Antiracism and Your Online Presence

A bit of background
Researching violence on social media, I look at language, memes, GIFs, emojis, the weight of violence in a retweet, and a whole range of other instances of violence as they occur on the internet. This is a topic I have been interested in for years and now it is the focus of my PhD. It’s a sprawling topic, much like the World Wide Web itself.

In light of the Black Lives Matter revolution gaining more traction and attention than ever before, antiracism is an understandably amplified topic both online and off. Of course, much of the current conversation is performative – that’s what happens when you haven’t done the work up til now. It’s not like people haven’t been talking about racism around the world for hundreds of years. People have just chosen to listen, to actively silence and place their own comfort above the safety of those affected by white supremacy. However, with more people joining these conversations, there are some patterns emerging that are a continuation of racism in digital spaces.

Back it up a bit
We’re living in the age of the internet. Many of the conversations we have about racism, antiracism and white supremacy are happening online. In theory, this is a great thing. Accessibility is hugely important, as are inclusion and diversity. The digital age should allow us to give space to educators, activists, those with lived experience and let us learn from a range of people across the world. However, the way we use much of the internet – especially social media – doesn’t often allow for this in practice. One of the reasons for this is the fact that poverty overwhelmingly affects Black, Indigenous and People of Colour. Access is not a simple issue and intersecting barriers like racism, poverty and problems faced by those with other marginalised identities compound the inaccessible nature of social media for many of the important conversations where these people’s voices are most needed.

Another problem is that Black, Indigenous and People of Colour are routinely silenced on social media platforms. The algorithms are biased and do not amplify marginalised users where they should. Platform safety policies rarely do enough to protect users, but often are used against marginalised users to silence them when they speak out about the racism they’re experiencing on the platforms and in wider society. Then there’s the racist platform users who leave comments, share content and post their own content with the intent to harm; creating hostile environments for Black, Indigenous and People of Colour on the platforms. Coordinated attacks routinely see the deplatforming of Black, Indigenous and Poeple of Colour whose powerful voices condemn racism, white supremacy and a number of related social issues (e.g. whorephobia, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, poverty, class systems, misogyny).

Effective communication online
Another problem is that nuance can be difficult to communicate online. When you rely on images and text (especially with character limits), you often lose tone, facial expression, and context for starters. Videos often have a time limit. Posts can be taken out of context. Intention is hard to discern online and perception can be nearly impossible to predict (this is all stuff I’m picking apart in my thesis and to date I have no real answer for rectifying this issue). We have come to view certain actions as agreement, even when there’s no accompanying text to contextualise sharing or liking a post. We are seeing that platform users are finding ways around implicit messaging attached to actions like shares and likes. On Twitter, for example, we see people screenshotting tweets and images for resharing to minimise amplification of content (which at times is done to minimise harm, other times to capture ‘receipts’ or proof that the content did exist, should it be deleted). However, the fact remains that fully understanding someone’s point of view can be very difficult with the limited context and content provided by social media – particularly where there’s a lack of audiovisual components.

Internet communication is endlessly complex. Tackling complex issues on platforms where intention can be misunderstood does not bode well for positive exchange, civil discussion or learning. Every user has a unique relationship with the technology they use and a unique approach to their engagement with the platforms they use. Those relationships will depend on a number of things, not least their prior experience with the internet, their understanding of their own identity, their understanding of how identity construction online, their relationships with the people they interact with on the platform and their understanding of how others view them on that platform. Like I said, it’s complex stuff. Much of this work is subconscious, largely because our education on internet existence, identity building and online safety was (and continues to be) sorely lacking so those of us who grew up in the age of the internet have had to figure things out as we determined the ways in which apps and platforms would work for us and navigating the interface and content changes forced on us by the platform owners (think about Instagram’s proposed removal of the Likes count display and Tumblr’s banning of sexual content as two recent examples).

