BY NIKKI ADEBIYI, FOUNDER @ BOUNCE BLACK
Hello and happy July, Bounce Black community! Fear not, we have not abandoned you. Although it’s been a little quiet on our socials, many moves are being made behind the scenes! Let’s catch up…
Bounce Black 2.0
You might’ve noticed some changes around here. That’s because we’re in the middle of a bit of rebrand!
Together with my mentor, Noel Hedges, as part of the Creative Mentor Network x Soho House mentoring scheme, we have been steadily laying the groundwork of the next phase of Bounce Black.
I want to see the platform become a reliable community wellbeing resource, so what better way to do that than to make more accessible the knowledge and networks I take for granted?
To that end, over time, you will be able to find tools and resources to help you navigate your mental health, your career and your culture. You will also find a directory of coaches and therapists who can help you build a holistic legacy. We’ll also be relaunching our meaningful merchandise online store to fund our bursary for Black students in the UK.
Have a look around the website to see what we’re doing and how you can get help so far. Stay tuned for more helpful content on our soon-to-land podcast!
“Two degrees hotter”
In May, I finally had my graduation ceremony for my Master of Arts (MA) in Law! It was a long-awaited, triumphant closure to what was one of the most intense and stressful academic years of my life. So much so, that soon after completing the course, I launched the Bounce Black Bursary to support students trying to better themselves through Higher Education whilst navigating difficult personal circumstances. The struggle is real, so I wanted to help alleviate it.
As an aspiring lawyer with a solid legal professional network and legal work experience under my belt, I know that I can do the job of a lawyer. What’s challenging is the immense resilience and stamina required to make it to the point of qualification. It’s not a smooth ride for anyone, and it takes a lot of hard work, but the journey is doubly hard when you’re faced with hurdles in other areas of life.
Nevertheless, I made it through to the other side. So, can you, if you would like to (because there are times when it’s best to walk away, and that’s okay too).
My first Founder Fest
Imagine a dedicated space for driven, dedicated and diverse thought leaders, builders, movers and shakers to come together to learn, network, pitch and collaborate. Add to that high energy environment a mini marketplace of stalls and vendors from mostly Black-owned businesses, displaying the outputs of the kind of vision and persistence encouraged in breakout rooms during back-to-back panel discussions.
That’s exactly what I experienced at Foundervine’s Founderfest, a dream come true for anyone with an entrepreneurial flair. My highlight was hearing the stories of entrepreneurs who transformed their trauma into something good, for themselves and for their communities. By virtue of being speakers at Founderfest, I’d say they’re pretty successful!
I also enjoyed the delicious pots of Afro-Caribbean rice dishes and puff puff (a fried doughy snack, or the Nigerian equivalent of a donut) by YumChop and healthy snacks from Raise.
Diversity is when you are invited to the party. Inclusion is when you are asked to dance. Equity is when you have the power to change the music.
Speaking up, speaking out
Since completing media and public relations (PR) training with Freuds in March, I have found myself boldly facing both my social anxiety and public audiences. From asking difficult questions at events in Parliament, to facilitating workshops and speaking at conferences, I’ve become more comfortable with using my voice.
In May, I presented about my learnings and progress during the Soho Mentorship scheme alongside my mentor Noel at Soho House. I also shared some reflections to a private audience with my Beyond Our Youth family at Posh Tatoes, celebrating the life and impact of another mentor of mine, Veronica Martin OBE. Then I ended the month by supporting with the onboarding day for the Google x YSYS UX Design certificate at Google’s London HQ!
In June, I facilitated a discussion about the relationship between diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and employee wellbeing. I also co-facilitiated a DEI workshop with the YSYS team in Barcelona. Finally, I spoke about neurodiversity in the workplace as a panellist at the SIC Summer Conference. All in the space of three weeks!
Living and building at the same time
All that to say, it’s been a busy past six months. I have been building and creating at speed, all while navigating ordinary and strange life events at the same time. Now that I have some time to slow down in the month of July, I want to share some of the key insights Noel and I spoke about in our Soho Mentorship showcase presentation, after which this blog is named.
So, how do you make things happen when life happens?
Well, for me, narrowing my focus has served me exceedingly well. As an ambitious go-getter, there are an infinite number of ideas I imagine myself executing. But I can’t do it all, and certainly not all at once. So, I’ve found it helpful to prioritise particular goals and steward my energy accordingly, sometimes using my mentors as sounding boards for how I should go about that.
There have been times where personal circumstances have required significant attention, while other times I have tunnel visioned on my goals. As life itself ebbs and flows, so too does our capacity. So, it’s okay to press pause on some things in order to focus on more pressing issues.
Overall, though, I have found the key to making things happen when life happens is keeping perspective. This is easier said than done, but it’s important to zoom out of our circumstances often to recall our focus to greater things. For me, my Christian faith grounds me because I believe God is with and for me no matter what life throws at me. My desired legacy is also a driving force for me, as a dear friend said to me, it will not fall into my lap easily. Rather, I must fight for it.
In short, the key to making things happen when life happens is channelling my energy into fighting the good fight and trusting God to look out for me in the face of the “good trouble” necessary to bring about the change I want to see. However, I’d also add that for every bit of good trouble stirred up, one must also get some good rest!
And never back down.
Speak up, speak out, get in the way. Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.
The late Rep. John Lewis, US Congressman and Civil Rights Leader
