She’s an artist. 21, female, born and raised in South East London, and of mixed heritage.
So as a Londoner, her art ought to be dark and gritty. She should be exploring the capitals grime scene, and be inspired by its subcultures, right?
And as a person of colour, her art should be an expression of the black struggle, shouldn’t it?
Or at least, that’s what’s been expected of her. But, that’s not who she is.
“Energies inspire me. The free, intense energies of my Nigerian heritage inspire me as much as the calm, collected energies of my British heritage do. I love bright, dreamy visuals. I love sequins and glitter. I love African print and furs and silk and – it all makes me different. A lot of people don’t get this.”
But at Latimer we look at things a little differently, and so when set out to build a community of the UK’s top 100 young creatives to help launch VOXI, Vodafone’s new youth mobile network, we knew Nwaka had to be a part of it.
The ask of the young creatives was to create social content based on their own interpretation of ‘Endless Possibilities’, in line with the brands offering of endless social data for 16-25 year olds.
For Nwaka, it was a great opportunity to show off her own creativity, but additionally, she was keen to represent other people she knew – the friends and creatives who had inspired her. “I loved that the knock on effect this opportunity presented to me, was that it led to a network of young creatives being given the opportunity to express ourselves.”
Take a look at the campaign here:
Nwaka says that her biggest takeaway from collaborating with Latimer and VOXI was an appreciation of the strength of community. “Being a part of a 100 strong young creative collective meant that we were all really able to influence the output of this campaign, and considering that it’s targeted at people like us, it’s refreshing for a brand to include us in the creative process, instead of just assuming they know what we’ll like (and usually getting it wrong).”
Oh, and there’s also the fact that the success of her VOXI work led to her working on another project with Latimer and one of the country’s best known broadcasters 🙂
Want to find out how we can help your brand or cause co-create with young people? Give a shout!