Unfortunately, since more and more people rely on social media for communication, education and entertainment, these conversations need to occur in places where more people are likely to see and engage in them. So, complex messages have to be distilled down to fit with platform formats. And, because we’re human and we like repetitive formats, we tend to consume information in the ‘easiest’, most condensed option available. Oftentimes, this results in us losing much of the nuance in conversations. It can also result in well-meaning conversations doing more harm tham good.

Taking the racism out of your internet use
Now, let’s consider your own online presence and how you might work antiracism into your internet use. First of all, look at who you’re following. How many educators, activists, researchers, artists, writers, musicians are Black, Indigenous and People of Colour? Now is the time to curate your feed in a way that promotes a diverse range of thinking, lived experience and action. Maybe you should unfollow people you know are refusing to learn and do the work to be antiracist. Maybe try and engage with people you know who are continuing to be racist and do the work so your pals from marginalised communities don’t have to.

One thing you should absolutely do is research the content you’re engaging with. Look into the arguments and the people sharing them – are they the OP (original poster), or are the reposting other people’s content without credit? Are these people experts, are they new to the conversation? Are there others you can learn more from and who share more nuanced takes on big issues? We’re all so quick to hit Share, but we don’t spend nearly enough time researching to ensure we’re promoting informed individuals who actively work to minimise harm and work in antiracist ways. A quick internet search of “[name] controversy” or “[name] harm” will give you an overview, but search Twitter and Instagram too. Whisper networks often work by not tagging but still using harmful users’ names (or swapping letters for an asterisk to avoid pile-ons or other violence). And be ready to be wrong.

One of the biggest things you can do is be open to being corrected or challenged. We’re human. We won’t get it right all the time. Getting it wrong isn’t the end of the world – it’s an opportunity to learn and expand our understanding of an incredibly complex issue. Share your learning – if you weren’t aware, the likelihood is some of your social media followers won’t have known either. Openness and accountability are good practices to engage with in your internet use.

There’s not only one strategy for weaving antiracism into your online presence, but there are lots of steps you can take in decolonising your social media use that will help.

Digital Blackface and cultural appropriation online
Think about where your internet use includes appropriation. Do you use African American Vernacular English outside of contexts where you are quoting somebody? What words do you search for in the Giphy library, and how many of those GIFs are stereotyped behaviours of Black people? Digital blackface is an issue I have been exploring for a few years. It’s real and it’s incredibly problematic. Teen Vogue published an article about Blackface in GIFs a few years back and I highly recommend you read it. Giphy hired a Cultural Editor, Jasmyn Lawson to address the imbalance of representation in GIFs. She was interviewed by i-D in 2018 on making GIFs more Black and the interview really stuck with me.

“I want to have GIFS that represent all types of black women: light-skinned, dark-skinned, heavy set, different sexual orientations, trans. And really make sure all the different sects of a certain minority group is being represented well in the media.”

Jasmyn Lawson, in an interview for i-D

That this was such a revolutionary step in 2018 really frustrated and upset me. But I was so inspired by Jasmyn’s work. It got me thinking about how I present myself online. Do I resort to racist caricatures? I certainly did. I take a lot more time in choosing GIFs and sharing memes now, considering what implicit messages they carry and whether they fall foul of racial stereotyping or appropriation.

There are multiple ways non-Black people have been appropriating Black culture, history, pain and joy. A recent example is the Breonna Taylor memes. The memeification of her murder, “Anyway arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor”, is a stark reminder that the ways we engage with content on the internet removes an element of humanity from the topics we’re discussing. An excellent article from Huffington Post explores the need for greater recognition by non-Black people of Black humour, joy, grief, pain and culture.

But the popularity of this one call for action has also highlighted the ways in which this current cultural moment is being commodified, trivialized and used as fodder for performative allyship. 

