A NEWPORT mum, who won a Prince’s Trust award after she overcame depression to start up a business, is standing as a Conservative candidate in the forthcoming elections in Newport.
Vikky Howells, 31, is hoping to be elected to represent her home ward of St Julian’s.
The single mum-of-one, who runs logistics recruitment and training company PLS Ltd, says she will aim to improve facilities for youngsters in the area and positively promote Newport if she wins a seat.
She said: “Newport has had a lot of bad press recently but it’s not all bad. There are positives and there are some good people about, and I want to make a difference in my own little way.”
Ms Howells also wants to use the experience she picked up as an ambassador with the Prince’s Trust to help unemployed young people get into training and work.
She got involved with the charity on 2009 by completing its enterprise programme which helped her gain workplace skills, after being forced to leave university when she fell pregnant with son Luca, now ten.
He was born 19 weeks early, meaning he needed round-the-clock care after being left with hearing and development problems.
As a result, Ms Howells struggled to hold down a permanent job and later developed post-traumatic stress. But after training with the Prince’s Trust, she got a £4,000 loan from the charity to start up her business and hasn’t looked back since.
Now she says she wants to give something back to the community she grew up in.
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