Welcome back to another episode of Faces of Freelance!
Vedika is a British-Indian broadcast journalist and news producer, currently at France24 in Paris. She has previously worked at the Telegraph, ABC News, and Clover Films. Her documentary “Defeated: the Boxers Who Survive by Losing” won Best Documentary at the Broadcast Journalism Training Council awards in 2018.
Link to blogpost
Vedika's links:
DEFEATED - Boxing Documentary
BJTC Alumni Spotlight on Vedika Bahl
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It's been two years since Anos Ku Ta Manda came out so in this episode I share a little bit about my relationship to the book in the two years that it's been out and I invited Courtney Conrad and Saili Katebe on to share their work and their poetry journeys.
Courtney Conrad is a Jamaican poet. She is a current member of Malika's Poetry Kitchen. She is an alumna of the Obsidian Foundation Retreat and Roundhouse Poetry Collective. She was the Roundhouse Slam 2018 runner-up and a BBC Fringe Slam 2019 finalist. She has performed at Glastonbury Festival and StAnza Scotland’s International Poetry Festival. Courtney was published in Bad Betty Press’ ‘Field Notes on Survival’ anthology, Birmingham Literary Journal and The White Review. She was shortlisted for The White Review Poet's Prize 2020 and longlisted for the Rebecca Swift Women Poets’ Prize 2020.
Saili Katebe is a Zambian born writer and performer based in the South West of England. His work celebrates the musicality in language and the art of creative recklessness, playing with sound and story to carry forward the mantle of an Oral Tradition.
More links:
Buy Anós Ku Ta Manda in honour of its 2 years of life!
Buy The Opposite of an Exodus / Attend the launch event on 26/03/21
Find this post on the blog
The vibes on this episode would noooot have been possible without the tracks produced by Leon Freeman! Follow him, support him, commission him!
"In light of new information" is the second edition of The Island of Lost Voices segment of the podcast. The essay that I share is a deeply personal piece about the challenges that I have faced in my relationship and how the versions of the story that I tell depends on whether history is causing a strain in that moment.
Tweet me about it with the hashtag #Voiced.
Links:
In this episode I chat with Mica on all things fear when it comes to putting ourselves out there in our crafts and careers.
Mica (that's Mee-sha) Montana Gray is a Poet, Workshop Facilitator and aspiring Clinical Psychologist based in Birmingham. She currently works part time as an Applied Research Psychologist and has previously worked as an Assistant Psychologist in children's mental health services. She has completed an undergraduate degree in Philosophy and Psychology and a Masters in Cognitive Neuroscience in 2017.
While completing her undergraduate degree, she had an experience of depression and drug induced psychosis which resulted in a hospital admission. This experience birthed the poetry collection 'when daisies talk' which was self-published in March 2019.
She also writes a personal blog sharing stories on navigating career, relationships, personhood and faith.
Links:
Twitter list with journalism opportunities
Facebook group Young Journalist Community
Mica Montana's links:
Welcome back to another episode of Faces of Freelance!
In today's episode I chat with Hannah Ajala travel and journalism.
Hannah Ajala is currently a freelance journalist and has spent the past year travelling across West Africa working on a range of stories and broadcasting for organisations such as the BBC. Hannah is passionate about travel and shedding more light on engaging stories about marginalised communities, which has led her to reports on positive and uplifting international stories. She also runs We Are Black Journos, a platform connecting and supporting Black Journalists.
Links:
Blogpost (make sure you check it out for the transcript!)
Twitter list with journalism opportunities
Facebook group Young Journalist Community
Hannah Ajala's links:
Why are some in the diaspora returning home? (BBC Africa Daily)
The travel blogger who visited Nigeria's 36 states (BBC Focus On Africa)
In today’s episode, I share some of the writing that I do when I am not writing specifically for the blog. I have tried and failed to find a home for this particular piece. However, I did have many internal discussions about the value of my work independent of whether or not others want to publish it. And, so, came the idea for a segment on my blog/podcast called The Island of Lost Voices for work that I produced but was unable to house elsewhere. The first podcast of this segment is an essay called Love (in Colour) for Black Girls, about my experience reading Bolu Babalola's Love in Colour as a former Meg Cabot aficionado.
Tweet me with the hashtag #Voiced
Links:
Love (in Colour) for Black Girls: an abridged essay film
Love in Colour by Bolu Babalola
I am, for the first time, calling my audio blogs podcasts and introducing them to the world as such with an interview I did with Ricci Shryock in December 2020.
Ricci is a photographer and journalist who is lucky enough to call Dakar, Senegal home. She hopes her work, published in outlets such as The New York Times, Foreign Policy, NPR and more, can provide a contextualised picture of challenges, triumphs and beauty of daily life in West Africa. Ricci taught photojournalism at the University of Dakar, and whenever possible she works in collaboration with local journalists who publish coinciding stories in the national newspapers and radio where she is reporting.
This is the first of what I hope to be a series of interviews called “Faces of Freelance” where I’ll be talking to people in the world of arts and media and in the gig economy about their journeys and hopefully that will help you and I to walk with the wise and become wiser.
