the SOLEMNIKO podcast
September is a time for new beginnings, walking strongly into a new era and bringing new ideas to the table. I’ve wanted to do a podcast talking to guests about the art of simple decadence for a long time; but I didn’t really know how to go about doing it and I was nervous to approach people and ask them to be on it. After all, who am I and why should they give up their time to talk to me?
Then I had a bit of a talk with myself. My motto in life since I was about 17 has been: just ask because the worst someone will say is no, but if you never ask the answer will always be no.
Alternative Marketing
Since July I’ve started a weekly journaling newsletter, and decided to move a bit further away from instant content platforms like Instagram - preferring instead to focus my efforts on more evergreen content that reflects the ethics and character of SOLEMNIKO. You can read more about this decision via this article ‘Why Am I Moving Away From Instagram’.
Anyway, so I started by asking my dear friend Becca who owns To Be Adorned because I thought if she says it’s a terrible idea at least I’ve heard it from a friend rather than someone I have never actually met.
Once she said yes, it was a case of seeing who else I thought had a business that aligned with the sort of episodes I wanted to curate. And most of the time, when I asked the answer was yes or ‘just not now’ which is the most heartwarming reaction.
The purpose of the podcast is three-fold. It’s a way for me to put out more content that is connected to the SOLEMNIKO brand and by-line and to build upon what is already an amazing community. It’s also another marketing outlet more aligned to my preference of evergreen, long-form content. And of course a form of content creation that allows me to have interesting, deep conversations with amazing people ensuring that both of us get an opportunity to market our practices to a like-minded audience who perhaps haven’t heard of one or the other.
Trailer Episode
On the 02nd September I put out the trailer episode, which I will totally admit to having a heart attack putting out on the internet despite having already done a podcast before. But this one is different because I’m interviewing other people - which is something I am so excited to do but also utterly terrified of messing up.
Inspiration & HSP’s
Okay I’m going to be totally honest and say I had no idea this was a thing until about a month ago when I was listening to ‘The Psychology of Your 20’s’ with Jemma Sbeg. I then looked into it more, because I connected with the term so much and when I did the test came out as 100% HSP. Something I had known since childhood but never had a term for.
As a child - heck who am I kidding - as an adult I cannot sit through a tense film, I become really affected by music, atmospheres and environments. I cry at the most ridiculous things and flee to my room as soon as someone kind of raises their voice, I am horrendously sensitive to people’s energies and expressions; most of my life has been followed with the term ‘too sensitive’ as well as ‘don’t be so dramatic’, ‘you’re so shy’ etc. And my safe space is being in the middle of nature by myself.
So to hear someone list, in a very detached fashion, what it is to be an HSP and to relate to it so much but find very little for individuals who are living with such an experience made me want to curate a podcast for us. 20% of the population is highly sensitive, which is a lot when you think about it. And yet, where are the brands, the content, the support for us? We live in a world that is constantly pushing louder, faster, newer, bigger as better - but what if it isn’t? What do we do then and who do we turn to for inspiration?
HSP ‘highly sensitive person’ is a term that was first coined by psychologists Elaine and Arthur Aron in the 1990s. Elaine Aron published her book, "The Highly Sensitive Person," in 1996, and from there interest has grown in the area.
However I did NOT know that being HSP is also being neurodivergent. That was a flipping surprise to the nervous system and yet it made complete sense. After all, being ‘neurodivergent’ is diverging from the normal brain system. So it makes sense that if you’re part of the 20% who are uber sensitive, then you will be neurodivergent.
But, as I said when I researched it all a bit more there was nothing I could find to support or align with the term when it came to content, brands etc. That’s where this podcast comes in.
Brand Growth
It makes sense that if you own a brand, and make all the decisions, the brand will reflect you and your life journey.
I always wanted SOLEMNIKO to be a soft, slow, high quality curated space for individuals to feel they could get away from the hustle and bustle of the world for a bit. At first I thought that was slow living, and indeed that ethos is a major cornerstone of SOLEMNIKO, and it’s had a huge influence in the way I create content and move around my business… but it’s not the way I would truly explain the core of my brand. Then of course there is sustainable. And yes SOLEMNIKO is sustainable, but again that’s not exactly how I would personalise it.
Now knowing about HSP’s and what it is to be one, the sort of things that affect and support the nervous system of HSP’s - that is exactly what SOLEMNIKO is all about. I just didn’t have the vocabulary for it before.
So over the next few months you’ll see a bit of re-branding going on as I change the aesthetic of the content and start curating SOLEMNIKO as a brand for HSP’s. It always was, but now I have a term for it. And this podcast is the first step on that journey, so I hope you love it as much as I do; if you want episodes as soon as they are published before they are uploaded onto any other listening platforms simply sign up to my newsletter x