In this month’s blog, we interview co-founder Sandy, and volunteer team members Victoria and Marlia to find out a bit more about behind-the-scenes at Skaped.

Firstly, hi I’m Chloe and I have been writing blogs for Skaped and also working on some of the workshop content. I wanted to join skaped as I am really interested in the environment, young people and social change, and I am keen to learn more about human rights beyond what I was taught at school. I love the creative aspect of Skaped’s work too and have enjoyed being part of the team. I wanted to put this blog together and hear from the others too so we can let more people know about the interesting and fun work that we do.

Please tell us a little bit about yourself!

Sandy My name is Sandy Abdelrahman, a British/Egyptian activist, artistic social entrepreneur, and co-founder of Skaped. A value-driven bilingual with a passion for human rights, the arts and social mobility; I have been co-running Skaped since 2016. The last instrument I tried to learn how play is Oud a middle-eastern pear shape strings instrument

Victoria Hi, I’m currently studying Film and Screen Media MA with a focus on censorship, fan media, and the democratization of media. I have been with Skaped for almost a year! I was drawn to their mix of arts and human rights teachings. I am interested in activism around intersectional class politics, yet, I largely spend time critiquing the silliest media possible. I am wearing purple 90% of the time!

Marlia I'm Marlia and I’ve been working for Skaped for around 10 months now! I'm a half-Mexican half-Dutch Londoner who is passionate about international issues - Skaped’s global focus on human rights has naturally lent itself to this - and I have worked on both workshops and media content for the charity. I am an English literature student currently on a year abroad in Berlin.

What made you interested to start Skaped/ or want to get involved?

Sandy Skaped was born out of frustration, lack of opportunities and education we received on our rights, politics and social issues in public schools. As both Thay and I migrated to London in our childhoods from Egypt and Brazil, we faced different knock-backs, bullying and discrimination growing up. I found myself becoming an activist really early to create change and get my voice heard.

I remember Thay and myself discovered that many of our conversations revolved around these experiences; before long, a vision began to formulate – I remember saying, 'We're just complaining. Shall we do something about it?'". And this is how Skaped started, a platform that educates young people about their human rights and raises awareness for humanitarian issues through the creative arts. We wanted to use art to create awareness and challenging issues in our lives. In Egypt, you can't talk about politics, so what do you use? You use the idea of art: that doesn't mention the political system but mentions the corruption behind it.

Victoria I was furloughed and had some extra time, and I wanted to volunteer at an organisation that did some good. Skaped's combination of arts and Human Rights focus stuck out to me.

Marlia Skaped’s innovative approach of incorporating arts so seamlessly into its social goals was something I had not encountered before and made me keen to learn more.

What's the most fun you've had working at Skaped?

Sandy The most fun for me was at the early stage of Skaped and finding our feet; we discovered that Skaped was really needed and got to experience and pilot ideas, both creatively and impactfully. It's always exciting when you see an idea enfold and the change that could make.

Victoria I really enjoyed learning about different indigenous cultures when we focused on that for a month of social media content. It's also been great to talk to all of the wonderful guest speakers that we've had, and our weekly team check-ins have been a productive, friendly space to share and develop ideas.

Marlia The most fun I have had while at Skaped is working on community building workshops and also taking a more journalistic approach to our social media output in terms of human rights content. I also love the team and how we all learn from each other.

Artwork from one of our workshops with Sandy and Victoria

What's been the most interesting project for you to work on?

Sandy Each project we have worked on had an aspect of excitement and interest to it, in my opinion. However, the most exciting one was the 'Art Aware' project. For this project we asked eight young artists to came into a studio and were each given a prompt from the refugee crisis, the death penalty, colonisation etc. - with the topic they were to create paintings about, they then worked for a whole day to create an art piece.

The ending pieces were terrific, but what was more significant is the research the artist did and how that has impacted their opinions to change or start to think about these issues.

Is there anything you find challenging about the role?

Sandy Every role and job have its challenge; for me, the most challenging is sticking to my belief and values within myself and the organisation. I always try and come back to the basics and ask myself why we started Skaped, what we're trying to change and what difference we are trying to make.

How do you find remote working with Skaped?

Victoria It's sometimes difficult to coordinate when we're in multiple time-zones, but I rather enjoy remote working and the added flexibility of not having to travel to a physical space.

Sandy I believe working remotely has impacted Skaped work in various methods. We reached a wider audience and more young people who would have customarily struggled to attend our workshops/programme for a start. We were able to connect more young people with each other to share their experience and learn from one another. Even during lockdowns, Skaped has carried on delivering the work and new ways.

Marlia It definitely has been strange to never have met the lovely team in person, but I think we have managed to tackle all the obstacles an online environment may create.

What I find challenging is also what I find exciting about Skaped: our goals are always changing depending on social climates and our expertise which can sometimes be a little difficult to keep on top of.

What does social change look like to you?

Sandy I believe that Social change is a journey that individuals have to take to create a better society and a community, and it does not happen overnight or without failure. Social change to me is a value-driven and impactful work from the bottom up, which welcomes difference in opinion, allows space for learning and debate; and slowly creates that change that we need in our society happens such as the feminist movement which is one of the most inspiring social change.

Victoria Grassroots organising and people learning how to support each other, whilst at the same time pressing for legal protections and progress. It is personal change alongside the political.

What do you hope your audience can take away from Skaped?

Sandy I hope the audience will understand more about the work we do and the importance of it. The importance of having a conversation, challenging and provoking debate; as a society, we only grow when we unfold this and learn from one another and respect one another's opinion.

Marlia I hope that our audience will feel empowered and able to pursue any ambition or goal that they might have

Do you feel that it is important for Skaped to be female-led?

Sandy Being a female-led organisation was never our intention; however, we have a solid team together, and it happens to be all women. That being said I believe it's great to see more and more female-led organisations, projects and companies, that understand the issue they're working on and delivering on point.

Victoria I think that it's beneficial in a way, I think that there is value in having women front social change when things have so often been male-dominated. I'm not sure it's a value to itself but Sandy and Thay are Skaped so it wouldn't be the same organisation if it wasn't female-led. I guess it's important that it's led by these women in particular and their politics and experiences are shaped by being women but I think it's the resultant politics and goals that drew me to the organisation and not their gender.

Where do you hope Skaped will be in five years?

Sandy In the next five years, we hope that we have worked with more young people and created a social change in our society and the community for the better. We hope we grow as an organisation and develop a sustainable societal impact.

Victoria Reaching more people, running new workshops and working with communities to foster social change.

Marlia I envision Skaped to be reaching more people and having a bigger team behind the scenes to facilitate this.

Finally, what's your favourite food? /your favourite thing to do in your free time?

Victoria Boba tea… that's not a food but... chips! I like to play animal crossing, watch CW shows (the TV network, stuff like the Arrowverse, Regin, Supernatural, and Riverdale) and hang out with my dog.

Marlia I love pizza - it’s so flexible with regards to toppings that you can never be bored!

Sandy I enjoy spending time trying to keep on top of my well-being, and therefore during my free time, I practice well-being paintings where I do it as a way of meditation and try and clear my head off.

I hope you enjoyed finding out a bit more what we do and who we are as people too!

We are currently looking for new volunteers to join our team, social media managers and workshop content creators, if you are interested please click here

Meet the Team! Skaped Interviews