Humans of Tyne and Wear

17/12/2020

Hey humans, thank you for all the support for our page! It is very encouraging to see people reacting positively to our page. ❤️

We want to continue growing this page and we want to tell more stories to showcase the diversity in Tyne and Wear. If you want to be featured on our page, you can DM us on Facebook or even comment on this page and we will contact you.

Humans of Tyne and Wear documents the uniqueness and diversity of our community through portraits and personal stories.

Send us a message with a photo of yourself or someone you know with an interesting story on Facebook or [email protected]

14/12/2020

Meet Becca, she’s a passionate independent artist pursuing a career in music. She takes inspiration from anything and everything. She said, “My musical influences come from films, literature and a lot of my life experience. I’m very influenced by the unique path I’ve taken to music.”

Her journey in music started much later than most people, “It didn't start when I was in my teens, I started a bit later at the age of 21. I didn't really come from a particularly wealthy background and there were some barriers to music for me, I didn't really get how it works. When I was choosing what to do at university, I decided to do English Literature and go down a more academic route but when I graduated, I decided to explore what I really wanted to do for a year. I stayed in Newcastle and got mentored on a programme through a talent development agency in Newcastle that supports young artists. He encouraged me and really showed me that I had talent. That was a real turning point for me.”

“I released my first single through an internship programme at a record label called Kaleidoscope in Newcastle. I met a girl there and we’ve been working together to release a new project between March and June next year.”

Be sure to stay tuned to Becca’s music! If you want to be featured on our page, drop us a message on Facebook or through our e-mail: [email protected]

05/12/2020

Meet Kae, the brain behind ‘KaeMakesStuff’. She sells her artwork online and blogs about it as well. Her brand's main message is ‘the positive power of creativity’. “Basically, it comes from the idea of post-traumatic growth. I was diagnosed with PTSD in 2017. I found that creative expression for me personally became a really integral part of my healing journey. With PTSD, you are struggling with some fairly heavy stuff, and some quite intrusive and unpleasant symptoms of that condition and just being able to process that through creative expressions was really helpful. So it started off doing mixed media work, a lot of collage, stuff, things like that and then it was kind of carrying this narrative through the artwork of my experiences, people were really receptive to it, and I got a really positive response. People were really nice about it and then it got to exhibit a little bit into my confidence and it kind of grew. So I started looking into the theory of post-traumatic growth and thought, we need to kind of tap into this a little bit more. Creative expression and art is kind of utilised in art therapy and interventions like that. The simple act of expressing yourself, whether it's through art, or performance and things like that, it shouldn't be overlooked.”

Kae has experience in radio being a Soul and Motown DJ and is planning on launching a new podcast next year called ‘KaeMakesFriends: The Positive Podcast of Creativity’ where she’ll chat with other creatives and expand on what she had previously blogged about. “It will be an opportunity to collaborate with other creatives and artists, and kind of open things out a little bit to people who want to explore creative expression a little bit kind of giving them opportunities to exhibit.”

If you want to be featured on our page, drop us a message on Facebook or through our e-mail: [email protected]

03/12/2020

Meet Leanne (left) and Chloe (right). Leanne spent three and a half years in prison for drug offences. “It was hard being in prison because I was missing my loved ones. As time went on in prison, I found the benefit in the prison’s education programmes. I decided to use my time in prison wisely and to come out living a new life.”

After leaving prison, Leanne felt more positive and excited about the future. “Thinking about how my life can just be taken away being in prison makes me feel the need to live life to the fullest. Now we’re running our business, doing nice things, going to nice places, meeting nice people, making happy memories and not letting anything get in between that.”

Chloe has supported her partner Leanne throughout her journey and now they have opened up their own bistro together on Frederick Street called Clean Seventeen. Healthy living has been a part of their lives for so long, they used to go for runs before she went to prison. She got even more into it in prison as Leanne became the gym orderly. Their new bistro is all about eating healthier. Chloe said, “Many people have the misconception that when you want to lose weight, you can’t eat carbs. You still need a balanced diet with fats and carbs.” Leanne added, “Most places focused on adding protein to everything but we focused more on calorie counting and keeping a balanced diet. We’ll do burgers and stuff like that but they’ll be lower in calories and less sugar.”

They are determined to keep growing Clean Seventeen and they hope to open more branches in the North East and in other cities as well.

If you want to be featured on our page, drop us a message on Facebook or through our e-mail: [email protected]

24/11/2020

Meet Ahmed, the President of the Futsal club at The University of Sunderland. “Football is a huge part of my life. I'm not very good at it but I enjoy playing with my mates for fun. Then, I realised I was better as a goalkeeper at Futsal because I grew up playing with smaller goals and that's what I was better at.”

He faces the challenge of keeping the team engaged despite the limited playtime due to the pandemic. “We try to send each other stuff on the group chats and catch up whenever we can. We'll try to joke around with everyone to make anyone feel welcome because, during the pandemic, some of us would be feeling down. That's why we try to make everyone feel safe and they can come and talk to us about anything they're facing.”

