BBC Winners - Ayesha mcgowan - USA

My favourite story

Ayesha’s story focussed on the issue of representation in sport and overcoming mental health challenges and was the last in an our award-winning BBC Winners series looking at how six sportswomen overcame challenges and failures to excel in their sport.

I stumbled upon Ayesha’s story by chance and, after a few research phone calls, I knew this episode was going to be special. Ayesha was confident speaking about her advocacy work but had never spoken about her anxiety on camera before.

A true inspiration and now a friend in real life, I’m extremely pleased with how this video turned out and the response it got.

This story was shortlisted for ‘Best Cyclist film’ at ShAFF 2017.

Check out Ayesha’s blog here.

Directed, filmed and edited by Rhian John-Hankinson

Second camera - Charlie Newland