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BCA Career Spotlight: Social Media Officer
“Stay curious and inspire others to do the same”
Spotlight on: Shanice Bryce
Social Media Officer Shanice has been in the role for two years this month and is responsible for keeping Black Cultural Archives’ Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Tiktok channels updated and engaging. Shanice does not have a favourite social media platform to work with but is enamoured by their uniqueness and treats them in isolation, knowing that what works well on one platform cannot be proffered on another.
Designing content for socials, writing copy, managing campaigns, and curating the newsletter are typical tasks that Shanice carries out in her role. The small nature of the team and recent staffing changes means she is responsible for additional functions such as editing blogs, speaking with partners, chairing marketing meetings, and designing content for BCA’s programming. Shanice sees herself as the ‘brand guardian', growing and protecting the BCA brand to ensure consistency and relevancy so that people understand our mission and our partners accept and respect it.
BCA x Snap: Hidden Black Stories is one such partnership that Shanice has worked on. The augmented reality project, which saw users scan their Snapchat lens in Trafalgar Square and be transported to hear a speech by Martin Luther King Jr, see Mary Seacole and explore the work of Black British artists, enabled Black Cultural Archives to tap into the Generation Z market and win a 2022 PRCA Dare award for Diversity and Inclusion. Aside from the fun of dressing up in black tie and attending a gala to pick up the award, the project provided visibility to BCA as a whole and enabled Shanice to personally reflect on her career journey that led to this significant point.
Introspection and a quest for improvement and elevation underpin Shanice’s work. It is these traits, alongside her unwavering self-belief, that she procured an internship with ELLE Magazine at age 18, despite being knocked back twice before and became the PR manager for an underwear, swimwear and loungewear brand after reaching out to the founder to offer her marketing and comms skills. Shanice likens her proclivity to live in tune with her desires to the way people eat intuitively with what their body needs, and it is this inclination that took her on a journey through roles in fashion, wellness, and tech before she arrived at BCA. She believes her life purpose is to "stay curious and inspire others to do the same" and advises that it is okay to go with the flow, to keep trying to find what you love to do, and to be graceful with yourself during the process.
Shanice wishes she could change the perception of her role and help people understand that it entails far more than curating reels and posting pictures. It involves creating strategies that entice people to buy into BCA’s mission and vision, to attend our events & exhibitions, and to visit our archives, but in a way that is honest and value-led – the psychological art of persuasion, if you will. To demonstrate that a key aspect of successful marketing is timing and topicality, Shanice looks to our partnership with leading Barristers Chambers, 5 St. Andrews Hill (5SAH), which gives an outlook on legal topics through their series of videos called ‘Black Futures: The Legal Perspective’. BCA’s subject guide referencing the 1772 case of Somerset v Stewart, and a Black person's right not to be forcibly removed from England, is as relevant now, and thus marketable, in a climate where the UK has pernicious immigration policies that need attention drawn to them. It is up to Shanice to recognise these parallels and draw visibility to them.
Schools: Seeing Ourselves Workshops
Did you know that we offer interactive 'Seeing Ourselves Workshops' aimed at raising career aspirations in the arts for children in Key Stage 1? Explore different roles in the arts and heritage sector with associated characters 5-7 year olds might better relate to:
Conservator (Superhero), Archivist (Explorer), Curator (Storyteller) and Artist (Spy).
BCA Career Spotlight: Learning and Engagement Manager
“Speak up for yourself”
Spotlight on: Dr Ayshah Johnston
The V&A, Transport Museum, National Trust, and Brixton Windmill are all places our Engagement and Learning manager, Dr Ayshah Johnston, worked at before coming to Black Cultural Archives in January 2019. She obtained the role on her second attempt after acquiring schools experience and plugging the gap on her resume that prohibited her from landing the role the first time.
Ayshah’s resilience and perseverance and her description of how she came to be into her line of work: 'by accident and back to front' are important anecdotes for young professionals who may feel pressure to have their career trajectory figured out and may not be prepared for the knock backs that are part for the course. Ayshah’s advice to young professionals, particularly those from Black and global majority backgrounds seeking to enter the arts and culture sector is: ‘speak up for yourself’ if you suspect you are being taken advantage of and/or your career is being stalled, whether deliberately or inadvertently. She seeks to remind them that though the field is not as diverse and inclusive as it should be, individuals and organisations are willing to help them find their way.
Black Cultural Archives is one such organisation, and Ayshah’s favourite part of working in a majority Black organisation is that she can ‘relax’, ‘be herself’ and focus on the job at hand instead of having to expend mental energy protecting herself and proving she is qualified to be in the role, as has been her experience in other places.
A typical day in the role depends on the season. The proximity to Black History Month and the anniversary of the Windrush docking are when people are more likely to engage with Black history and thus the archives, but approximately 75% of Ayshah’s time is spent on public engagement and the delivery of workshops for all ages, from primary school through to corporate staff groups. Shortly, the plan is to hire freelance educators who can carry out school delivery and output, leaving time for Ayshah to focus on strategic planning, departmental development and academic research.
Ayshah’s passion for telling stories about Black history is palpable, and it is no wonder that she still relishes witnessing the looks of awe and shock on people's faces when they learn of things they did not know before. It is also of no surprise that she is busy creating hireable resources such as pop-ups and panels for individuals and organisations to access Black history, even when she and her team cannot go and tell the stories personally.
Engaging and informing the public about the discoveries of scientist, poet and linguist Lewis Latimer has been Ayshah’s favourite project in her role so far and one of the first opportunities she had to put on a family event, given the pandemic and the period of recovery arts and heritage organisations underwent in its aftermath. Latimer, though American, had a local link as his lights were installed on Electric Avenue in Brixton and had a major impact on London. He is yet to take up his place among the pantheon of Victorian inventors, but if anybody can ensure his inclusion and challenge the limiting beliefs about Black people and Black history Dr Ayshah Johnston can.
Schools: Seeing Ourselves Workshops
Did you know that we offer interactive 'Seeing Ourselves Workshops' aimed at raising career aspirations in the arts for children in Key Stage 1? Explore different roles in the arts and heritage sector with associated characters 5-7 year olds might better relate to:
Conservator (Superhero), Archivist (Explorer), Curator (Storyteller) and Artist (Spy).