Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Anita Obasi. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Anita, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Honestly, I was sitting on my couch legitimately thinking about the nature of this existence, and simultaneously also desiring connection. The thought of looking through a number of disparate resources just to find a party that would have been cool to go to if I had seen it on time was a big barrier in my even wanting to venture outside and connect with people, especially those in my community. I realized that I was definitely not the only person who had this problem, so I started to compile whatever events I saw or was able to find into a newsletter that I still send out for free every Monday morning. I knew this would be a helpful resource to others because there was no consistent aggregator that was both free and delivered as an email without doing anything outside of providing an email address.

Anita, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a multi-ethnic, multi-faceted queer woman who has spent the last 11 years as an events strategist and experiential storyteller. Sapphic LA is a side quest that is slowly (‘slowly’ being a relative term) becoming more than that. Sapphic LA is a center of gravity for all things sapphic in Los Angeles. One could define ‘sapphic’ many different ways, but within this context, it is a term to describe the queering of femininity, which is inclusive of trans and non-binary identities. From sharing events and local resources to creating city guides and our own spaces for in-person connection, Sapphic LA has grown into much more than just a newsletter. Sapphic LA is the first place you go to if you want to know what’s going on in the city for people who identify this way, and if you are a queer person who wants to move away from a binary performance of queerness that is often centered in the mainstream, and even within the LGBTQ+ community.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I hope some of you who are reading this are the ones who were riding with Sapphic LA before any of the the social accounts were associated with my face! I started the Instagram and TikTok with the sole goal of sharing information that I pulled straight out of the newsletter. There was intentionally ZERO graphic design or illustration involved, and honestly, I miss those days. It wasn’t until a few months ago that I started posting my face, and that in and of itself was an interesting type of exposure therapy. The inherent risk in associating a face to a brand like Sapphic LA is probably similar to what a lot of other brands face, whereby I am not necessarily looking to BE Sapphic LA, I am just on camera to share information and to instill a sense of trust in my audience that there is actually a real sapphic human behind these social accounts.

I don’t know if I am the best person to give advice around social media because I truly do not enjoy being on social media at all. I guess my advice would be not to take it too seriously, and when you are done working on your brand, you don’t have to keep checking your brand’s socials. You could just chill. Or hire someone to do that for you!

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

The word ‘clients’ does not fit here at all, because the newsletter is a free community offering. The best source of new community members or subscribers is actually from readers who share the newsletter with their friends, as well as people who find Sapphic LA on Instagram. I’m sure there is also a level of word-of-mouth sharing as well. We like to keep it organic over here. If you sapphic, tell ya friends this resource is here for you!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sapphicla.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sapphic.la/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@sapphic.la/

Image Credits

Jules Monstera