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:

Twitter

DEFEATED - Boxing Documentary

News package

BJTC Alumni Spotlight on Vedika Bahl

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ONGOING FUNDRAISERS RELATED TO COVID-19 EMERGENCY IN INDIA

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: 

Blogpost

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:

Blogpost 

Platforms to pitch to

Twitter list with journalism opportunities

Facebook group Young Journalist Community

Journo Resources

Mica Montana's links:

Book

Website

Blog

Twitter

Instagram

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!)

Platforms to pitch to

Twitter list with journalism opportunities

Facebook group Young Journalist Community

Journo Resources

Hannah Ajala's links:

Website

Twitter

Instagram

Facebook

Why are some in the diaspora returning home? (BBC Africa Daily)

The travel blogger who visited Nigeria's 36 states (BBC Focus On Africa)

We Are Black Journos

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:

Blogpost

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:

Blogpost

Platforms to pitch to

Twitter list with journalism opportunities

Facebook group Young Journalist Community

Journo Resources

Ricci Shryock's links:

Website

Twitter

Instagram

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:

Blogpost

The MXMMondays newsletter

Identifying emotional burnout by Amani Samah

lifestyle | my approach to slow-living by Amara Amaryah

Colour.full Development

A thread on juggling responsibilities (nb: this doesn't feature in the recording but is useful so check it out!)

Oppy's links:

Instagram

Twitter

My blog, Yasmina Nuny is now OFFICIALLY a podcast *sirens*

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:

Blogpost

a complete guide | how to get amazing solo travel photos by Amara Amaryah

Some inspiration

Hot Shots! Shooting Photos in Public by Stephanie Yeboah