Hi friends! Welcome back to the Speak Up Erika podcast. I’m your host Erika and this podcast talks about topics we’re afraid to speak up about but should. This week, I chat with Caroline a.k.a. Vaybe on what’s it like being a creative. Caroline and I chat about what it’s like working from home as an artist, personal tips on how to deal with creative burnout, and why she decided to rebrand from Art by Caro to Vaybe Art.
Thank you again Caroline for being a guest on the podcast, for being with me throughout this journey, and for sharing your perspectives of the struggles working from home and in the arts.
If you didn’t know, Caroline drew the lovely botanical illustrations for my book & for my Instagram posts. She’s a painter, artist, and pianist who paints landscapes and anime. Check out her artwork on Instagram as @vaybe.art, http://instagram.com/vaybe.art.
Thank you so much to my friend Josh for letting me use his beats. Find him on SoundCloud as Owa! 👀https://m.soundcloud.com/owa-ever. Listen to the Speak Up Erika podcast on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Stay updated with me on https://solo.to/SpeakUpErika! 🌸
Below is my blog post on Local’s Festival‘s blog for a post on International Women’s Day and challenging their theme of 2021, which is #ChooseToChallenge.
Happy International Women’s Day! What does #ChooseToChallenge Mean?
Happy International Women’s Day to all the amazing women who continue to lead, create, thrive, run businesses, be a kick ass boss, and more. While scrolling through your social media you may see people tagging, celebrating, and acknowledging women around them. Women who are leaders, women who have broken barriers, women who inspire others.
“International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. Significant activity is witnessed worldwide as groups come together to celebrate women’s achievements or rally for women’s equality.
Marked annually on March 8th, International Women’s Day (IWD) is one of the most important days of the year to:
A challenged world is an alert world. Individually, we’re all responsible for our own thoughts and actions – all day, every day.
We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world.
From challenge comes change, so let’s all choose to challenge.
Their campaign asks people to submit a photo of themselves with their hand up in support of Choosing to Challenge. This is an effort to call out inequality, encourage creating an inclusive world, challenge biases and question stereotypes” (International Women’s Day).
Four things that can we do to help create change?
Break barriers, encourage and continuing supporting women. Ask yourself questions and challenge these barriers that try to limit and belittle women. We are here to empower each other, lift each other up and create change in the community to build a different world for the future. Here’s a video on CNBC’s Make It, featuring Zandra John, a local tile setter in New York, breaking barriers about women working in construction and standing up to sexism in the workplace. (YouTube vide: Making $70K A Year As A Tile Setter In NYC | On The Job).
Fundraise for “female-focused charities” In the International Women’s Day website they list a handful of charities to support and raise money for (List of charities on IWD site). At Locals, we truly value giving back to the community and helping those around us. Here are some Canadian charities that support girls in Canada in effort to “dissolve gender stereotypes and ensure that young girls in Canada and around the world have access to life-changing resources” (Canada Helps).
Speak Up Against Inequality, Exclusivity, Biases and Stereotypes With this year’s theme, #IChooseToChallenge, we must continue to speak up and be a voice for women who cannot speak for themselves. Although we’re in 2021, there’s a lot of change to be done. Even when International Women’s Day passes, we need to continue being a voice for change – speak up to those we are misogynistic, sexist and chauvinistic.
To end off, here’s a Instagram post by @kirinshinha on celebrating International Women’s Day. “The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” Women can do anything. We can be CEOs, engineers, and gamers. And we are unstoppable when we support each other. I have been told countless times that “I can’t” throughout my life and career. My response? Watch me.
Below is my blog post on Local’s Festival‘s blog on our first Valentine’s Day guid for 2021. You can also find the blog post here.
Hello Locals!
Welcome to our first blog post. We’ve been MIA but we’ve recharged and we’re back for sharing more about locals and supporting our community! Here’s to spreading some love in some hard times. 💜
In our first post, we’ll be sharing locals in our community that you can show some love and support while also giving gifts to your loved ones.
As Valentine’s Day approaches we look for ways to show the people we love that we care about them. Sometimes it’s giving them chocolate to let them know that they’re sweeter than sugar. Sometimes it’s giving them jewelry to make them feel like royalty. Sometimes it’s giving them a cute teddy bear to cuddle.
Here are 14 locals from our “Locals Fest Valentine’s Day Guide 2021” on Instagram. This guide can spark some ideas and you can get sweet gifts to give your partner, family, friends and the people you love in your lives.
@katandwax Set the mood with some handmade coconut scented soy wooden wick candles! Hand poured from Brampton with love. Pair with their resin coasters or accessories!
@veryesthetique Get your scannable custom Spotify album in a glass white border frame. Personalize this gift with a photo of you and your loved ones or your partner.
@mindbodyspirit_mobilemassageCoupled up or single, show yourself or your partner some love with a treatment package. Check out their “Valentine” or “Love Thy Self” including a massage, Gua Sha facial and more!
@nama.stay.zenGet lit and stay zen with some room fresheners! Or you can set the mood with some heart shaped wax melts to gift your friends and family!
@pilatesbodyworkoutLooking to stay active throughout the winter with your partner? Give a Pilates subscription for a month or two & join in on partner workout on Sunday, Feb 14.
@baked.by.traceyWhat’s better than a bouquet that you can eat? Give someone you love a bouquet of strawberries or chocolate covered ones!
@crumbs.cremeDid someone say strawberry macarons? Get a pack of 9 macarons to give your sibling, partner or friends.
@thedaintyaccessoriesFrom lashes, jewelry, sunnies and hair accessories. A Toronto based business with some dainty goodies to give your loved ones and besties.
@_creativian_I miss being a kid and getting valentine’s day cards! Get your “colour me valentine’s” to relive your inner kid and gift to your crush.
@toronto.together Thank you #torontotogether for curating this post of local valentine’s giveaways around the city. Maybe you’ll get lucky and win some amazing products and gifts for yourself and others.
@ballyjewelrySome jewelry essentials for your partner with this “classic curb flat link chain in 14K” 👀. Stay classy with handmade jewelry and curated gemstones.
@218aestheticsCozy up with your loved ones with a customized rug! All rugs are hand tufted with 100% acrylic yarn and have a wool and non slip backing.
@paperprotegeShow your loved ones you care by sharing a message in these beautiful cards created by local artists. Paper Protege began as a 17 year old student designing cards on Microsoft word and printing them from a HP inkjet printer. Today the Paper Protege has been running since 2016 to bring you designs from talented artists across Canada!
@knotty.knits Shop slow fashion hand made goods by @knotty.knots! Products range from handbags, hats, and gloves to keep cozy this winter.
Stay tuned with the Locals Festival Instagramas we’ll continue to add more locals in our guide, get updates for our upcoming Spring Festival and share locals an on-going basis.
Erika Roldan 