Meet Sheunopa and Symone: Creators of Highkey Woke

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sheunopa and Symone and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sheunopa and Symone, what’s something about your industry that outsiders are probably unaware of?
Being a creative is a long term game which requires consistency. Many people assume content creators/creatives monetize quickly or build influence quickly; which in some cases that does happen but for the larger population of creatives, there is a requirement to keep showing up, to keep creating, and to keep invested in order to one day gain the monetization or influence desired.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Professionally, we are both Technology Consultants at a global firm. At a high level this mean we work on teams responsible for creating, implementing, and deploying technology solutions for our clients as well as advising on best practices. Due to the nature of consulting, we are constantly challenged to create value, anticipate client needs, and quickly adapt and pivot. This first hand experience has proven to be invaluable to building Highkey Woke; we want to keep two steps ahead. A huge amount of our professional success is the result of hard work. But also we have had mentors along the way who believed in us and took chances on us which is why we a strong proponents of professionals looking for mentorship/sponsorship and building their own personally knit professional community. The journey to professional success is never easy but that’s what makes it that much more treasured; nothing worth having comes easy. Whenever challenges present themselves, it’s perseverance and faith in God that keeps us pushing but also we make it must to always remember that we deserve and have earned the right to be where we are. In regards to our brand our goal is simple, we want to provide information, plant inspiration, and build community.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
The itinerary would look something like this: Brunch at a Black owned restaurant, something touristy (Aquarium, Trap Music Museum), stroll through Ponce City Market and Beltline, Happy Hour/Lounge for a night time bop. Some places we think are worth visiting include: Slutty Vegan, Tassili’s, Twisted Soul Cookhouse & Pour, and Roc South Cuisine.

*note that all aforementioned restaurants/activities are pre-covid times

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Overall, the growth of our platform from being home to just a podcast to now being home to a podcast and blog, we owe to our careers as Consultants. We found that the strategic and operational principles we use daily in our jobs easily translate to the building and sustaining of our multimedia platform. Additionally, a lot of what we know today as podcasters, we learned from various podcasting communities such as Blk Pod Collective; a digital community for Black Podcasters.

Website: highkeywoke.co
Instagram: highkeywokeco
Facebook: Highkey Woke
Youtube: Highkey Woke

Image Credits
Brichphotography.com @brichphotography