Welcome to the Culture Mix!

This is where you’ll find all your updates on what’s happening with the podcast and the Mixed Up community.  Check back see what episodes we’ve released and what topics are coming up. We’ll provide you with snippets from exclusive articles we have written for the newsletter and also guest pieces from our listeners and contributors. 

To kick us off we thought we’d reacquaint you with your girls, your hosts, your friendly truth telling Aunties: Emma and Nicole:

Hi I’M EMMA - a Mixed Race woman of Jamaican, British (part German Swiss, part Cornish) heritage.

I am a London-based creative director and writer specialising in social change and sustainability.  I’ve been working in sustainability, behaviour change and ethics across fashion and lifestyle in some capacity for over  a decade and I now run ESE consultancy (which works to elevate brands, initiatives and organisations that have a desire to do some social or environmental good). I have long imagined myself hosting and producing a podcast, but if I am brutally honest - I never imagined that this would be the subject matter. I always thought it would be something connected to my day to day work. 

As it happens I have never been more comfortable speaking to a topic - perhaps it is something to do with it being very difficult for someone to dispute the accuracy or validity of you speaking to something that is inherently and inextricably part of your very existence.

HI - I’M NICOLE -  a mixed race woman of Filipino and Ghanian heritage. I was born in the US in Washington D.C. but I've been living in London for 10 years. I am a digital creative and writer and I’m all about sharing joyful, style online, while weaving in stories of identity, inclusivity and how the personal is very much political.

I am also co-founder The Creator Union which is a trade union representing digital creatives in the UK. Before going freelance as a blogger and content creator, I was a journalist and then a talent and influencer strategy manager so I know all too well how much needs to change in the creative industry when it comes to equality, representation and fair opportunity.

So What is Mixed Up Podcast?

Mixed Up is the first of its kind -  an accessible discursive take on growing up, straddling two worlds and multiple identities. Co-hosted by us - multi hyphenates Nicole Ocran and Emma Slade Edmondson - it’s about pepper soup and fish and chips, a couple of dashes of Maggie in your shepherd's pie and a whole lot of hot sauce besides. It's about relaxing your hair for the better part of your life and then entering adulthood realising you hate yourself for it….

Now more than ever, it feels like people of mixed heritage are seeking out their space to talk about their lived experiences. But despite searching, we could find little to hang our hat on. We decided to make something we would have appreciated hearing ourselves.

If you join us each week you’ll get to listen in on our personal experiences as well as those of our guests as they jump on to get into it on topics like: identity conflict, the mixed-race voice in the Black Lives Matter movement, relationships, the power of hair, the working world, pop culture, mental health challenges and so much more. We’ve so far had the pleasure of interviewing the likes of Jordan Stephens (you’ll know him - if like us you were Rizzle Kicks fans), David Oyelowo (star of screen and stage and father to four mixed kids), Lianne La Havas and Love Island’s Jack Fowler to name just a few.

And if it’s story telling you’re into we also host Book Club episode where we interview all you’re favourite authors - Dorothy Koomson and Nikesh Shukla have both come on the pod to talk ‘real life inspiration’ and rewriting the publishing world.

Ultimately, what started as a call to the mixed race community to connect and converse has become a space to share stories and insights across different cultures and landscapes. It has naturally blossomed into a tool for anti racism education that contains multilayered experiences and view points. 

And whilst we know it will continue to hold space for and to serve our Mixed Race peoples - sometimes confused about who they are, and what it means to be mixed in the modern world, Mixed Up is here to unpick the nitty gritty and open up an inclusive dialogue. It's a warm space filled with real insight, shared experience and a lot of belly laughing along the way. We know it has something for everyone - whether your Mixed, a parent, aunty or grandparent of a mixed child or adult, if you’re embarking on an interracial relationship, or simply someone who is looking to delve deeper into understanding race and identity for themselves or to pass on a more nuanced understanding to their own children - there’s lots here to dig into.

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT NEXT FROM THE MIXED UP PODCAST AND NEWSLETTER?

We have lots more to come. You can sign up to our newsletter for exclusive discounts and offers as we partner with brands and organisations we love. As you’ll know if you are familiar with our work already - we both love fashion and so we have lots of fashion and lifestyle led partnerships coming to our Patreons, Newsletter readers and listeners. Stay tuned for more…

And as for the pod - we can't wait to share our exciting next upcoming guests and hard hitting topics with you as we come to the last episodes of the season and start to plan Season 3! What we’ve got lined up - it's going to be live-O. You won't be disappointed.