What people say about my workshops
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“This workshop was as if, suddenly, the elephant in the room got all the attention: he got scared and tripped over my masculinity Pandora's box. Now, everything is everywhere. It helped open my eyes.”
Stephan, Ecological Masculinity Workshop participant
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“Virginia is an amazing facilitator and space holder. She gently navigated us through the topic of masculinities in her workshop, allowing all of us to show up vulnerably with all our emotions we have around the topic. The discussion stirred so many thoughts in me and really changed how I approach the topic. Thank you!”
Miriam, Ecological Masculinity Workshop participant
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Virginia's workshop was very interesting and inspiring. I loved the different perspectives, ideas, and recommendations she brought to each topic and how she encouraged expression above productivity. It helped me get out of my head and just start writing. I would definitely recommend her workshops for an interesting and personal experience.
Writing The Body Workshop participant
What people say about working with me
Alisa Nicole Howard, Artist & Performer
Where to even begin? Well, for Virginia she began our interview with the heart... Her first question was tell me how your heart feels? And after that question, I knew I was in the right place at the right time. The time we had together felt more like an intimate conversation between two old friends. It was peaceful and guided and allowed me to fully explore myself and what it means to be an artist and a black woman. I was able to examine myself and delve into my inner workings with no judgement, just understanding and love. It felt like we both were offering ourselves up and allowing ourselves to speak on the things we connect to and want to connect to. I loved talking to Virginia! And I’m grateful for what was discussed and how it enabled me to really understand more of who I am and who I want to be.
Catherine Euale, Artist & Designer
“Virginia is such a lovely and thorough writer, artist, and journalist to work with! She had seen some of my work with mycelium and was interested in featuring my work in a local zine. We met at her cozy studio and dove deep into sustainability, interspecies dialogues, and eco-feminism over a cup of tea and some homemade lavender oil to open communication channels! She was also gracious enough to visit my collective's art studio and bio-lab, enriching the storytelling and giving our conversation a more tangible dimension! I really love Virginia's storytelling process. She weaves and shapes beautifully the many realms her interviewees delve into, making sense of the unravelled artist's inner world!”
Benedikt Peirotén, Founder of studio peipei
As a material designer, I am focused on using resources as sensibly and respectfully as possible. In the course of capitalism, this appreciation seems to have been lost. Studio Peipei tries to highlight the value of things that others consider completely worthless. It researches, develops and produces materials and objects from the leftovers of others. Nature as a model also knows no waste, everything is equally important.
The background stories of these material developments are then very important and must be well elaborated. Material Design is a discipline that is in the process of completely reinventing itself and needs to be understood from the outside. Virginia helped the studio to tell the story behind the project "from the ashes" and furthermore to formulate an appropriate title. Thanks to her expertise and creativity, this very complex and profound work could be told and understood. The project has received several awards and has been exhibited throughout Europe.
Margarida Teixeira, Disquiet Communications
"Virginia is a pleasure to work with and an excellent editor and mentor. She helps you find your potential and identify your weaknesses and strengths, to ensure your writing and ideas are engaging and easily understood by an external audience. She is a perfectionist in the best sense of the term - with Virginia's assistance, you will certainly enhance your skills and be able to avoid common mistakes, while at the same time, she helps you find and craft your unique voice. Virginia's guidance was essential for me to become a freelance writer and I can't thank her enough for her creativity, patience and persistence.
Isabel Crabtree-Condor, Climate Justice & Narrative strategist
Virginia is a one of these ludicrously talented writers, thinkers and doers. I've appreciated that alongisde her excellent communications, social media and strategy work that she also makes space for herself to dream big, do deep research and write beautiful content. Her work to create radcial reframes on climate (we were all seeds once); refugees (we are all humans) and deep reseach into masculinity, feminity are an asset to an emerging narrative professional field eager for new ideas, but not always sure about where to locate them. Her narrative investigation work into these issues goes so much deeper than what we usually have time to do ourselves. Our collaboration around the two volumes of Narrative Power & Collective Action have been such energy-giving generative process. And the communicational impact of that work has been much stronger becuase of her support, input, questioning, and ability to roll up her sleeves and get stuff done. Whether it was copy writing key messages, mapping social media channels, delivering the strategy we had developed or getting involved in further dissemination with different communities - she really can do it all. I will work with Virginia again, regularly, if only to learn from her radical reframe approach and feminist writing capacities. I would really recommend you book some time with her as a communications and content producer, as a radical reframer, and narrative investigator. It will add value to your narrative initiatives. You will learn a lot.
Kayla Chen, Editor & Writer
“Virginia was already a seasoned editor by the time I joined Words in the Bucket. Over the years, through no small amount of time spent observing her edits and listening to her editorial perspectives and guidance, I learned what it meant to see the forest for the trees. Virginia never let a challenge - minor or substantial - stand in the way of telling the stories that needed to be told. Her thoughts and ideas for improving quality as well as process were clear, and flowed (seemingly endlessly) in her carefully crafted emails and our regular team video calls. Even from thousands of miles away, she successfully cultivated an inclusive, collaborative, and creative environment that allowed me to further learn and grow into myself as both an editor and a copy editor.”
Agodo Shabella, Environmental Lawyer
”Intent on ensuring communities are heard, Virginia tirelessly helped me project my voice on environmental issues. Every month she patiently and freely dedicated her time to edit article after article, motivating me to be articulate, objective and precise in voicing my concerns on climate change and the environment. Through her diligent and persistent efforts, I had a long line of people reaching out to me to ask questions, offer work and collaboration opportunities and even thank me for giving them a chance to learn. Virginia gave me multiple opportunities to learn and unlearn and relearn and share these lessons with the world. I haven’t met a more dedicated editor.”
Amanda Picket Program Assistant PreHealth Advising at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)