Ahmed previously won the National Conference Cup with the team in 2019 and previously earned a call-up to the Egypt National Team. “I don't know when we'll get to play in cups again but I really want to win another trophy with the team.”

If you want to be featured on our page, drop us a message on Facebook or through our e-mail: [email protected]

23/11/2020

Meet Luke. He’s currently studying Media Production at the University of Sunderland and is one of the founding members of the K-Pop society at the University. He has always been passionate about music, specifically K-Pop, Rock and rap. “In my first year, one of my flatmates sent me a post about someone wanting to start a K-Pop society. I wasn’t going to join but since it was my first year, I was looking to make new friends so I did.”

Luke is also a dancer. He got drawn to dancing because the dancing and choreography in K-Pop videos looked really fun to follow. “Music and dancing is an expression to me, it’s an emotion. It’s a way for me to express my love for that genre of music. Once you get into it, it’s a really great experience.”

“My goal is to become a radio presenter or to work on a TV set as a camera operator or editor.” He is gaining experience in the radio world talking about what he loves as he currently hosts a radio show, K-Pop Takeover on Spark FM every Wednesday.

If you want to be featured on our page, drop us a message on Facebook or through our e-mail: [email protected]

20/11/2020

Meet Paray. He moved to Sunderland to pursue his education in Cybersecurity and he’s loving life here. “Life in Sunderland is really cool and comfortable. Life here is easier compared to Nigeria because you have everything that you are looking for when you talk about good roads, electricity, and transport like the Metro, and the buses. In Nigeria, sometimes you have to find and use a generator because electricity isn't there constantly. In rural areas, there aren't many good road networks and many other things that are basic necessities for a human to survive.”

He also has a passion for creating content as he started a YouTube channel, PaRayHD, which has more than 4000 subscribers now. “I love creating content on the internet. I loved watching documentaries and I felt that I also can contribute to the growing knowledge in society. I want to let people know what is happening in the part of the world that I live in. I combined my passion for creating digital content with giving value to people.”

“I love travelling and there's no way I’ll travel without integrating it into my content. I like to learn so much about places and to do so, you have to talk to the locals and interact with them. I try to integrate it into my video by interviewing locals on the street.”

If you want to be featured on our page, drop us a message on Facebook or through our e-mail: [email protected]

18/11/2020

Meet Sebrina. She came out as a transgender woman 10 months ago and she’s on a journey to inspire people to be themselves and embrace who they are. “I would like to have an impact on the trans community, I just want them to feel beautiful and love themselves. I started loving myself because of the way I looked and I was just happy with myself for the first time ever and I wanted more people to feel like that and accept themselves. So that they'll feel beautiful no matter what.”

“It was a long journey to accept that I was trans but I kinda knew all the time, the feeling was always there with me, but I didn't want to accept it because I thought I could change myself. I tried to fit in with society. I just tried to be a normal and good child but then I realised I was miserable and I couldn't live like this. I tried so hard to fit in and I knew I was a transgender woman. I was just praying to God every night, saying 'Please make me normal', 'I don't want to be trans', ‘I didn't want this life’. It's difficult being transgender but I just had to accept it. Once I accepted it with myself, I was so scared because I didn't know what people were going to think because it's such a huge change.”

“My friends were very supportive. What I really like about my two best friends was that when I came out as trans, they never spoke about it and they treated me exactly the same as they always would because nobody's gender should dictate how you treat someone. I love how nothing changed our relationship.”

“I am my own personal motivational speaker. What really inspires and drives me is this quote, 'If you were about to die tomorrow, what would you do today?' It's about not caring about what anybody else thinks. It's all about being proud of yourself.”

She wants to inspire people to be brave and to truly accept themselves. Her advice to her younger self may inspire many as she said, “Just do it. Don't be scared, it'll all be worth it in the end. The fact that I started, makes me feel really excited. I've taken the first step and hardest step. I have changed so much since I left school. My confidence levels have gone up so much. Now, I am no longer the shy little kid in the corner.

If you want to be featured on our page, drop us a message on Facebook or through our e-mail: [email protected]

16/11/2020

Meet Millie, she is a passionate photographer currently pursuing a degree in Photography, Video and Digital Imaging.

“I like to create social and political meanings through photography because it’s easier to create images that can tell a story rather than writing a paragraph about it. Images can say everything a paragraph can but in an easier way.”

“I want to be a photographer that focuses on fashion and conceptual photography. I think it makes me stand out because there are not many photographers who specialise in that.”

“My goal is to have my work published in an art gallery and have a steady job working for a magazine so that I get to create what I want as well as what they want.”

If you want to be featured on our page, drop us a message on Facebook or through our e-mail: [email protected]

09/11/2020

Would you like to be featured on this page? Send us a DM on Facebook or drop us an email at [email protected].

We're looking forward to seeing your submissions!