Written by: Tracey Kirungi, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Hi Guys! In my previous article, I spoke about how to go from a 9-5 to entrepreneurial living based on my own experience. Now I’d like to share with you why I did it, who I used to be as opposed to who I grew into, where my journey took place, and when it happened. I see my journey as that of a millennial entrepreneur taking advantage of the transition we are experiencing into the Gen Z era/Creator Economy. I believe that mindsets and business models for creators like myself will require more digital ingenuity and personal truths, as the information era gives us fewer places to hide.
The millennial that missed the party
I’m the millennial that missed the gold rush. What do I mean by that? The places that I should have been, the opportunities that I should have had, and the person I was supposed to be didn’t quite happen the way I imagined it. Even though the opportunities were staring me in my face. I found myself standing a step apart from the ‘YOLO’ culture surrounding me at the top of the 2010s. The trends of my era did not interest me at all.
The clubbing scene we grew up into has never been for me. My Boomer mother was, and is, far more of a clubber than I’ll ever be. I never understood the point because mentally, I’d be thinking, ‘Why should I spend this amount of time partying to Chris Brown with a bunch of annoying drunk people stepping on my feet in the dark? I don’t even like going to the market! This shit isn’t worth the price of a week’s worth of shopping!’ I felt left out, yet it was self-inflicted. I was already going through my own significant isolation space over the years. My long-standing friends and I were drifting further apart, finances weren’t improving, I wouldn’t hear from my Dad for months, and I had moved to another city to study a course that I wasn’t interested in.
At that time, the emptiness of my life sank me into a level of sadness and depression that I couldn’t quite understand how to lift myself out of. Materially from the outside, looking in my family assumed that I was happy with my circumstances. I somehow convinced myself of this too. However, I was unaware of the unexplainable sense of misery that I had deep inside. The fact I practically was not living my life was lost on me until I deepened my understanding of Bantu traditional healing. I learned my ancestral power passed down to me over generations that I hadn’t tapped into.
Consequently, I became a target for energetic vampires who saw what I couldn’t. We are the sum of those before us whether or not we understand. By seeking knowledge of self through my roots, I escaped the bad energy, spiritual prison, lack of opportunity and isolation I made myself vulnerable to by the wrong company I kept. I learned my strengths, weaknesses, and the structure I needed to get the best out of myself. Spirituality is at one with the physical realm in the same sense that energy is the currency of life. Therefore, we are taking an ignorant risk with our lives by ignoring it.
The spiritual quarantine that was enforced on me drove me crazy. I would be miserable at not having the confidence to approach certain people necessary to progress. I would be taken to networking events by close people that I trusted. However, I struggled to even make the right opportunities happen for myself. I didn’t believe in myself. I didn’t have the energy to attract my destiny. I knew I enjoyed writing but couldn’t bring myself to write. I almost didn’t think that the words would even come alive on the page I was writing on. This consistent undermining of myself that my spiritual prison had me battling with for years.
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Being a millennial in 2012 meant that young black creatives like myself from deprived neighbourhoods in London could make opportunities happen by blending technology with tact. We were the first wave of creatives that utilised the internet to bring our dreams closer to where we were. Right now, the kids have TikTok. Back then, we had Vine. Whilst we still had to physically negotiate with traditional institutions, we had digital outlets we’d use to build a connection with the outside world instantly. We picked this up so effortlessly compared to our parents, who misunderstood our new formula.
Contextually, as a millennial with the type of dreams I had, I was supposed to be spending 50% of my time networking in person and 50% of the time social-climbing online to consolidate my wins. It was detrimental for me to be socially isolated. I saw peers of mine carve a lane for themselves in an increasingly digitised world. I literally had the world in my hand at the click of a button (Blackberries, anyone?). I had a supercomputer in my pocket and the freedom to travel cheaply around the world just like everybody else. The rat race and global consumption of the post-2010 internet era were high. I had the sneaking sense that I wasn’t capitalising enough on the information era to achieve the crystal-clear vision for myself I dreamt up as a child.
The freedom and mobility my generation was afforded then are like a stolen memory when I reflect here in 2022. Spiritually I was on a journey that I didn’t fully understand at the time. My trajectory contrasted with the emerging trends of my peers. However, the irony isn’t lost on me that the spiritual freedom I eventually attained in 2020 was able to boost my material fortunes at a time when the world was experiencing a lockdown. I’d already survived the type of restrictions that my peers were only just getting used to. What was once my problem has now become my edge!
For those of us who have been in some form of prison before, the state of the world right now is something that I sincerely feel we can contend with. We’re not new to this! All the doom and gloom and panic… I’ve been there before! In my eyes, the objective right now is for us to be resourceful. I do this through introspection and engaging one of my spiritual purposes, which is the creative writing that I so desperately wanted to do ten years ago. I’m adapting to the current times and the impending future that the media is trying to scare us away from by repurposing my previous dreams and goals.
Enter into my world and walk with me on this journey. My resolve is to share the answer I have found to the question, ‘Why do caged birds sing?’.
Tracey Kirungi, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Tracey was born and raised in London, United Kingdom. She considers herself on all accounts, to be a proud "East London-East African" due to her East and Central African roots and intrinsic cultural aspirations. She has also created her own haircare line, Self Aware Black Hair Care, that specifically caters to black women and girls in her community. Tracey's expertise in freelance writing under TM Kitara is borne from transitioning from a 9-5 working style, to developing an entrepreneurial niche in the creator economy. Tracey places a therapeutic focus on the mental health and wellness of those making innovative, creative strides in an increasingly digitised economy.
At present, Tracey still resides in London. In addition to her TM Kitara enterprise, she works part-time as a freelance content writer for Centric's community research organisation, based in London.
