2020: The Year We Took A Stand

As 2020 draws to an end, our small - but mighty! - team of three at Spark & Co. look back at how far we’ve come and what the future holds.

The lynching of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade and Nina Pop amongst others sparked global outrage, an outrage that had been felt by myself and the Black community since the British empire first began.

This movement wasn’t new but the viscous public execution of Floyd coupled with the pandemic, along with the knock on effects of the pandemic meant that we could no longer distract ourselves with celebrity culture and consumerism. The world was finally forced to reckon with the harsh reality that racial inequality brings.

If this year has taught us anything is that racialised communities are resilient, dare I say, the most resilient people that exist on this planet are the most vulnerable people on this planet and that’s the Black community and within that, the Black transgender and disabled community.

I said what I said and I meant what I said.

However, that doesn’t mean that others don’t suffer too. Our shared struggles are what gives us power to fight back and people can uplift their communities in a variety of ways, whether that’s through education, mutual aid or protesting. There is so much we can do to change things and showing face in the areas that lack representation is key in our fight against oppression.

In my role as Community and Content Manager I am proud to say that I work with a host of incredibly talented Community Ambassadors, each and every one of them bringing a unique perspective to the content they create.

Everything we do at Spark & Co. is in aid of racialised communities and people. Our content highlights the struggles that are faced by racialised communities, by shining a light on these struggles, we provide hope. 

As 2020 draws to an end, our small team of three at Spark & Co. look back at how far we’ve come as well as looking ahead at what the future holds. Being part of this organisation has provided me with much needed respite as we arm our community with the right tools and empower them to make informed decisions. The fact that this is the most diverse team I’ve ever had the honour of working in says a lot and I am incredibly excited to share with you all some of the highlights of this year and what we have in store for 2021.

Highlights

• Amplifying melanated voices through our Community Ambassadors, which you can find out more about here
• Hosting our first webinar Spark Talks: Mental Health, discussing the challenges and trends affecting racialised people and communities and LGBTQIA+ folk
• Going ‘viral’ with our tweet celebrating Sainsbury’s Christmas advert 

Plans for 2021

• In January we are continuing on with our themes of mental health, race and disability
• In February and March we will be focusing on the themes of food and identity, respectively
• We will be continuing with out Spark Talks in the Spring, on these themes
• We are recruiting for four content creators from now until January 2021 - see opportunities to work with us here.

Although this year has been challenging, I believe in the incredible work Spark & Co. are doing in empowering people to make informed decisions that will help them achieve their goals. Anything is possible and change is on the horizon, whether we can see it right now or not, it’s happening.

This piece was written by our Online Community and Content Manager, Zoe Daniels (They/Them). Find out more about Zoe here.