Zeba Blay, Huffington Post

Removing racism from your social media use
We need to bring our internet interaction back to a place of intention and reflection. If we’re going to post online, we have to take away the mindless scroll and actively participate. That means stopping to think about why we’re consuming the content we are, what potential impact this could be having on others, and how we want to engage with other people. In many cases, our use won’t change. But you might consider not retweeting harmful tweets – retweeting tells the algorithm to amplify the post and will potentially put more people at risk of harm. You might add a contextual message to the Instagram post you share to your Story. Maybe instead of a Story, you record a video to give you more space to communicate effectively and save it to your highlights so you can reflect on it later and have it accessible beyond the 24 hour mark.

Social media, but make it antiracist
How you present yourself online is how people will likely remember you, especially during times where in-person meetings are limited and more of our communication is occuring through screens (with or without video and microphones enabled). Actively working antiracism into your internet use, particularly your social media, is a crucial step in decolonising your online presence. The internet doesn’t start or end with social media, but as it continues to play a huge part of our lives in how we curate our digital existence, portray our lives, consume content, learn, engage in activism and so much more, it’s certainly a great place to start building antiracism into your daily life.

This is a huge topic. Technically it’s a combination of multiple huge topics, which makes it even bigger. Such a mammoth needs more than one 2,000 blog post/essay/thought piece/brain dump to investigate it. I have lots of thoughts and feelings about lots of things that are happening online. I’ll publish new blog posts when I have the energy and the words to verbalise the abstract ideas that are bouncing around my brain. As you can probably tell from this ridiculously long blog post, I’m incredibly passionate about these topics. Not least from a research perspective, but as a human who works, researches, learns, connects and emotes a lot online it’s important to me that I reflect regularly on what I’m seeing and doing. I hope this post has given you some food for thought too.

2020 – A Year of Revolution

A long-overdue life update and an even longer overdue commitment to active anti-racism work for 2020 and beyond

It’s been a few years since I visited this website. I fell out of love with blogging. Other things took priority. My motivations for it were all wrong. I was chasing views when I should have been exploring real issues. So I stepped away and with distance I gained perspective.

Since I last uploaded in 2018, I’ve had several new jobs and completed a leadership programme run by YWCA Scotland and the Scottish Parliament Community Outreach Team. In March 2019, I returned to uni, excited to begin my postgraduate journey at Edinburgh Napier University. In September 2019, I changed track from a Masters of Research to a PhD programme. So, long story short, I’m studying part-time and working part-time as YWCA Scotland’s Digital Officer.

Activism has long been a part of my life. I’m a vocal feminist, keen to further educate myself in ways the patriarchy continues to oppress people – especially marginalised communities. Predominantly through writing articles for various online magazines, posting on my personal social media and in-person conversations, I have advocated for LGBTQ+ rights, more comprehensive sex education, and more recently have engaged in campaigning to end period poverty in Scotland (which I had previously written about for the now defunct Femini Magazine).

My postgraduate research is absolutely an extension of my activism. I am exploring the nature of online violence, specifically as it pertains to Twitter. Through discourse analysis, my current aim (I’m in my first year, this will likely evolve as PhD research has a tendency to do) is to build a framework that can be used to accurately pinpoint how violence is created, maintained and replicated on Twitter. We all know Twitter as a hellhole, but we don’t often engage with the Whys and Hows. I’m diving into the murky waters in the hopes of figuring that out. This has already been an emotional, shocking, exhausting experience as an observer. So far the content has not connected with my lived experience and while I know it will, many of my privileges (my whiteness, my cisness, my hetero relationship, for starters) have shielded me from the brunt of the violences unleashed on others through Twitter (and other digital or offline means).

In the context of 2020 and the #BlackLivesMatter revolution (one which, to my mind has taken too long to hold the sustained interest of white people globally), my research has taken on a new dimension. Racism and hate speech were two aspects of violence I was keen to explore in my research case studies for understanding what makes language a source of violence.

