What Is Good Record Management?

If there is something I've learned from blogging and freelancing, it's organisation. I remember back in November 2016 when I was a fresher to the copywriting game. I had acquired my first client so went about designing and sending out my first welcome pack, contract, and invoice (before I discovered PayPal invoices). I relied on the fact that all could just be stored on email, until a minor dispute ensued over the terms of the contract. It was only then I learned the value of having all documents properly saved classified by client rather than having to trawl through emails just to prove a point. I also learned a big lesson in confirming by email any agreements made on the phone.

Book Review | Queenie

Meet Queenie Jenkins, the heroine and protagonist of the self-titled, Queenie. She's black British, twenty-something, and hails from South London. She's from a Jamaican family, works as an underpaid journalist, and most pivotal to the story, has just been dumped by her posh white boyfriend, Tom.

If there was ever a protagonist, more flawed, and more f****d up, yet more relatable, she would be Queenie.

Film Review | Side Chic Gang

By now you'll know that I'm in equal parts proudly Ghanaian and British. Does that make me British Ghanaian or Ghanaian British? I don't know! However you'd like to describe me is up to you! Me I'm just here to share this Ghanaian film review with you.

I haven't reviewed a Ghanaian film before, mainly because the industry went through a sad decline, and although there has been the occasional great production, I just didn't have access to them. So in as much as I love all things Ghanaian, I'd just come to accept that movies might not be one of them. 


Then I watched Side Chic Gang.

Why You Should Read a Short Story Collection | Heads of the Colored People

I'm sitting on a Southeastern train, heading to our Kent office for work. I am so bloody late, but the good news is I've just finished reading, Fatima the Biloquist, whose protagonist, a young lady called Fatima from a well to do family, is taken through a make-shift ghetto finishing school of sorts by her more 'culturally aware' bestie Violet, who is determined to make her 'more black'. As uncomfortable as this 'molding process' was to read, as someone who used to be often referred to as a 'coconut', I actually identified with Fatima's frustration.

The Money Behind Your Blog

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Ever since I stepped away from copywriting for businesses, I've been thinking about what else I can do to restore that revenue stream. Having that side hustle money was great when it came in, but I hardly wanted to be up all day and night to earn it. So I had to do some research, and I had to be willing to be focused and creative.

Open Book | Berry Dakara

We've turned to a new chapter of our #OpenBook series, and this time we visit a blogger I have followed for years! Berry Dakara has captured my heart and my attention for a long time, primarily due to her transparency and great storytelling. 

What I didn't know prior to embarking on this project, is that Berry's name is actually Anita (we'll learn where the blog name came from later.) Berry will be 37 this May. She tells me she 'can’t believe she's this close to 40'. 

Berry is Nigerian but has lived in the US since she was a teenager, bar a five-year stint back in her country of birth in her early thirties. She has a daughter, who she calls Cocoa. 'She's my absolute joy', Berry tells me.

It's time to find out more about Berry Dakara!

Open Book | Beaton

I don't know about you, but I'm absoloutey  loving the #OpenBook series so far. Today, we have the first man ever to be interviewed on the blog! Meet 35 year old Beaton, who also goes by 'B'.  Beaton is a digital storyteller; freelance content creator and social media manager; when not writing, he reads and when he's not doing neither of those, he's helping to grow and build African bloggers, because 'blogging means community'.


Read on to learn more about what Beaton thinks about blogging as a way to preserve the art of African storytelling, and how much can be achieved, if you were to 'just write'.