How Spotify helped me to create Code Her Journey
So let’s go back in time to 2020 *yikes*, I was in the final year of my Economics and Accounting degree.
In March 2020, like many people, it felt like my world had turned upside down. Lockdown happened, but my housemates and I remained hopeful, give it 2 weeks, two months at maximum, we’ll be back at university living our best lives.
As the months went on, it was getting more and more clear that this virus wasn’t going to disappear as quickly as it seemed to appear.
I started getting emails left, right, and center about my assessment days being canceled due to the lockdown and uncertainty.
I lost so much motivation to do anything and was panicked at how I was meant to do my final exams. Turns out, the exams were open book (which was absolutely delicious) and we had 24 hours to do them.
Because I knew they were open book, I struggled to motivate myself to *truly* revise for them. I felt like my discipline was at an all-time high during my first term in 2019, and I didn’t recognise myself anymore.
To procrastinate from the bore of this weird kind of revision, I started going to a lot of online events. I signed up for a bunch of General Assembly events and decided I’d work on self-development.
What was helpful about the lockdown was that there were all these events and courses that I now had access to without the worry of having to travel to get there.
After my exams, I made a dedication to really push myself to get back into coding.
Little did I know, I was stuck in tutorial hell, and constantly kept getting overwhelmed with everything I needed to learn, plus the scarcity job market was terrifying and anxiety-inducing.
I wanted to give back to Code First Girls and add more structure to my life, so I volunteered to teach their Web Development course. It was amazing, I loved the experience and to help with my imposter syndrome, I made sure to come EXTRA prepped for the lessons I taught.
I joined the Mentor Circle, founded by Tunde Yusuff, which was a free business and career bootcamp. We had speaker sessions, group workshops, and cash grants!
That’s how I connected with a mentor who said I should launch a podcast. I was like, nah! No way. I want to be low-key and don’t want to put myself out there too much online, to be honest.
As soon as that virtual call ended, I go onto Twitter and see applications for the Spotify Sound Up programme. I had applied with the same idea in 2018 and was rejected, but I had faced so much rejection already, I decided to apply anyway.
Normally, I would write down all my answers for applications, but this time, I was so confident that I would be rejected again, that I didn’t even bother to save my answers somewhere.
When I received an email notifying me that I had been shortlisted to their top 30 podcast ideas, I was honestly shocked. HOW?!!!! I was literally rejected got the same idea 2 years ago.
I had two interviews with Spotify employees and some time afterward, I found out that I was shortlisted again as the top 20 podcast ideas and that I would be going through the first phase of the programme.
WOW. I was genuinely so shocked. I said that if I got it, it would be a sign for me to stop living small and to really put myself out there.
The programme was amazing, and just what I needed to lift my spirits at the time. It was crazy because this was legit a programme with Spotify, yet it didn’t feel real at all because I was attending virtually from my room. I can do a whole separate blog post about my experience.
By the end of the 4 weeks, we were given around 3-4 weeks to create a pitch deck and a trailer to be shortlisted as the top 10 podcast ideas. Unfortunately, I didn’t end up making the top 10.
But I wanted to continue with Code Her Journey with or without Spotify. From Sound Up, I felt so equipped to launch a podcast and I had a genuine passion for the tech topics I wanted to discuss. A few months later, I find out that I can’t actually release episodes without their approval.
I’m actually still waiting to be able to release some of the amazing episodes recorded. Fortunately, they’re helping me out by providing me with a team to help with my vision, but I can’t share too much yet!
So in January 2022, I decided to challenge myself by creating daily JavaScript challenges for absolute beginners on Twitter and Instagram. It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work!
Now in February 2022, I’m experimenting with different content creation for the page and plan to keep creating this year.
I can’t wait until I can release my podcast and share it with the world!