I jumped on the #BlackoutTuesday bandwagon without really considering the implications. For someone who has worked in, theorised, examined and interacted daily with social media, I sure missed the wider implications of that one. It was a wake-up call I needed. The anti-racism workshop I attended through work was the start of my active anti-racism journey where before it had been an implicit, underlying consideration.

Explicit anti-racism work will be a part of my job, research, activism and daily life going forward. This will undoubtedly involve sitting with incredibly uncomfortable realisations about my beliefs and behaviours, both past and present, while figuring out how to make appropriate changes or outputs. And, it’s important to note that my discomfort is a drop compared to the ocean of racism, pain, generational trauma and violence faced by the Black community around the world. There is so much work to be done and I’m ready to commit.

I’ve returned to this blog, in part, to track my anti-racism journey. Instead of resharing resources on the reg, I’ll be unpacking my privilege, unlearning white supremacy and exploring ways I can be an active ally.

The number of resources currently available are plentiful. The anti-racism courses, podcasts, books are abundant. Documentaries examining the historic and ongoing racism of the UK, the USA and further afield are easy to find. So, now I’m reaching for them where I hadn’t been with any consistent commitment or active participation before. I’m ashamed it has taken until this newest wave of anti-racism discourse to engage more fully with the cause and educate myself in a meaningful, present, connected way. It’s inexcusable. The onus is on me to do better; as a white woman, as an intersectional feminist, as a human.

Some Girls Are Just Born With Glitter In Their Veins

Today marks the end of my 10 months at The Leith Agency.

I’ve had an absolute ball during my time here and I am very sad that come Monday morning I won’t be back in the office with this wonderful bunch.

Can’t say the same about my 7am alarms, right enough. Or the mental requests I’ve dealt with as a community manager. The comedy value was worth it though.

The knowledge I’m walking away with is invaluable; the experience has been equally first-rate. I’ve worked on accounts for top Scottish brands and can throw out some great random facts from the masses of research I’ve done.

Fun fact: A video equates to over 1 million words in communication terms.

It has been great to use my Linguistics degree and get my knowledge nerd on every week.

To be able to say that I began interning with one of Scotland’s biggest, best and boldest advertising agencies before I’d even been donked on the head with the manky hat and given my certificate of graduation is an achievement I’ll always be proud of.

In 10 months, I have worked on more than 85 powerpoint presentations, 126 word docs and have been on the Barge a grand total of 7 times.

I’ve made some wonderful friends, annoyed the hell out of my best gal and work wife Philippa and “left a lasting impression” on the people on my floor (which I’m fairly certain is code for “noisy and hard to forget”).

I’ve grown up a lot too. Much more certain in my capabilities and the caliber of work I produce, I no longer feel the need to check everything off before completing it.

Not to mention my rapidly improving GIF game. I’m sure I’m the only one who will miss my GIF inputs in response to all-staffers.

At the moment, I don’t know where I’m going to end up, but I do know that wherever the next step lands, the people I work with have very very large shoes to fill and the highest expectations to top.

I haven’t cried yet, but it’s not quite half 5 – there is still time. I do know that I’ll be sad to pass through Leith’s doors as an employee for the last time tonight and not know when I’ll next see the brilliant, talented people inside – but I won’t stop pestering them just because I’m out of sight.

And I must admit, my colleagues do know me well. My leaving cards were full of glitter, pugs and pizza. What more could a girl want to be remembered for?

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7 Reasons Why You Should Give Me a Job – Number 4 is Amazing!

It can be difficult to get people’s attention. There is so much noise out there, making being heard or seen a challenge if you’re lacking a megaphone and platform boots.

My time at The Leith Agency is coming to an end and I am ready for my next big adventure. I have been contacting other agencies, hoping to chat with digital strategists and social media execs and planners and copywriters to gain a better understanding of how different agencies — and indeed, different people — approach advertising and marketing in innovative, loud, noticeable ways.

