At Because, it's been our mission to champion the brands that may have gone under the radar in the sea of stuff available to us. In light of what's been happening globally over the last few months, we've noticed this is needed now more than ever, and have been wondering how best to continue this. 

Hence the start of our latest feature, Pass the Platform, where we'll be sharing a selection of interviews who would have been picked by the interviewee prior, starting a thread and community of brands that are doing good within the fashion and beauty worlds. We hope this will bring attention to different voices that aren't always heard within these realms, as per our pledge to do better.

Next up is Elvira Vedelago and Chinasa Chukwu, co-founders of bi-annual publication POSTSCRIPT; a cultural anthology amplifying women's voices and reframing the culture of women within a contemporary context.

We spoke to Elvira and Chinasa on how POSTSCRIPT came to life and their aim in highlighting a multitude of female voices...


How did POSTSCRIPT start? How did you two meet?
We were initially introduced by a mutual friend in the summer of 2017. What was meant to be a coffee date turned into an unintentional business meeting and the idea for POSTSCRIPT was born from our conversations on philosophy, politics, identity, culture and art. We found that the topics we were discussing were not being written about with the same cultural nuances we experienced in mainstream publications that were available to us. In particular, we wanted to centre the voices of women who looked like us in those topics rather than tokenising them. A year later, we launched our first print issue of POSTSCRIPT. 



Why should more people be reading the stories on POSTSCRIPT?
In contrast to the growing digital climate of disinformation and clickbait stories, we wanted to create a publication that would offer a slower and more enjoyable experience when engaging with content. One that would encourage deep reflection and critical thought on contemporary conversations through essays, interviews and contemplative stories. But also a publication that would champion the perspectives of intelligent, diverse and socially engaged women, particularly women of colour who are often unrecognised and/or marginalised in the mainstream. By placing these women at the centre of intellectual narratives, we hope to add a more nuanced and varied presentation of women of colour to the media but also allow our readers to see themselves reflected more prominently in diverse fields.

2020 propelled many issues around diversity and gender equality into the mainstream and started conversations across industries that may not have listened previously. Do you think more BIPOC and women's voices are being heard now or was the surge of attention a trend? What work needs to be done?
More BIPOC voices are definitely being amplified but it is unclear whether the recommendations being put forward are being implemented as strongly as they should across industries. Unfortunately, it does feel as though those voices are being platformed and shown to the public to distract from the fact that tangible structural change is not happening.

Companies and industries need to conduct internal audits of their policies and staff to see where they are falling short and then redress the balance. We should not only be seeing representative change at the face of the industry, but there also needs to change at the boardroom level, where more BIPOC and women’s voices are involved in the decision-making process. The solution is actually quite straightforward in theory which suggests that the hesitance in taking action is more of a choice than a lack of understanding. 



What does the future look like for POSTSCRIPT? And has the pandemic changed your approach to the platform? 
The future is uncertain right now, as is the case for many small businesses in the current climate. A year on in the pandemic and not much stability has been established in the UK so we are still trying to keep up with the various changes that come in week to week. The pandemic pushed our print timelines back quite significantly which encouraged us to think about how we create more online content in this period that still keeps in tune with POSTSCRIPT’s original vision and mission. With The Reverie Issue, we placed particular emphasis on championing the works of Black female artists online, whether on our website or through our social channels. We also launched our first digital collection of essays on the subject of unconventional motherhood last year, titled Motherhood Untold. Where in the past, we were perhaps hesitant to focus heavily on the creation of digital content, we are now working to get the balance right in the current climate.



Read the latest issue of POSTSCRIPT here


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