define: Britishness
What is ‘Britishness’ and would you be able to define it?
Yero’s Journey: Life After Rife :(
Illustration: Leo Jay Shire edit: Yero Timi-Biu
Why do good things have to come to an end? Yero reflects on six months at the coolest place, ever.
I remember sitting down six months ago, and strategising what I wanted out of Rife and where I wanted to steer it with my fellow colleagues Jack and Leo, like it was yesterday. I said something about building a portfolio of work, gaining confidence in my ideas and helping at least one person. This was six months ago, are you serious?
Many, many, many moons ago I used to come to the Watershed all the time after school and I was really lucky to have been exposed to it’s creativity and amazing brownies. If someone told me in year seven, that in ten years time I was going to be creating content for a well-known youth magazine at the centre of it’s creative hub, I wouldn’t have believed it.
I started off at Rife knowing that I was on of those keen bean ‘on the ball’ young people.
I started off at Rife knowing that I was one of those keen bean ‘on the ball’ young people, I worked really hard and wanted to contribute something to the creative industries that would encourage at least one person to do something. Whether that’s to vote, stop complaining about a new range of ethnically diverse emojis, or understand that menstruation is a natural thing that’s here to stay.
Rife has been a platform for me to not only write about things I feel are important in today’s society, but also engage in some sort of conversation with other young people on the web. I’ve had so much fun coming in to work every day and finding our what’s happening in the news (ie what atrocity a celeb has tweeted or certain initiation rituals by certain politicians). Not to mention witnessing the debates between Leo and Jack on the necessity of Ed Sheeran and why Kanye West is just a misunderstood soul.
Photo courtesy of Yero Timi-Biu
Photo courtesy of Yero Timi-Biu
Photo courtesy of Yero Timi-Biu
I also got to go to networking events and hang out with the pioneering women of Bristol, like the team behind gal-dem zine (that both Leo and I are a part of, we are awesome) and Laura Lewis-Paul of Saffron Records.
Photo courtesy of Saffron Records
Once I accidentally left this video on a loop for all 57 minutes whilst researching this article:
Where else would the deputy leader of a political party come and hang out with young journalists and answer our hard hitting questions? My first big project at Rife was heading our ‘digestible politics’ season where I volunteered to read through five 90+ page manifestos and turn the relevant information in to infographics. This was my first vote, so it was an important one.
In our first month, Vanessa showed us this video in our weekly ‘show us a piece of content that’s inspired you’ session. Leo, Jack and I weren’t quite sure what the value of this content was, but we smiled politely. You can decide for yourselves here:
Photo courtesy of Leo Jay Shire
…the invaluable guidance and support from my surrogate work parents, Nikesh, Vanessa, and Hannah.
I’m going to miss the Watershed lunches, (oh the lunches) free cinema tickets, and the invaluable guidance and support from my surrogate work parents, Nikesh, Vanessa, and Hannah. Yes I have three parents, because Rife is progressive like that. I am honoured to have been able to work with them. Not only did they give me sound advice and a slight kick up the backside to be my best self but also time to grow and evaluate how I awesome I am. They are assets to any team and I’m so jealous the next cohort gets to spend some more time with them.
Whilst at Rife, I went off to Edinburgh TV Festival on an entry-level trainee scheme and had the time of my life. I think acknowledging my self-worth at Rife allowed me to put myself at the forefront of things and cease career development opportunities improved whilst at the festival. Back to my initial goals six months ago, I’m not sure if I’ve encouraged anyone to do something, but I’m proud of every single piece of content I’ve made, I’m willing to workshop my ideas and I’m confident I’m ready to conquer the world. Cheesy, but true.
Catch up on Yero’s best bits here
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About the author
Yero Timi-Biu
Yero is a 22-year-old writer-director for TV and film and former (self-professed) serial intern. She took a detour through fashion when at aged 16, she took part in a documented internship with BBC Blast, where 10 teenagers had 6 months to create and showcase a fashion label. Subsequently, she then went on to study a Fashion Communication degree in London and graduated in 2013. Yero has recently returned to the UK after 3 months in New York, where she attended a Screenwriting workshop. With a keen interest in broadcast, Yero has always been interested in using writing, film and audio as a form of creating conversations, tackling the stigma of talking about social issues, as well as documenting and promoting underrepresented people in society. She is especially interested in raising awareness of mental health issues, long-term illnesses and encouraging well being, (especially within young people who may want to pursue a creative career).
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