The problem was that I wasn’t being noticed myself. Countless emails and requests and LinkedIn stalking sessions later, I was scunnered. It was time for a new, bolder approach.

The following is a modified version of the very real clickbait efforts I sent out to people and agencies I wanted to get to learn from and get to know better. What better way to convince them that I’m a fun, motivated, interesting person they’d like to have a chat with than to capture them with intrigue and the human inability to ignore the big neon sign (or in this case clickbaity title)?


Amy King. Linguistics graduate, Digital intern, lover of pretty stationery. She’s ready for her next adventure in the working world of social media management and digital strategy. Want to know why not employing her would be a HUGE mistake? Read on to find out…

1. I’m a millennial (setting aside the controversy of the term for now). I’ve downloaded Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Whatsapp, BuzzFeed, Pinterest, Tumblr, Giphy, LinkedIn, WeHeartIt, YouTube and Reddit. Not to mention supporting apps like Boomerang, VSCO, Layout… I use Hootsuite for my personal accounts as well as clients’ social media profiles. I’m committed to the cause.

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2. I’m the keenest of keen beans when it comes to learning. I often find myself on a QI binge. Fun fact: Not every language can deal with metaphors. One of these is Navajo. The Navajo word for The Elephant’s Feet (mountain pillars on Navajo land) translates into English as “two rocks standing vertically parallel in a reciprocal relationship to each other”.  This makes me a pretty great pub quiz teammate. Or researcher. Whichever you think is more important.

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3. My Linguistics degree set me up for big research projects, quantitative data analysis and understanding communication. Advertising is all about understanding communication. We’re a good fit, really.

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4. I prefer a GIF to an emoji. Emojis have their place, but GIFs really tell a story. Some people have Snapchat streaks, my boyfriend and I have baby animal GIF-offs. You tell me which is better.

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5. Facebook ads, Instagram ads, Twitter insights— I’ve dealt with them all. Community management and content marketing make up the bulk of my working week, but other projects I’ve completed include researching internal social media engagement strategies, writing Best Practice guides for social media platforms, learning about the psychology of clickbait and keeping up to date with the latest technologies and advancements in the digital sphere. #Trendy

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6. My life revolves around lists: To Do lists, shopping lists, Do Not Forget These Important Things lists, ‘please talk to me about your industry’ lists – the list goes on. They help my productivity, are cathartic to write and work through and are a productive form of procrastination. What’s not to like?

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7. My Digital Strategist internship with The Leith Agency was originally 10 weeks. When my contract ends in February, I will have been with Leith for 41 weeks (that’s just over 10 months). I must be doing something right, right?

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So, there you have it: 7 reasons why you should want me on your team (albeit not an exhaustive list, but I have to keep some things up my sleeve for the interview!)

Amazingly, this method has proved successful. People tend to notice a headline screaming at them in their inbox when the rest rarely make use of an exclamation mark, never mind block capitals.

It’s funny how keen people are to share their pearls of wisdom with you, yet how difficult it can be to get their attention. Advertising, especially, requires a certain outside-the-box approach to show you’re suited to the industry (not to mention a wee showcasing of my copywriting abilities — added bonus).

Clickbait (aka ‘fake news’ aka ‘alternative facts’) often comes under fire for misadvertising the contents of an article — a prime example being this less than gracious article Piers Morgan published after being stood up by Ewan McGregor (I’m staying away from the politics this time).

However, I’d like to think this article stands up somewhat for the little guy in this particular scenario. Sometimes a catchy title for an article or an introductory email, despite its same-old-clickbait appearance, really is as great as it seems.

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Life Update

It’s been a while, so I’m back with a wee life update.

Signed my new contract today, they’re stuck with me until the end of October!

Over the past 10 weeks I have learned more about the inner workings of digital and social media planning than I could ever have comprehended existing. My fountain of near-useless knowledge shows no signs of drying up because I’m continually reading articles about the future of social media, how businesses can monopolise Facebook, Twitter trends and the history of Snapchat (did you know it was originally called Peekaboo, which is the reason behind the wee ghost? Neither did I).

