My Second Home: Satya Crystal
CEO, Sesquis
Sesquis — ‘one and a half’ — is the platform where many local people and businesses are finding their own bespoke help solutions from university students. Satya Crystal says she started Sesquis without realising it, when, in a bid to reverse her son, Jeremie’s, morale and plummeting grades, 10 years ago, she put up a handmade plea for help at her local college. Her one-and-a-half arrived in the guise of Georgina, now a junior doctor, who mentored her son to exam success. That handwritten plea has now become Sesquis and multiple needs from tutoring to personal assistance have been solved by many students just like Georgina.
Based out of Second Home, we sat down with Satya to learn more about her inspirational company.
What is the best bit about running Sesquis?
The best bit of founding and running something is waking up to the knowledge that every day you are doing something that you choose to do.
How are you disrupting your industry?
Sesquis is disrupting employment by providing valuable new ways of discovering and evaluating ability and aptitude at an earlier stage than previously thought useful.
“Sesquis is disrupting employment by providing valuable new ways of discovering and evaluating ability and aptitude at an earlier stage than previously thought useful.”
What recent project are you most proud of and why?
I’m most proud of my recent work on the Public Benefit Committee of the Royal Albert Hall. I know that the committee’s work directly impacted the cultural and educational lives of more than 100,000 UK school-age children, many of whom were young people on the pupil premium.
What do you want your company to achieve within the next year?
Within the next year Sesquis would like to broaden our impact whilst seeking to achieve scale and revenue.
What advice would you give somebody thinking about starting their own company?
I would tell anybody starting their own company to have complete faith in their vision and listen to everyone and everything through a filter. Finding a balance between patience and fortitude and timing and decisiveness is a crucial skill you need.
“I would tell anybody starting their own company to have complete faith in their vision and listen to everyone and everything through a filter. Finding a balance between patience and fortitude and timing and decisiveness is a crucial skill you need.”
What person / company has inspired you the most?
The human being who most inspires me is my father, Norbert Jeremie. Although his own father had no education and constructed boats with his hands, my dad founded his own law firm more than 50 years ago and ran it till he died in 1996. It is still going today. He demonstrated how much could be achieved by relying solely upon your own energy, convictions and ability.
The company that most inspires me is Apple during Steve Jobs’ second stint at its helm when it seemed to be an unending conveyor belt of innovation. To me, they nailed the marriage of art and technology, form and function at its best.
The company that most inspires me is Apple during Steve Jobs’ second stint at its helm when it seemed to be an unending conveyor belt of innovation. To me, they nailed the marriage of art and technology, form and function at its best.
How has being at Second Home helped your work?
The best thing about being at Second Home is how much I have learned and how much I realise is left to learn — a lot and endlessly! From talking to other members, from the team and the content of the cultural and education programme here, it’s a place of such great learning if you just reach out and connect with it.
What is your favourite design feature about Second Home?
My favourite design feature about Second Home is the ‘no walls’. It imparts a sense of belonging and inclusivity that I find conducive to creativity; plus I’m a very sociable person — that’s a polite way of saying that I’m nosy and talkative!
Who inspires you at Second Home?
When I was first at Second Home, I heard a brief talk given by Assemble, who were then based here. They are the 2015 Turner Prize winning architecture and urban spaces collective. I really admire what they’re doing to transform shared spaces.
Outside of work, what place in London stimulates your imagination the most and why?
I love Hyde Park in Spring and in Autumn when the light has special qualities. The vastness of the sky juxtaposed against the nearby jostle and bustle of the City always just out of sight, serves for me as a heady reminder of constant possibilities always just within reach.
We ask everyone to select a book that will inspire others and become part of Libreria’s permanent collection. Which book would you choose and why?
The book I would recommend for our permanent collection is The Lonely Londoners by Samuel Selvon. I enjoy his vivid chronicles of the experience of early Caribbean arrivals in London and share the sense of what they must have seen and felt. Importantly, many parts of both the narrative and dialogue are ‘creolised’, adding authenticity to those voices and experiences. Apart from being hugely entertaining, it is a bright historical perspective on the London experience qua city of different communities living side by side, a fact that has changed little although the city and communities themselves are obviously unrecognisable today. Fascinating.
Second Home is a creative workspace and cultural venue, bringing together diverse industries, disciplines and social businesses. Find out more about joining us here: secondhome.io
