Black History Month 2026: Zaibien Hunter on human connection, cultural evolution and digital channels
As part of our Black History Month series, Email Marketing Officer Zaibien sat down to share insights on his role, challenging industry misconceptions and how he engages with Black history, culture and future perspectives.
Talk us through your role involve in supporting Ravensbourne students?
I've been at Ravensbourne for over 5 years and I mainly do all of the email communications to our perspective students across all study levels. Each day in my role is different. Sometimes in the office, you can miss the human element, so it’s nice working on flagship events like graduation, or even recruitment events, talking to young people and providing the information they need in order to make an informed decision.
What are the common misconceptions about your role?
When I tell people that I work in email marketing, the first thing that comes to their mind is just spam. I think the misconception is that email isn't important in marketing, but it is, I think, one of the pillars of it, actually. Email is the thing that everyone comes back to. In this digital age, you can't do anything without having an email address.
Which resources help you explore Black current affairs and future perspectives?
I personally really enjoy listening to a podcast, so there's this one specific podcast I listen to called Busy Being Black by Josh Rivers. It's a very open and intellectual conversation where he hosts incredible guests across a wide range of topics like sexuality, gender, religion and people working in creative spaces like literature, theatre, music, film, and poetry.
Zabien Hunter photo
What’s a Black book recommendation you’d like to share?
A book, I would say, has to be any by Octavia Butler. I read her first novel, Dawn, which explores a compelling moral dilemma: how we define and measure our humanity.
And a musical genre recommendation?
Black music from the UK, like grime, helps us understand the context in which the genre developed and really sheds light on the Black experience in the UK. Artists like Stormzy and Skepta immediately come to mind when talking about recommendations.
What’s a quote that you live by?
“Even if it's uncomfortable, you have to do it anyway.”
It comes down to the difference between fear and courage, and courage overcoming fear in spite of everything.
By driving authentic communications and celebrating rich cultural movements, Zaibien continues to inspire the next generation of creative thinkers arriving at Ravensbourne.