Recently we were delighted to add two new faces to our GLOW NI team! Jemma and Sophie have been with us since January participating in our training programme Glow Academy. We were delighted to then be able to offer them two apprentice positions here at GLOW HQ! Sophie and Jemma will now be able to apply their new skills and they will continue to gain valuable experience within social enterprise and the charity sector.
We caught up with Jemma to find out a little bit more about her journey with GLOW.
Tell us a bit about yourself?
Hiya! I’m Jemma Karen, but Jemma or Jem is fine!
I’m 24 years old, soon to be 25…ahhhh another year older! Haha I’m joking… I’m taking it in a positive light, another year older, another year wiser!
I come from Belfast.
I appreciate a good book, art work and travel, not that we can do much traveling at the moment, with the current situation (Covid 19/pandemic).
I would also add in Gin (but we are keeping it PG)
How was your Glow Academy experience?
I don’t want to sound cliché and say “I loved my time at the Glow Academy”, but I truly did!
The knowledge, experience and skills that were taught at Glow Academy were truly amazing!
The mindset change that not only I, but my friends and family have noticed in me, is remarkable.
Would you like to share your mental health journey?
Although mental health is talked about far more nowadays, still to this day, I find mental health a really “taboo” subject and that in itself needs to change!
I have suffered with panic attacks, anxiety and bouts of depression from as long as I can remember, but diagnosed at 14 years old.
I always thought that my ‘sore stomach’ or ‘tight chest’ feeling, was me getting sick.. so of course I overlooked it. (You should never overlook, how you feel) but that’s just sort of how I coped at the time (without the knowledge that I now have).
Only in the past year, I have learnt how to deal with what I was feeling, thinking and going through.
Speaking out! Going to therapy, reading, writing, meditation, going on a self love journey.. to get to the core of what my “problem” or “mental health” was. Of course, I always wanted to “heal” or “make myself better”, but I just wasn’t taking the correct steps to learn and understand myself.
In life we all tend to want a “quick fix”, whether that be for weight loss, earning money or whatever it maybe.. but what I’ve learnt is that, you really can’t take a ‘quick fix’ on your mental health, life is to be lived and it is certainly not a race.
Mental health doesn’t need to be a bad thing, yes it’s apart of you, but you are so much more than your your mental health, I can confidently now say that ‘I’m more than my mental health”.
Learn to work, understand and love yourself! Take each day, one step at a time and I can guarantee you, that this time in a few months, you will be thanking yourself! Most importantly, enjoy the process.. yes it will be uncomfortable, but you don’t grow in your comfort zone.
If I can give you one bit of knowledge that I have only discovered at 24, is that everything really is all in the mindset, get your mindset right and your life will transform.
What do you get up to on a typical day as an apprentice?
A typical day at the Glow HQ for an apprentice would be making, packing and sorting out the merch, planning posts for the socials (organizing campaigns and creating content) and most importantly we cannot forget the daily laughs and chats!
What have you taken from the experience so far?
I have taken away a whole new mindset from just beginning this experience, working with the women at GLOW, really is amazing! To be around like minded, inspiring women on the daily, gives me the drive to get up in the morning.
It’s true when they say, ‘if you find a job you love doing, you’ll never have to work a day in your life’ and I can honestly say that this apprenticeship, gives me the drive, motivation and ambition, to succeed.
Head over to the YGG Instagram to see what Jemma and Sophie are up to!
Fancy joining the movement and owning your own YGG merchandise to support women and girls? Visit our shop!