Hello Podfriend!

Happy New Month! Summer is finally here and the kids are on vacation for three whole months. And, I’m also going home! Home as in: South Africa. It’s been five years since my last visit, and after a period of nervecitedness, I’ve properly toppled over into the excited side of the continuum.

How is life treating you these days?

Life is really good on my end, there are two new episodes of Shades and Layers out, completing Season 8 and bringing us to 87 episodes of the show. Now that, is quite a thing. No? A shout out to our new subscribers. I see you! Thanks for joining the squad.

So I’ll be on hiatus for the summer. While I’m on hiatus, I’ll be re-tooling and re-formatting the show. It will be our first ever re-fresh in the four years of producing the show. Look out for new episodes after the Northern Summer.

Oh, the cutie pie in our lead pic this month is a representation of this month’s topic on kids and screens. Read on to find out.

But before we get into the rest of the newsletter, a reminder to share this edition and ask your friends to join our squad. If this edition was shared with you, please subscribe.

Here’s what we’re doing in this edition:

-Studio Update

-Also This Month

-Kids and Screens: Social Experiments

-Giving me Joy and Pause

Alright pod friends, let’s get to business!

STUDIO UPDATE

REPRESENTATION IN KIDS’ LITERATURE

Ethnikids was co-founded by five concerned mothers in 2016. They were looking for books with diverse characters and narratives. Most importantly, they were looking for books written in indigenous South African, and other African languages. With no solution in sight they set out to create their own product in order to affirm African children and to nurture their sense of belonging and self-worth.

In the latest episode of Shades and Layers, I’m in conversation with bibliophile and co-founder of Ethnikids, Khumo Tapfumaneyi. She and her business partner, Tina Boateng-Akuoko have been on a mission to affirm African children through representation in literature. Their online bookstore and publishing company provides books to South African children in their mother tongue; the books also feature African and other children of color as protagonists.

In our conversation, Khumo highlights the psychological impact on children who see themselves in books and stories that they read. You’ll also learn more about Khumo’s own entrepreneurial journey and the company’s evolution over the years ; from overcoming market challenges, to forming impactful partnerships with schools and libraries to promoting reading for leisure. 

ALSO THIS MONTH

CREATIVITY FOR HEALING

In this episode, I catch up with Denmark-based creative and Founder of RAHA COPENHAGEN, Nsimire Godman. who shares how a humble background in Rwanda and a spark of creativity during the pandemic led her to create inclusive, and aesthetically pleasing soy wax candles. Listen as Nsimire recounts her year-long journey of mastering the craft, overcoming burnout, and discovering a niche market in the Danish capital, Copenhagen. 

As we know, entrepreneurship is best done with support and community, and Nsimire shares how her community has been instrumental in helping her turn her passion into a flourishing small-batch production company. Nsimire shares that her soy wax candle business is sustainable by design - from reusing materials to keep her business eco-friendly to sourcing materials from eco-friendly suppliers and only making products to order....  

As always, this conversation is Shades and Layers' style - lots of candor and humor. 

ON MY MIND THIS MONTH

KIDS AND SCREENS: SOCIAL EXPERIMENTS