September 30, 2017

Pride, Work and Necessity of Side Projects: Writer Keah Brown launched emboldening hashtag #DisabledAndCute on Twitter



What are you working on—on the side?


I have many side projects that turned into my main projects. There is the hashtag I created [February 2017] on Twitter, #DisabledAndCute, that has brought me amazing opportunities and has since then grown into a larger initiative. There’s also my creative work outside of journalism: I write essays, fiction and poetry. After these things take off or are well-received, they join the everyday work I do.



How do you manage to work on your side project(s)?

My planner is my best friend. Without it, I’d get nothing done. I block my days out with time-specific tasks. In the morning, it’s articles and interviews for Cliché Magazine where I am an entertainment writer. In the afternoon, I write essays about blackness, disability and life at various identity intersections. On the weekends, I give my time to fiction and poetry.

Why have a side project?

Because they are fun and it’s important to express yourself in multiple ways through various forms. I think if you can manage to have a little something extra, it’ll make the daily work better—it’ll reinvigorate you.

• • •

Diptych courtesy of Keah Brown with bottom photograph by Sarah Fathallah of Brown’s presentation “A Journey to #DisabledAndCute: On Representation, a Movement and What's Next” during the annual Affect Conference in 2017.

• • •

Read more about the joy of side projects.


Please consider supporting Design Feast
If you liked this lovingly-made interview, show your appreciation by helping to support my labor of love—Design Feast, which proudly includes this blog. Learn more.