Breaking Through Boundaries | A night of inspirational stories
On a late-September evening at Gather Round, three incredible women shared their experiences of breaking through boundaries in their personal and professional lives. The passion from our speakers was infectious, there was a buzz in the air and everyone left Gather Round bursting with positive energy.
Audio Producer, DJ and journalist, Rema has an impressive list of awards and accolades under her belt, including being named one of the most influential people in Bristol under the age of 24 by Rife Magazine.
As a Black woman, she shared her experience of navigating societal boundaries, a theme that has resonated throughout her career and life. She said, “Being a black woman in the Creative Industries is breaking boundaries”.
Rema likens these boundaries to the “houses” we build around ourselves — invisible walls that define where our limitations begin and end. They serve as metaphors for our comfort zones or safety blankets. She encouraged the audience to examine the foundations of their own houses: Are they built on self-doubt or self-assurance?
For Rema, breaking boundaries is a conscious choice, something within our control. To conclude her talk, she posed the question: What kind of house do you live in? It was an honuor to have Rema share her story and this thought provoking and uplifting analogy with us.
Miranda is the Head of Marketing at Grace & Green – the menstrual product company with a big mission: To make access to safe and sustainable period care a basic right. Miranda’s connection to the company she works for isn’t just her skills, it’s her lived experience. Her story began with a personal experience that would shape the way she perceived the world and particularly, periods.
Miranda spent 15 years of her life suffering, misdiagnosed and dismissed with what she now knows as PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder). Learning this fueled the force to advocate for change.
She spoke widely of the systemic problems around period health and care. The culture surrounding period health needs to change, as menstruating individuals continually face the repercussions of a lack of education, the impact of shame, and various barriers related to financial status, race, gender identity and disability.
Grace & Green push for three things: Access, acceptance and education. They’ve partnered with various workplaces and councils to bring free period products to toilets and households across the country. Their packaging is bold but beautiful – no discretion or subtlety here. Plus, they offer free education for young people and adults alike.
We were all touched by Miranda’s story and as official Period Dignity Partners of Grace & Green already we fully support this mission all the way.
With over a decade in the creative industry, Emmanuella is an award-winning Multi-Disciplinary Arts Producer and Creative Researcher. Her interpretation of breaking through boundaries was all about reimagining spaces, attitudes, and policies through radical research-led storytelling and experimental, nature-inspired work. As a queer, black woman Emmanuella is championing marginalised communities and intersectionality and called this, “giving a voice to the voiceless”.
Emmanuella recently took part in the Resourcing Racial Justice programme and retreat as a Non-Exec Director of Rising Arts Agency, whose overall aims are to normalise and incorporate paid reparative rest days as part of emotionally-sensitive or intersectionality-informed work. It’s now something we regularly offer at Rising, and she is trying to incorporate as part of her budgeted freelance work.
Through her involvement with Watershed and Pervasive Media Studio’s ‘Alternative Technologies for a Just Transition’ programme, Watershed have now started to offer and implement paid reparative rest days to their PM Studio resident members and programmes.
On top of this, she’s also been awarded a fellowship with the Brigstow Institute and Cabot Institute for the Environment. Over a period of ten months she’ll be working to form a core inter-disciplinary group to collaborate with the community and other stakeholders to consider climate change and our response to the climate emergency. If you are interested in working with her on this mission you can register your interest here.
She ended her speech with the ‘3Ds of Dissent’ (a framework by Karen O’Brien, Elin Selboe, and Bronwyn M. Hayward) – asking us all what type of a changemaker we are – Dutiful, Disruptive or Dangerous? A very poignant thought to leave us all with and inspiring to think of our own changemaking in this way.
Between the awe-inspiring chats with our guests, everyone tucked into some seriously delicious pizza from local legends, Pizzarova plus some deliciously tasty ‘grown up’ non-alcoholic drinks from our sponsor Positive Drinks. The vibe in our bright, spacious Brunswick Square space was perfect for casual networking, where people could connect, share thoughts and enjoy the evening.
The Gather Round Presents series of free events is designed to give back to the local creative community. Sign up to the Gather Round newsletter to be the first to hear about the next event coming up on 23rd October!
Gather Round is a growing family of unique creative workspaces, designed to foster a positive community of like-minded creative people through an open and supportive culture. Our considered spaces are designed to adapt to the diverse needs of our members....
You need to load content from reCAPTCHA to submit the form. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.
More Information
