The Women Behind the Collective
It’s International Women’s Day; a day on which we celebrate women, and give focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against women. In our opinion, those things should be a focus every day; that’s why I wanted to shine a light on some of the exceptionally brilliant women who I’m proud to call my colleagues and friends; women who are changing the world daily.
So let’s start with me, Steffi. A sentence which feels uncomfortable to write; obnoxious, even. I wasn’t going to include myself in this list. But isn’t that one of the problems? This insidious diminishing of self, of our identity as a woman, of our right to stand up and say hey, listen, look, learn from me, I am doing great things, big and small. I am a writer, and I write blogs for The Tandem Collective, as well as blogs and social media content for charities and causes that I feel passionate about including bull breed dog advocacy, fighting against the use of animals in sports, veganism, neurodiversity, disability and chronic illness. I am passionate about mending our relationship with the natural world and social justice. I have vowed to speak up more this year; to not let my outrage be dampened, to not become numb to the suffering of those around me, to fight harder than ever for them. I am also a mother and I live with life-limiting chronic illness and disability. I am proud of myself, when I look at what I bring to the world - beyond and including these little blogs. My words are my power, and I want to use them to give the spotlight to those around me. I asked the women of Tandem what they’re proud of in their lives outside of this job, and here’s what they said (after some poking and prodding, because again, none of us are naturally comfortable in singing our own praises…)
Laura M
Laura has been an integral part of Tandem for a long time, but is not a face you’ll often see on our social media. She is incredibly intelligent, emotionally astute, calm and innovative, and Tandem wouldn’t be what it is without her.
“I am very proud to hold two voluntary positions in the community within which I live. As a board member of the Nature Commission, an organisation which aims to enhance Guernsey’s natural environment within a generation by ensuring that nature matters to islanders of all ages and secondly, as part of the programming team of the Guernsey Literary Festival. It's a great pleasure to see the events come into fruition and the local community support the festival after many months planning.”
Lex
Lex is a familiar face to many of you; but there’s much more to her than the much-loved, crime-obsessed bookstagrammer you see on Instagram…she’s a personal growth and productivity heroine who feels passionately about helping authors and the freelance community.
“In 2023, I ran a half marathon; something that I never thought I could do. Every 'workday' this year I have 'walked' to work, READ: I've walked around the block before I start work, as a support for my brain in terms of 'in work' mode. When things get really busy, I do it at COP too. Throughout 2023 I regularly spoke on the space for authors on social media across Instagram & TikTok. I supported authors in their own social media growth. After suffering form both corporate and freelancer burnout I'm now in a space where I feel like I can balance the burn, as it were, and still get most things done.”
Jen
Jen is not only an integral part of team Tandem, she’s a magic woman in every sense of the word. When she’s not busy running campaigns and being my best friend, she’s fighting for the safety of women and girls.
Jen works with Our Streets Now, a national campaign demanding an end to public sexual harassment through awareness and education alongside fighting for political and legislative change. Her specific remit is fighting for the every young person to be taught about public sexual harassment (PSH), its root causes and its impacts in school, in order to raise a generation who are equipped to challenge harassment, oppression, and prejudice; to empathise with those who experience it; and who never become perpetrators of this everyday violence. Just a few days ago she was talking with 120 school pupils, amid doing Tandem work, raising her own excellent humans, baking over 100 cinnamon rolls, and being an all-round champion for women. See; magic.
Jaide and Natasha
Two of our resident social media superstars, Jaide and Natasha, are on a mission to bring more joy to the women around them. Not only do they both have young children and full-on jobs, these two humans are somehow living the most aesthetically pleasing, dopamine-driven lives I’ve ever seen.
“We have an IG hashtag that we created to get people dressing in colour (#confidentlycolourful) and feeling more confident about it to bring joy into the grey everyday!” Be more Jaide and Natasha, and let a little colour in!
Alexis
You may know Alexis from our YouTube channel; when she’s not creating incredible video content for us, being a musical theatre extraordinaire, enchanting the world with her singing or chatting all things fantasy with us, she does some pretty impressive work in Audiobooks…
“I do freelance Audiobook Producing/Directing work for an audiobook recording studio in London. The studio works with major and independent publishers, and I've gotten to work on audiobooks for Simon & Schuster and Nosy Crow with them. I usually do Children's, Middle Grade, and YA books. My job involves going through the manuscript beforehand and checking pronunciations of names, less familiar words, character dialects, and flagging any areas I think might be challenging for the narrator. On the day of the recording, I sit in the studio with the narrator and mark up the manuscript with notes for the audio editor. I also give direction to the narrator, ensure consistency with pronunciations and dialects, and correct them when they make mistakes. Working on audiobooks aimed at children and teens is a lot of fun, as the narrators get to play around with lots of dynamic and entertaining voices (think dragons, vampires, witches, and kids)!”
Zuzanna
Zuzanna has chosen to share an anecdote about a fellow Tandem lassie, but may I take this opportunity to say that Zuz is also a powerhouse within the literary world and an extremely intelligent, kind and authentic human who we all adore. Now, onto what she actually said;
“I, as a woman, subsconsciously trained by society to be on alert for dangers that range from being patronised at work to more serious threats, forget sometimes that other women can feel what I feel, and how much comfort can be found in commiserating over it. It's can be such a relief to show other women what we're made of, bond over it, and let ourselves be vulnerable with each other.
An example of this is my tendency to act like I'm self-sufficient, that I'm FINE in all caps even when I'm not even fine in lowercase. In December of last year, I suffered a personal loss, while dealing with a surge of stress at work and experiencing other strains in my personal life. A perfect storm of grief and pain, and while the gale raged around me, I smiled my way through it, my laughter tinged with a desperation to stay 'strong', to act 'normal'. I didn't want to fail by leaning on others, to be a burden, or worse, to inconvenience others by speaking up for myself and asking for the help I needed.
Until, at a work event, one of the women sitting next to me at the table gave me a knowing look, and then said simply, with no judgment, only compassion: "What if actually, you deserve to be supported and loved through all of this?"
That one moment made me break down, and I spent the next half hour weeping into this lovely friend's bosom. It stayed with me, over the difficult weeks that followed, and it's a moment I think of often since - it inspired me to have difficult conversations with people who I felt weren't there for me in the way that I needed, to take time to focus on myself without feeling the typical guilt that women often feel when they do something for themselves.
It's been two months, and I honestly credit that moment of understanding from another woman with spurring me to take care of myself.”