Nyomi, 34 is a part-time project officer/part-time blogger and vlogger from the North East of England.
Nyomi started her blog at the end of January 2016 and regularly posts about modern motherhood, parenting, family life, things to do and reviews. Nyomi is also a passionate feminist and one of her core values is to support other women so there will be frequent posts on equality.
After becoming a mother, Nyomi Winter found she had a lot to say and wanted an outlet for it. In 2016, after the birth of her second child, Nyomi decided to set up a feminist family lifestyle blog and the associated social media channels to provide her with a safe space to express her opinions without judgement. Nearly two years later, Nyomi’s blog and Youtube channel receives 17,000 views every month and her social media reach has just hit 368,210 users.
In light of recent research from Kaspersky Lab showing that risk taking can help people to reap rewards whether it’s career focused or in their personal life, Nyomi has spoken to Feminist Wednesday to discuss her feminist views and what catapulted her to start blogging – and the freedom it provides her to talk about what could be seen as ‘unpopular’ opinions.
Tell us how you started blogging
I started blogging in January 2016 when my second child was around one. I had wanted to set up a blog since I first became a mother in 2011 but I found the technical side of things daunting. I set myself a New Year’s resolution to do it in 2016 and my partner who works in IT helped me set it up. From then on I just ran with it.
Tell us why feminism is important to you and how it influences your work
Feminism drives everything I do. I have a fundamental need for things to be fair and equal and the injustice of inequality really lights a fire in me. I see capable girls and women everywhere being limited and having their light dimmed. I just can’t stop fighting to change that.
What do you do to avoid feminist burnout? What’s your favourite self-care practice?
This is a good question and I do get feminist burn out now and then, especially with having a feminist blog. I’ll often put myself out there and post something that anti-feminists take umbrage to and having to constantly defend my opinions can be exhausting. Feminists, especially those with opinions which are in the minority, can be expected to do so much intellectual and emotional labour for others and that takes its toll.
For my own self-care I sometimes have to back away from social media to protect myself. Or I just get friendly with that unfollow or block button when someone is repeatedly making me feel bad. For me personally though the best thing I can do is surround myself with likeminded women, especially in real life. Sometimes, just having a couple of drinks in the pub with some of my gal pals really centres me.
Do you have any advice for anyone starting out blogging?
Pinterest has many ‘how to’ articles and so is a good place to start. I also recommend researching SEO early on, otherwise you’ll end up wanting to go back and redo old articles. Think carefully about what you want your brand name to be and make it something that has longevity. I didn’t want to make mine kid focussed as they grow up – I wanted breadth. Also make sure that whatever brand name you choose, the social media handles are available on all platforms. Then start to grow your social media following across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest by engaging with others.
Whilst the online world has helped make my blog a success and the risk I took in setting it up has certainly paid off, I will never let my guard down online. It’s important to keep everything protected, especially if you’re like me and have massive amounts of online material that could be breached or lost in an instant, so the right security measures must be in place from the get go.
Having said that, my greatest tip is to be authentic; people spot it a mile away and it makes all the difference. And finally, be prepared to work hard!