10 days I’ve been left in charge of the department and I didn’t break anything except a pen I stood on. The social world continued on, none the wiser to my internal panic and flapping that one wrong Enter could bring Facebook to a halt. It didn’t happen. We’re all good.

People actually asked for my help with digital things. I was the go-to gal in the office. That was exciting. And terrifying. And exhilarating when I knew the answer.

The next 10 weeks are shaping up to be full of exciting new things including campaign launches, daily tweeting as anthropomorphic cans and a fair amount of time debating hashtags and emojis. And that’s when I’m not converting people to the world of PokemonGo for “research”.

The highlight so far though? Getting 2 phone-calls in a week from the lovely people at Facebook. Being able to sit in meetings and say the sentence:

Well while I was on the phone with Facebook I asked them and they agreed with my assumption that we can go ahead and it should be a success.

People regard you as knowledgeable and well-connected when you are at a level of phone-call friendship with Facebook.

What’s that, adulting? I’m owning you? You bet your ass I am!

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Mastering the art of crossing that stage without falling over

Sometime between 11am and 1pm today I was donked on the head with a bonnet symbolising my freedom from the enslavement of education. I was then handed a certificate and scroll and there marked the official end to my undergraduate degree.

Amy Charlotte King: MA Hons Linguistics.

Holy cats.

A few short months ago I wasn’t sure I would be walking across that stage, focussing intently on ensuring one foot did in fact go in front of the other so as not to end up on my backside in front of hundreds of people.

A few short weeks ago I never would have dreamed that my face would be splitting in two with a wide smile and a tear in my eye.

A few short hours ago I did both those things. My name was called, I crossed that stage and with that I gained my degree from the University of Edinburgh.

Again: holy cats.

I couldn’t have done it without the most amazing support network of family, friends and university staff. If I was to list them all I’d be typing well into the night, but I am so very thankful to have had their support, advice, shoulders to cry on and shot glasses to fill next to mine.

To continue the good news, my manager told me on Friday that I have had my contract extended for a further 3 months probation!

All the celebrating will be happening, but not right now. The excitement has gotten to me, as has standing for multiple photographs and the most delicious seafood platter from Fishers in the City (highly recommended) so for now I think I’ll go for a nap. Because now that I’m a graduate I decide my own future, right?

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Graduating: Why a Desmond isn’t so dismal

I got my graduation classification today. I am graduating with a 2:2. Second Class: Lower Division. Also known as a Desmond.

At first, I’ll admit I was gutted. I still am a little upset. I have worked myself ill at times throughout my degree, and worked despite being ill, and at first glance it all seems for nought.

A 2:2 is regarded as a less than desirable degree classification. I get it. It doesn’t seem that great. But, and it took me a long time and a lot of people telling me it for me to really believe, it’s not the end of the world.

In my third year at university I struggled a lot. I found the jump from pre-honours to honours huge. It was hard to keep up with the workload. My mental health suffered a lot. It wasn’t the first time I’d been bad at something (thank you, Higher Maths, for preparing me for this moment) but it was the first time I’d struggled so much and felt so helpless to stopping it.

I got better, my grades went up, I started getting high Bs and As. I was happy. I was healthy. Unfortunately it didn’t last and I got ill again. I had reached out for help and received little in the way of constructive advice, so I was on my own again. But I wasn’t. I have the most incredible friends, family and flatmates that anyone could ask for, who made sure I got through it. I got a 2:1 for my dissertation. I handed in every piece of coursework. I finished uni.

See, that’s something that I didn’t realise at first was so important. I actually finished four years of a university degree. I was in two minds about returning for 4th year. I didn’t see the point because my grades were so varied in third year. I focussed on the classes I did badly in, not my successes.

