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Three Years at the Newsmast Foundation and on the Social Web

Saskia

• 3 min read
A collage of images, showing Saskia in the middle with her thumbs up. Around her, various objects can be seen from a dog with a sword, to Valentino Rossi's MotoGP bike.

A short reflection on what I've learnt about myself and about the Social Web.

Three years. It really doesn't feel like that long until I start thinking about everything we've done in that time. Then three years doesn't feel long enough. A lot has happened...

The highs:

  • Seeing Paramore, PVRIS (x2), Fletcher, Pale Waves, The Last Dinner Party, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Halsey and Hans Zimmer live
  • Watching the iconic Jen Beattie absolutely body Alexandra Popp in person
  • Launching Newsmast
  • Getting a fancy office chair
  • Getting a fancy gaming monitor which now doubles up as a work monitor
  • 2023 Museum Tour ๐Ÿ›๏ธ
  • Federating Newsmast
  • Seeing the Northern Lights! x2
  • Moving in with my girlfriend
  • Building a Lego Artemis rocket
  • Launching Community Feeds (now Channels) across the Social Web
  • MotoGP live x2 ๐Ÿ๏ธ
  • Visiting the Welsh coast wearing a matching coat with my dog
  • Designing and launching the Apps for Change campaign
  • Climbing Kinder Scout
  • Building Channel.org
  • The first Newsmast Foundation Xmas party
  • First holiday abroad with my girlfriend
  • Building the first Apps for Change app: Mo-Me
  • Going to Brussels, Perugia, Rome, Bolzano, Copenhagen, Canada
  • England Women winning the Euros again! ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ
  • First family+1 holiday
  • Releasing The Bristol Cable app
  • My first ever speaking gig at an event
  • Building loads of Social Web apps!
  • Six promotions ๐Ÿคฏ
  • Making my girlfriend my fiancรฉe

The lows:

  • Joining the Social Web for the first time and realising that there was nothing I wanted to see already there and waiting
  • The tiny gay club on Skiathos
  • Getting attacked for not automatically knowing the culture of the Social Web
  • George the cat dying ๐Ÿ˜•
  • Not turning my camera on in meetings for a week because I had bashed my face in and got concussion playing football
  • Feeling like the Social Web had no purpose
  • Wearing a matching coat with my dog
  • Not being taken seriously by peers on the Social Web
  • Family health scares
  • Becoming an Italian mosquito delicacy
  • Funding falling through
  • Having to shrink the team
  • Poutine ๐Ÿ‘€

The lessons:

  • We get to shape what the Social Web is and help it to constantly grow and change
  • People use social media as a mask. They're not really that mean
  • Touch grass more! ๐ŸŒฑ
  • It's our job to make the places where we spend time welcoming and diverse
  • Growth doesn't have to be in one direction, it can be many
  • Misogyny is everywhere, use it to your advantage
  • Say 'no' more
  • Don't leave your little sister in charge of organising family gifts
  • Bring mosquito repellent to Rome

The soppy bit

When I graduated from my MA in November 2022, I had no clue what the future would hold. I'd spent my entire academic career learning and practising writing. My grades were good but I didn't have contacts. I hadn't been lucky enough to intern for the BBC or Guardian. The world was still fresh with scars from COVID-19. There was no budget for creativity or journalism.

Instead, I followed my hard-working but perhaps pessimistic dad's advice. Just get the first job you're offered. So, I did. I interviewed and was offered the job on the spot. I hated it and left after only a month. Then things started looking up, I began working in a local library. I got to hang out with books all day and that was pretty cool, but I still wasn't able to do what I wanted.

I wanted to create, to make a difference. To not only put my degree and years of education to use, but to use my skill set.

A couple of months later, I was offered a role at the Newsmast Foundation. It was a short-term contract, an internship. I'd be leaving behind the safe library role where I'd just been offered a promotion and turning down a shadow writing job for a NY Times bestseller (but who isn't?). It was one hell of a gamble. But something about the Newsmast Foundation mission, its ethos, really struck me. I went for it.

It wasn't always perfect. Newsmast as an organisation had to learn fast, I had to learn faster. We were determined to make a change. We were hopeful. We were naive.

But we learnt and we adapted and something really amazing has grown from that idea.

At some point, I started to feel less like an imposter and more like someone who actually does know what they're doing. Even if I'm shy sometimes, if my accent confuses people, if my RBF scares people off, I have made a meaningful difference to this space. I shouldn't take that for granted.

And as part of that, I have to admit that I'm so proud to be working with the Newsmast Foundation, to be trusted enough to help shape the direction of the charity and our projects. To be given the freedom and respect to lead how the Newsmast Foundation is perceived by the outside world is a crazy honour.

Three years ago it was a gamble that paid off ten-fold.

Now, I'm buried deep and care about the success of Newsmast as if I had helped envision it. I can't wait to see what the next year brings for me and the Newsmast Foundation. Let's go find out!