt you because you'll know they're light on their feet. Spare yourself the paranoia and the pain and walk away until the coast is clear.

I am an Asian woman. I am a size 12 Asian woman. I have been a size 18 Asian woman. I have been a size 6 Asian woman. I have been a size 18 disabled Asian woman.

Along the way, I learned a lot about being told I didn't have the right skills for the jobs I wanted and how to overcome the setbacks and keep pushing forward. This is why I've become an Ambassador for LifeSkills, a programme created by Barclays to help one million young people get the skills they need for work.

I was 23 and saw my face on the side of the big T4 bus at V Festival and almost fainted.

Restaurants don't cater properly for celiac sufferers, and neither do supermarkets.

We really shouldn't be putting a label on size. Fashion is for all, and I think confidence and happiness is more important than dress labels.

I've had versions of disability my whole life, first with my hearing and then when I couldn't walk for over a year.

School was horrific for me, constantly an outcast for being a geek.

Women's bodies have always been used as a spectacle and objectified.

For me, growing up felt like a roller coaster ride at times, but looking back, I don't think that it was such a bad thing. It was all part of the excitement of being young.

Something I can't stress enough is the massive importance of work experience. It's the only way to find out what work is really like when you're figuring out what path to take and to get an understanding of what it takes to achieve your career ambitions.