After a year-long hiatus, the Style & Vibes podcast is again, and higher than ever. The podcast panorama has sorely missed the insightful cultural commentary of Jamaican-American, New York-based host, Mikelah Rose Malcolm, who, with a rotation of company, tackles matters about Caribbean artwork, music, tradition, and journey.
Born of Necessity
In accordance with Malcolm, Model & Vibes was born out of necessity. “There are such a lot of who love our tradition from the skin in,” begins Malcolm on episode zero of her podcast. “I wished to discover [our culture] from the within out.”
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The Caribbean is known world wide, however by means of half-formed impressions and stereotypes. To some, the Caribbean is countless seashores – a eternally paradise. But to others, it’s a hotbed for toxicity and violence.
The reality, after all, is each someplace within the center and off that spectrum altogether. The Caribbean would possibly as nicely be a continent for a way assorted the tradition is from nation to nation, and the way a lot that tradition evolves with every passing yr. “There are such a lot of layers to who we’re as a individuals, and there’s so many individuals I’ve are available contact with through the years in print and digital journalism, that I actually wished to create an area to have participating conversations with them,” Malcolm defined.
This mission flows by means of the whole platform. “The identify was the very first thing I had ever considered – it was actually indicative of our tradition,” she defined on her Don’t Name it a Comeback episode final November. ‘Vibes’ has all the time been an all-encompassing phrase inside the area to talk about tradition and power. Malcolm additional expounded on the naming course of. “Model is one thing we evoke. [It’s] not simply how we gown, but it surely’s how we boassy. It’s how we dance, and it’s how we strategy individuals.”
Caribbean Cultural Influence
As a marketer and tradition connoisseur, she seen the methods Caribbean tradition was the prototype for a lot of developments throughout the globe. “The influence of the Caribbean tradition could be felt worldwide – the music on the stadiums, style on the runway, [etc.]” She was having these conversations inside her buddy teams and taking her ideas to her weblog. It was then her buddy, fellow podcaster, and founding father of the podcast manufacturing firm Breadfruit Media, Kerry-Ann Reid-Brown, prompt she begin her personal present.
She was reluctant at first. “I used to be actually tied to conventional media,” she admitted. “I cherished magazines. I cherished books, articles and studying. It was arduous for me to let go.” For a time she tried to steadiness each mediums, but it surely stretched her to her limits. “I used to be my very own author, my very own editor, my very own copy editor, my very own graphic designer,” she laughed. “I used to be distributing it, I used to be creating the content material for social media to advertise, I used to be establishing full campaigns to get it on the market.”
What lastly pushed her all the best way was realizing the energy of podcasting. Malcolm might have longer conversations, lower much less of it, and never fear concerning the fixed churn of each day articles wanted to maintain a written outlet afloat. “I’ve by no means regarded again. I believe I can write and contribute as a author at my very own tempo, once I’m prepared to try this once more.”
Model & Vibes could be discovered on any podcast streaming platform.