I finished uni.

I am graduating. I’ll have a degree behind me, regardless of the classification. I stuck it out for 4 years despite wanting to throw in the towel so many times. I did it. I actually did it.

I finished uni.

So I’m not going to wallow in self-pity about my average grade. My grades range drastically – a 30% difference from highest to lowest. My enjoyment of university has ranged just as drastically. But my dad always stressed one thing from the very beginning:

You don’t go to university for the certificate on your graduation day.

Sure, getting your degree is great and will open lots of doors and give you a major leg up when it comes to finding a job and hopefully you learned something. But, more importantly, university is about growing up. It’s about living in a strange city with strange people doing strange things for four years.

It’s about going out. Getting drunk. Having fun. Spending too much money. Exploring new places. Having cups of tea at four in the morning. Making the most of your student discount. Debating politics at the dinner table. Ordering more Dominos pizzas in a week than a person should eat in a lifetime. Never learning to leave your card at home when you’re going to a bar or club. Getting too drunk to get into The Hive. Being too sober to contemplate going into The Hive. Library hysteria at 1am in a pod on the ground floor with your friends. Deep meaningful conversations with strangers in club toilets. Sitting in lectures with your drunk friend who’s braless and muttering insults about your lecturer while she draws cartoon pictures of you and being very proud of her artwork. Living with the same girls for four years and walking into a flat that feels like home.

Going to university isn’t about learning a degree subject. It’s about learning who you are. Who you can be. Who you are yet to become.

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Hi I’m Amy, the new Digital Intern and no, I don’t really know what that means either

I am just home from my first day at my internship and have collapsed onto my bed to write this.

Jeeeez I’m tired. And I didn’t start til midday! The offices were moving floors so I stayed out of the way until the dust settled.

I was given my own desk, had my laptop set up to the company’s network and have been given tasks, to-do lists, meetings and deadlines already. I’M SO EXCITED.

My bosses are amazingly patient and kind and funny. The company seems to be filled with bubbly, creative, engaging people and I honestly can’t wait to get to know them all a bit better.

So, what am I doing? Well, that is yet to be determined, really. I have been introduced as the Digital Intern and I know I’m part of the Planning Department. The main remit for my internship is helping to manage the social media profiles for some pretty big Scottish brands. (I haven’t exactly asked my bosses yet if it’s okay to write this blog. I’ll do that tomorrow. More deets to follow…hopefully.) As one of my bosses told a co-worker “We’ll figure out a fancy title at the end of the internship”. So yeah, I’m a digital-social-planning intern who may well be loaned to other departments, should they need the extra pair of hands.

My desk is next to a massive window that lets the sun flood in. I look out onto the Water of Leith and now feel like a proper grown up (even with my see-through pencil case that is bulging with pens, pencils and an assortment of necessary stationery).

Most of today was spent getting to grips with the different campaign strategies for the accounts I’m working on, and touring the offices shaking hands with at least forty people and that didn’t even cover every floor. There are around eighty members of staff in the company. How I’ll remember everyone’s names is beyond me.

The more I hear about the upcoming projects I’ll be a part of and the work I already have to be getting on with, the more excited I get about being a part of the planning team.

Tomorrow the real work starts. I can’t bloody wait.

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Sidenote: Remember the palava I talked about regarding workwear? I ended up wearing my new black slacks, new patent loafers, a wee lilac blouse and a black cardigan. Very smart, very comfortable. And, as it happens, very overdressed. Almost everyone I saw was in jeans. Some wore trainers. Some wore t-shirts. Some dressed up a little. There was not one suit in sight. Thank goodness I didn’t end up buying 4 worksuits on Saturday! So, the dress code stress was completely unnecessary and I am going to be smart but casual comfortable. Couldn’t be happier. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some jeans to look out for tomorrow.

