Articles by Yasmin Rufo

Technology

'I just love yapping': Spud sellers, posh-girl comedy and bus-loving gran among TikTok award nominees

If TikTok has a resident librarian, it's Jack Edwards, who has built a devoted following by sharing his love of reading. But he says his journey into social media stardom began with rejection. "It was lockdown and I was looking for a job in publishing and no-one wanted to hire me," he recalls. "My inbox was snorkelling in a sea of rejection and every email started with the word unfortunately. "So I started talking about the books I was reading on social media." What began as a side project quickly turned into a full-time career, and Edwards ended up leaving the job he'd eventually secured in publishing. He says his advice to would-be creators is finding what makes their content personal. "You have so many interests," he explains. "If you were to create a Venn diagram of them all, the crossover in the middle is what you should make content about. For me, the cross-section is books, travel and pop culture." Edwards adds that he's careful about how much of himself he reveals to his audience. "I talk about the books and art I love, but never the people I love," he says. "But of course when you talk about books, you end up talking about everything from trauma, to politics, to sexuality." That openness has seen him create a community that stretches far beyond the screen. "People say, 'Hi' in the street and it's the best thing ever. We have a mini book club right there on the pavement, an instant Jane Austen love-fest, and I know it's so strange but honestly it's really special for me." Still, internet fame brings its odd moments. "Sometimes you get a message saying, 'Oh, hi, I just saw you at the urinal,'" he laughs. "Being spotted in those kinds of places never gets normal."

Technology

I thought my insides were falling out – what I didn't expect after childbirth

Helen says her diagnosis, confirmed by a doctor, brought confusion and fear as she was "hoping for an explanation, fix or some sense of urgency, instead I got a shrug of the shoulders." The initial advice she was given was to not do anything that could make it worse such as running, jumping or lifting. "It kind of felt like the advice was don't live your life," she says. Perhaps more debilitating than the physical symptoms was the isolation Helen felt. "You live with it in embarrassment, silence, shame and isolation," she explains. "Because you don't talk about it, you think you're the only person in the world it's happened to." Helen initially ventured onto Instagram to seek support. Finding other people on the social platform who were similarly anxious and confused and in some cases too embarrassed to seek help prompted her to eventually launch a podcast and write a book, Why mums don't jump. Her goal was to create a platform for women to share stories and break the silence around pelvic health. "I was angry because no-one ever talked about it. So I decided I would. "I wanted to give women the knowledge that I'd found so hard to come by, and comfort in knowing they were not on their own."