raise a voice

Today we’re putting the spotlight on Lucia. Lucia is a visionary, a student and a founder amongst other titles. An important one is the title “creative”. Lucia is someone who is fully engulfed in the creative scene and to no surprise, our discussion was tailored around it and more.

The topics we discussed revolved around the creative takeback, the university scene and why so many academic students have creative side hustles, the pros and cons of being a teenage founder and so much more. So I’ve picked out 3 questions from the interview in which Lucia gave the most thought-provoking answers which was very hard as there were just too many highlights. If you want to listen to the full interview it’s on our Spotify and to watch it check out our YouTube, and rest assured all the links you need are all on this website, enjoy!

So Lucia, where did it all start for you?

A lot of what I do stems from my love of poetry. I fell in love with poetry when I was in Year 8. My teacher showed me this video and poem that George the Poet did and I just thought he was sick and I was like, “Wow I wanna do this too” and it was a way for me to express myself.

So in 2016, I woke up one day feeling like I wasn’t doing enough and I was like, “Ok, I need to do something.” So yeah I created something called Simplest Talks (now the conn3ct), and our aim at the time was to inspire, empower, showcase talent and tell powerful stories. From 2017-2019 we did a bunch of events, had a podcast and more. The events would consist of speakers, poets, musicians, panel discussions etc. and it was youth-led for us. That was really cool but in 2019 I ended up losing my stepdad and that was a very transformative moment for me. It made me lose a lot of who I was, a lot of confidence and I lost my voice. I couldn’t speak up as much as I was and that just wasn’t me, I couldn’t recognise myself.

When I reflect I think I felt like I wasn’t moving and everyone else was. Unfortunate things do make you who you are and make you stronger, you don’t have to go through them but if they happen they do that for you. In my culture, for example, people come home for a couple weeks for the funeral and stuff but once it’s done no-ones there anymore. It reminds you that you are “alone” in this, that is feeling all of this and everyone else just has to get on with their lives. So in that sense, it didn’t feel like I was moving because for so long it felt like I was still in August 2019 and everyone else was moving and doing and I couldn’t do.

Talk to me a bit about The Conn3ct and how the idea came about…

Towards the end of last year, I created The Conn3ct. At the time it was powered by Simplest Talks and our plan was to go to different universities and put on events for creatives at uni. I’m very passionate about networking and human connection and where that can take you and after our first event I started thinking a bit more and realised that Simplest Talks didn’t align with where I was at and that The Conn3ct does a lot more.

I think I’ve grown up and there’s elements like impact that are still key to me. So we changed the name to The Conn3ct and we’re all about human connection, networking etc. and everything we do really at the core of it is connection and supporting and working with creatives. It feels like it’s meant to be as it just feels like growth to have gotten to this stage.

Talk to me a bit about the creative side hustle culture for you and the effect The Conn3ct has had on you…

I think it’s really interesting how people study various courses but still have passions outside of them. I think there’s a lot of power in people allowing themselves to be who they are and doing what they love and them giving themselves that permission is something really cool to see. I feel like we all have creative bones in our body we just all express them differently, and they don’t always have to be a side hustle it can genuinely be a hobby or something that is yours and only yours.

Deep down I really am a performer by heart, still very true to myself & very genuine for sure but like I feel like events allow me to step into my performance bag and show up as who I truly am. So as much as it is for uplifting the great talent we have for the scene, it does something for my heart seeing stuff come together, people feeling the impact, us achieving the aim and just the chance to hold the mic and to speak for yourself…

To enjoy the rest of the interview make sure to go onto our YouTube or Spotify as gems upon gems were dropped in this one!

The creative scene is always a fascinating one; a scene that’s advertised as golden and in reality is cutthroat and unforgiving. The idea of going to university and doing that degree but having something on the side that you’re trying to grow even bigger leaves even more questions as to which one is truly more important in your life. All fantastic & lovely questions, thank you for making it this far and reading!

– interview performed, curated and paraphrased by Laolu Fayokun on 16/08/23. Reuploaded on 25/01/25.