Hey Glow Gang!
Strong women from diverse backgrounds taking charge. That’s what we’re all about this week 💪🏽
And, peep the cheeky discount code for you in our Support BIPOC Women Owned Business Section 👀
Let's get glowing
-Shilpa
P.S. If you know someone who will enjoy Glowreel, please forward this email to them to spread the love, and get some cool rewards!!
News Of The Week
We Fight, And We Win 🏆
Sport
Jess Bhamra would be proud ⚽ The Women’s World Cup is officially over (congrats, Spain), but its impact for girls in sport is going strong - we love to see it! Girls from diverse backgrounds are especially feeling the representation 💜
Sam Kerr, the captain of the Matildas in Australia, shared that her “Indian heritage is something [she’s] really proud of.” Soccer fanatics from diverse backgrounds have also found inspiration in Matildas players like Mary Fowler, whose mother was born in Papua New Guinea, and Indigenous players like Anaiwan woman Kyah Simon and Noongar goalkeeper Lydia Williams.
Let’s not forget Morocco's Nouhaila Benzina, who made history when she became the first player to wear a hijab at the World Cup level.
Business and Entrepreneurship
All for one ✊🏽 Last week we shared that Fearless Fund, the VC firm focussed on closing the funding gap for women of colour, is being sued for discrimination by a conservative activist who played a pivotal role in the US Supreme Court’s June decision to ban affirmative action.
In the words of Fearless Fund co-founder “this program wouldn’t even exist if there wasn't a need for it.” Less than 0.5% of Black women receive VC funding. Which is why, true to their name, Fearless Fund isn’t going down without a fight! They’ve rallied over 70 venture funds who have signed an open letter to denounce the lawsuit. We’re keeping an eye on how this progresses 👀
More News Nuggets
Extra Nuggets 👀
- Muse 💃🏽 Gaurav Gupta shares why he chooses women of colour as his muse.
- Asian Glow 🍷 Those who experience the ‘alcohol flush reaction’, which is most common in those of East Asian descent, need to limit their alcohol intake, stat!
- Just getting started ⭐️ Zoe Saldaña on the progress made by women of colour in Hollywood.
- Mujer 👩🏽 Mexico could have its first woman president soon!
Glowreel Recos
What we’re loving this week:
Watch: Jen Im on YouTube. Jen shares such soothing videos of snippets of her life. Ranging from beauty and self-care, food vlogs, week-in-my-life style videos and things she’s learning as a first-time parent.
Make: Get Up & Go Blueberry Date Cocoa Smoothie by Zaynab Issa. I’ve been obsessed with smoothies for breakfast recently. Bonus points for Zaynab’s tastes-like-a-dessert and has coffee in it concoction!
Support BIPOC Women Owned Businesses
Black Business Month Edition
Shop your favourite Black woman founded brands in Glowreel’s Little Purple Book! This week’s recommended product: For Lifer Reusable Eye Mask by Entle Beaute
$29.95 (AUD)
P.S. TAKE 15% OFF WITH CODE: GLOWREEL
Trailblazing Woman Interview
Amna Bakhtiar On How Standup Comedy Helped Her Find Her True Voice
Hi Glowreel! I’m Amna Bakhtiar. I’m a Pakistani-Canadian Melbourne-based standup comic but I’m so much more than that. I’m also a Capricorn Sun with Cancer rising and I think cats are perfection.
I’m also the founder of Raise The Bar Comedy - a monthly comedy night in Melbourne where we maintain quality of comedy while elevating women and non-binary performers.
P.S. If you’re in Melbourne, keep an eye out on Glowreel’s Instagram for an exciting comedy giveaway coming up this week!
Hi Amna, love your work! What inspired or motivated you to get into comedy, and how long have you been doing comedy for?!
My housemate in Alice Springs was doing comedy. For a brief period in time here was a standup comedy scene happening in Alice Springs NT and I happened to be there. My housemate was one of the four comedians in town and suggested I do some material at the next monthly open mic. I thought, we’re in the middle of nowhere, even if it goes horribly wrong, who cares? It turned out to be a lot of fun. And I was, as they say, hooked. This my fourth year of doing standup comedy including lockdowns during which I dabbled in some Zoom comedy which is a whole other sad story.
Tell me more about Raise The Bar Comedy. What is it and why did you create it?
It was created in January 2021 before I was fully indoctrinated in the Melbourne comedy scene. My comedy buddy Sam Serna and I were both new to town and we’d just come out of a lockdown. We figured if we can survive that, we can do anything! I noticed there wasn’t a regular space for comedy for women and thought, well someone ought to make one.
That’s how Raise the Bar Comedy came into being. It’s a monthly comedy night in Melbourne and the ethos is to have a focus on maintaining quality of comedy while elevating women and non-binary performers. We’ve been selling out our shows and people love it! We even have men regularly coming along to our shows and thoroughly enjoying them. We're pro-women, not anti-men!
What do you hope to achieve through Raise The Bar Comedy?
I would like a continued, consistent presence of high-quality comedy that focuses on women and NB acts. Raise the Bar shows are great and they are proof that given the right environment, underrepresented acts thrive and outperform other mainstream acts.
One issue I see with a number of comedy rooms in Melbourne (and possibly elsewhere) is that the lineup mix is the same old, same old. People chuck their friends on the line up (who may be good at comedy) who in turn get them on the lineup. This doesn’t allow for variety. To me it’s important to focus on putting on a great show for the audience. Raise the Bar Comedy’s audiences love our shows because we focus on having variety and true diversity of great quality acts. No two shows are ever the same.
How has comedy helped you to blaze your own trail?
Standup is great because you have no choice but to find your true voice. In that sense comedy has helped me learn more about myself and what is important to me. It has forced me to think about how I feel about the world around me and why. My personal growth is important to me and standup helps me with that.
Doing standup comedy has also allowed me to take risks and do comedy in places that are way out of my comfort zone. I’m at Edinburgh Fringe right now and it’s mad!!
I also produced and hosted Raise the Bar Comedy in Toronto, Canada last year and it was one of the most fun comedy nights ever. I couldn’t help but feel a bit proud that I was able to just go to a huge scene like Toronto and pull off an awesome lineup show.
What's your top tip for women on how they can blaze their own trail?
Learn to tune out voices that are not aligned with your own truth – this could be the society, media, outdated family values. Make space to figure out what’s true for you. Once you are aligned with what matters to you and what you need to create a worthwhile life, you’ll find it much easier to problem-solve through obstacles. Talk to those who inspire you and surround yourself with people who will be your champions.
Take Up Space! With The Spill
In partnership with The Spill* - an online publication providing a safe space for writers from marginalised communities to share their stories.
This week’s recommended read is: As a Brown Woman in the UK, I Have Felt Othered Throughout My Whole Dating Life.
Amrit Virdi shares the challenges of dating as a woman of colour in a country where most people are white.
Lioness Thoughts
