Brave New Optimists Edition 2.5

Hi lovely,?

Welcome to your corner of the internet where the world gets a bit brighter and you breathe a bit deeper. Thank you for taking the time to join optimist seekers in finding the good. I hope you enjoy x?

Edition 2.4

Leadership?

1.) I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to feature him in this newsletter, but Barack Obama is reminding us all of what an incredible leader he is by publicly standing against the censorship of books in America. As a long time fan of Obama’s summer reading list, this makes me really happy that Barak backs books* from all angles!

2.) New girl-crush just landed. Hanah Digley has made history as the first woman to lead a men’s side in one of England’s top-four football divisions. It's a welcome - if long overdue - development. And it remains to be seen if other clubs will embrace a similar direction of travel in the years ahead.

Culture

I recently got the most wonderful email from the one and only Isobel Colchester , full to the brim with tales of the brilliant social projects and cultural experiences that she’s encountered over the past few months - so big thank you BNO hero Isobel for the recs in this section!?

3.) To fundraise for Free Them Now, 678 Mystic Nightingales recently performed a great show in support of the Iranian protests for women's rights and freedom which included the most incredible close up performance by multi-instrumentalist Zanyar Hesami and a new photographic monologue by Sepy Baghaei. Seriously, if you ever just need to *chill* - click Zanyar’s link above to hear some magical Kurdish music in nature.

4.) Saidiya Hartman's books combine academic rigour with boundless imagination. Read to learn the stories of the Black women who were “the pioneers of free love, common-law and transient marriages, queer identities, and single motherhood - all deemed scandalous, even pathological, at the dawn of the twentieth century, though they set the pattern for the world to come.”

5.) Instead of scrolling on Insta during your next work break, I recommend checking out these pictures of Chris Ofili's The Seven Deadly Sins exhibition at Victoria Miro Gallery. The paintings come at you off the walls, with these ethereal mystical figures slowly emerging and getting bolder the longer you look at them…

Business & Work

6.) I’ve always been a fan of their Swedish Meatballs, but now I’m even more of a fan of IKEA’s Due Diligence Directive! I love that they’re backing Parliament, Commission and Council to ensure that children’s rights and needs are explicitly included in the EU Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence, and hope that more big companies follow in their footsteps.?

7.) According to Martha Lane Fox , bootstrapping is officially back. Having only ever bootstrapped and knowing that people who are marginalised are less likely to go for investment and funding - I'm in favour of developing a bootstrapped mentality (and also knowing when to stop!)

8.) We are one step closer to the Flexible Working Bill becoming law, as it passed its third reading in the House of Lords last week. This is a huge win for those with childcare responsibilities, disabilities, and all-round human needs.

Anisa Morridadi & Co.

9.)? I absolutely loved attending the Clore Leadership Graduation of their 2022-2023 Fellows, shout out to the rebels in the making whose ideas, drive and passion continue to have a sublime impact on our culture and creativity.

Stay brave,?

Anisa?

* Is it just me who finds it so crazy that Barack Obama has LinkedIn, like imagine having ‘President of the United States’ in your Experience section…wild?