Tweet me about it using the hashtag #FacingFreelance
Links:
Twitter list with journalism opportunities
Facebook group Young Journalist Community
Ricci Shryock's links:
From the archives 01/12/20
"My tiredness and stress and my partner's tiredness and stress had an effect on our relationship, which is why I have invited him to do this post with me. We are both in a place where we feel burnt out and we are literally counting down the days until we take our holiday. Being so busy has meant that we haven't been able to prioritise each other as we normally would, often sacrificing our quality time, that is already compromised because of the whole long-distance thing (which, by the way is very long) to be able to get work done. Our ways of coping with work stress aren't the same; while he would seek comfort by speaking to me (and if I was there, hugging me until he feels better), I deal with work stress by panic working, and trying to do everything I need to get done without interruption and with many tears and attempts at slowing down my breath. I don't appreciate having time taken away from the things I need to get done when I'm stressed. And so, we clashed."
Links:
Identifying emotional burnout by Amani Samah
lifestyle | my approach to slow-living by Amara Amaryah
A thread on juggling responsibilities (nb: this doesn't feature in the recording but is useful so check it out!)
Oppy's links:
My blog, Yasmina Nuny is now OFFICIALLY a podcast *sirens*
It's a podcast about my journey as a budding freelance writer and journalist.
Tune in to catch some interviews with people in the media industry, hear some pieces I've been working on, and be hip to resources that will help you live your best freelance life!
From the archives 17/11/20
"As a child I always loved to have my picture taken (my parents’ old devices are full of my selfies). I took fewer and fewer pictures as the awkward tween and teen phase came on, feeling self-conscious about my appearance (as many of us have and continue to struggle with) but also self-conscious about the process of taking pictures because I always feel like passers-by judge when they see me taking pictures – I know in the past that I certainly have, and it’s weird cause like why am I judging someone lol. Of course, I can only speak for myself, but I do suspect that it has something to do with associating taking self-portraits with vanity. To this day, I look around to see if anyone is there before I do up photoshoot. I don’t know who needs to hear this (me; me needs to hear this) but stop that. Take your picture with your chest, and whoever is bothered should keep it pushing."
Links:
a complete guide | how to get amazing solo travel photos by Amara Amaryah
Some inspiration
Hot Shots! Shooting Photos in Public by Stephanie Yeboah
From the archives 03/11/20
"As I reflect on the week, I see all the ways that God answers my prayers with the opportunities he places right under my nose and the people he positions along my path and it's affirming because I feel like this is definitely a path that He had wanted me on, and He was just waiting for me to follow. It also makes me reflect on how through everything, I want to serve Him and others. The journalist I met was so kind and so prepared to share her knowledge with me, and if I am able to help make someone's life a little bit easier, then thank God."
Links:
Platforms to pitch to
From the archives 20/10/20
"To spare you from another long post like the last one, this one will be short and sweet, with links that will serve to redirect you to all the other writing I’ve been doing lately. I’ve had a great chance to practice and expand my range of writing because I’ve written personal essays, cultural pieces, feature interviews, historical pieces, and opinion pieces. RANGE! So, if you’re someone who commissions pieces then commission me! And if you’re not yet convinced by my blog, well, below are a few links that might persuade you."
Links:
‘The Women who saved us’ for Meeting of Minds UK
Judith & Elizabeth EFITTER interview for The Pitch Fanzine
‘Unpaid labour for Black History Month’ for SHADO
NB: Love in Colour ended up not being published on the platform I had expected, but I did publish it on my blog and podcast.
"Like many of us who have found homes (or not) in book clubs, I have a habit of (1) buying books before having read the ones I already have on my shelf (really they’re just stacked on top of each other on my dresser) and (2) reading multiple books at the same time. My reading lists also include several blogs and articles from some of my favourite media outlets. [...] In this post I want to share with you some of the readings that have been the most impactful for me this year and have in different ways, made me (and continue to make me) a better writer."
Links:
‘The Vanishing Half’ by Brit Bennett
‘Love in Colour’ by Bolu Babalola
‘Ordinary Genius’ by Kim Addonizio
Black Lives Matter, grandma and me: how our world changed during lockdown
A black feminist’s search for sisterhood
From the archives 21/09/20
"There’s a saying in kriol that goes sorti na pé ki sta. It translates to luck is in the foot. Another saying says si bu sinta, vida na sinta ku bo, and this one translates to “if you sit, life sits with you” which is to say that things start happening when you start moving. My dad’s been saying that to me since the beginning of the year and it echoes in the back of my mind like a mantra as I carve this path."
Links:
A lesson on persistence by Black Ballad editor, Jendella Benson
From the archives 08/09/21
"On days that I don't feel like thinking, I still spend a lot of time in my own head, trying to figure out ways of making this writing thing sustainable. I've been asking myself many questions about the content I want to produce, whether it is worth producing and found that in planning, I neglected to plan for my own blog."
Links:
Spreadsheet with platforms to pitch to