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Dress Code Stress

With my first day at my internship just around the corner, I realised I have very few office-appropriate clothes to wear. This is slightly problematic, considering I’ll be working in an office. So I went shopping (any excuse, right?)

There are many things to consider when dressing for work. Practicality, warmth, comfort, level of smartness, durability, crumple factor (a real problem with many of my tops), layering ability (another struggle I have – so many of my tops don’t sit right with cardigans or jumpers but I get grumpy if I’m chilly so an optional second layer is often necessary, especially if I don’t know the temperature of the office) and yawn-stretch-belly-reveal avoidance (you have no idea). I stood in front of my wardrobe and tried to conjure up as many outfit combinations as possible, but was drawing a blank because I wasn’t entirely sure what look I was going for.

I realised I had to determine what vibe the office gave off clothes-wise. Being an advertising company, I had initially assumed that just about anything would go, but then remembered that clients meet in the offices and people need to not look like they forgot to change out of their loungewear of a morning. After some deliberation, I decided on smart-casual. I didn’t see a single power suit or many pairs of stiletto heels while I was in the office – granted my interviewers were men – but I was pretty confident from their shirts and slacks combos that I could probably get away with a comfy but smart ensemble. Whatever that meant.

I have a number of smartish tops already, so I’m not so worried about my top half, it’s my bottom half that concerns me. My usual outfit choices are skirts that are definitely not office friendly or jeans, which I’m not sure are quite smart enough.  

With ‘smasual’ in mind, I hit the shops. There lay my second problem: deciding what could be classed as smart-casual. There is a fine line to be walked between looking like you’re going into a meeting and entering a Netflix marathon, at least in my case. I know things can be dressed up or down with the right jewellery and I have plenty of jewellery to accessorise a small army, but are jumpers with a statement necklace or pearls really okay? What about a white shirt, does that look too much like I’m channeling my inner Blair Waldorf sans school skirt and frilly ankle socks? Stress.

Black trousers are a staple but in the eight shops I searched, only 2 had any appropriate trousers, and only one shop stocked said appropriate trousers in my size. Thankfully, I bought one pair of standard slim leg black trouser suit pants to start off my wardrobe.

I found some funky print trousers in Zara but none in my size; and the same thing happened in Mango and H&M, so I guess after posting this I’ll be doing some internet shopping…

I got fairly lucky in the shoe department. A quick zoom around Schuh found me a smart pair of black patent loafers that will be easy to throw on and are work-appropriate without having to worry about heels. I am the reincarnation of Bambi on the frozen lake when heels are in play. I really struggle for more than an hour in anything higher than 2 inches. It’s a pain, but these loafers seem a good compromise.

Now I’m wondering whether jeans might be acceptable in the office. My plan is to wear a dress on my first day – it’s my lucky go-to dress that is smart and funky and fills me with confidence, especially when paired with red lippy and my new loafers – so I can suss out the outfit choices of the other females in the office and base my later wardrobe pairings on what I see.

My buy of the day though was a stationery haul in Paperchase. I am a stationery addict. Pens, sticky notes, funky note cards, pencil cases – I want them all. I bought myself a new pencil case because every school year should start with a new case and I filled it with two patterned pens, three functional pens, two pencils, a rubber and a packet of sticky notes for marking pages should I ever need to do such a thing.

So, while shopping was largely unsuccessful in that I only came away with 2 items of clothing, I do feel more prepared with my pencil case packed and ready to go in my handbag, along with my new notebooks I picked up the other month and have been filling with notes on clients and positive reminders that we got this to get me through my first week. Also, my lack of success at shopping this time round only means I get to give it another go next week when I’m more clued up on office dress code etiquette.

To continue my adulthood prep, tonight I am planning on being very grown up: I’ll sit with a magazine, play Sex and the City in the background, apply a facemask and paint my nails with a glass of wine and some sushi for dinner. While I haven’t conquered coffee-drinking yet, I reckon I’m making a good start as I plunge into the world of adulthood.

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