If you’ve read my last post, I kind of teased that 2020 was a big year in terms of reconnecting with my creative self and endeavoring new experiences. The thing I didn’t include in the post, was the upcoming podcast with my best friend Mikayla. Why Starting a podcast in 2020? It’s been a long time coming.
The first time we ever talked about it, we were shooting one of Mikayla’s all pink outfits on Wellington street. We were talking about life, dating, the pressure that young souls like us felt about pretty much everything. I was binge-ing Sex in the City at the time and I kept thinking: How great would it be if we had a source of content that would capture life exactly the way it feels with all its beauty, struggles and nuances? Without all the IG filters. Without scripts. Without inhibitions. Without the forced nonchalance that’s trending on social nowadays.
So there we were between shots, asking each other: What if we created a podcast talking about pretty much that matters to us in our lives? What if we exposed the part that we often hid to the world?
We talked about it. Hyped ourselves about how it could be. The things we could achieve. The difference we could make. Then… We forgot about it. We never pushed further, and our imaginary Sex in the City podcast stayed on Wellington Street.
Until August 2020.
First and foremost, I can’t stress about how trivial this year has been for my friendship with Mikayla. It’s almost ironic how we needed a pandemic and an ocean in between to make us realize how much we mean to each other. We kept up with our weekly Saturday hangout, except this year there was no blogging glamour in between. No fancy coffee shops, no photo sessions, no shopping trips. Just Mik and I after work hours, telling each other everything. Sometimes lightheartedly, sometimes heavy-heartedly. In the midst of August, we were both having a rough week and ended up relying on each other more than we were accustomed to. We confessed things about ourselves that were hard to share, things that made us say ” Shit, what would I do if I didn’t have you to support me?” (Of course I’m the one who said “Shit” because Mik NEVER swears).
It kinda made me realize how far we had come together as friends. It had all started in 2017 with blogging but Mik… She just gets me. And god knows that’s hard. I could count on my ten fingers the people that do, and two are from my family.
This led to another question: How the hell do people who don’t have that kind of support survive?
If you are anything like us, you know that finding people you can wholeheartedly trust with all of your heart (and shenanigans) is hard. We are scared of judgement. We are scared of rejection. We are scared of people seeing us the way we are. We are scared to face the things we feel. This right there is my religion, why the hell do you think I am still single?
We laughed nervously: What if we became everyone’s best friend?
And so we got to work. We listed keywords: Self-love, relationships, career, mental health, pop culture and Thursday meeting after Thursday meeting, “Call Us MikNeg” materialized like magic.
To be honest, Mikayla and I had been wanting more for a long time. We wanted to scale our influences and do something great about it. Something that would genuinely help people. Something that would them feel like they were a little less alone in this world. Something for the very girly girls who love pink and Disney but who stand strongly for what they believe in. Something for the tomboys who have perfected the act of not giving a shit about anything but who deep down care way too much about everything.
So there you have it: “Call us MikNeg” is the story of endless transatlantic calls. Two girls who want to make a difference. Two girls who support each other unconditionally. Two girls who always want more. Two girls who won’t apologize for knowing they deserve more. Whoever you are and wherever you are listening to it from, we hope it will make you feel like you are one of us.
Stay tuned and follow us at @callusmikneg on Instagram, we launch on October 22!
Lots of love always,
Neguine.
