We were lucky to catch up with Arien Simone recently and have shared our conversation below.

Arien, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

I must be honest, I don’t own my own company, (well, at least not yet anyway), but as someone who has created their own blog and who is willingly writing personal stories based off of the most unforeseen circumstances, I do, however, have a mission, one that I believe continues to inspire and has inspired me to create the work in the first place- you know, writing about those unforeseen circumstances.

I was and still am very intentional, and the goal is simple. The mission is to create, inspire, and build community by connecting individuals like myself; creatives, writers… oh, and the awkward bunch. (Yes, this is for the people who trip over things not seen or who are willing to walk completely in the opposite direction of their destination just to avoid saying hello to a person they’ve already spoken to). But overall, the mission, my work, is mainly about relatability. If we focus too much on how we’re different, we miss out on the fact that we are all just human beings sharing the same experiences, dealing with the same emotions, and more importantly, navigating life trying our best to figure it out, (in the most awkward of ways, of course).

The mission that I have created for myself is meaningful to me because I understand just how powerful it is to have a physical manifestation of who and what you want to be. I understand just how good it feels to connect with others who share parts of who you are- to be reminded you’re not the only one who thinks or feels, or in my case, makes the same crazy decisions, in the ways you do.

I told you… the goal was simple.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Hi, my name is Arien Simone and I’m a writer! I learned early on from one of my biggest inspirations, Ms. Issa Rae, that always call yourself what you do so you can remind yourself what you are, no matter the level of success. So even at a time when I didn’t have half of what I have now, I’ve always referred to myself as a writer, and I like to think I’m really good at it. But even though I’ve always been good at writing, I must admit, in the beginning, I only wrote when things were assigned to me. It was hard, the thought of writing my own story, no matter the length, at a time when I didn’t know what I wanted to say. I guess you can say I didn’t quite yet find my voice, (I was kind of like Ariel out here!), but one random Friday night, I had an awkward encounter with a pizza delivery man and there it was, I found my voice. It was then where I combined my love for writing with my natural ability of being, uh, well, awkward that I finally knew what I wanted to talk about.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with me or my work, I hope you can tell from the sentence above that I write stories of my awkward encounters. That’s right! I have a blog called “The Art of Being Awkward” where I share a series of short stories detailing almost every awkward and embarrassing moment that I’ve had so far, (not limited to pizza delivery men). Oh, and did I mention that I write these stories in sort of a comedic tone? (yeah, I’m kind of a comedian if you couldn’t already tell).
But it is through my blog where I feel the most exposed, the most vulnerable, yet the most seen because I know the audience can relate to every moment. We’ve all shared these experiences.

I think what sets me apart from other writers is quite frankly what I choose to write about. I don’t take myself too seriously, neither the situations that I find myself talking about in my work- humor can be found in anything with a switch of one’s perspective. Many might not agree or even understand, but I write in a way that feels conversational. I share my experiences by describing them in a way that makes you feel like we’re in the same room or better yet, you were there with me when it happened, (yes, you sat right there in the passenger seat of my car while I embarrassed myself trying to talk to the cute guy in the vehicle next to us. At this point, you are an accomplice to my shame).

Reflecting through these questions, I am extremely proud of myself, and I think what I am most proud of is the fact that I started something that I truly believe in and stuck with it. The hardest part, I feel, is having a vision and not knowing how to execute it, especially if you feel alone in the process. Wanting to create my blog was just the first step, but actually doing it was something else entirely. There weren’t many people I could collaborate with, and a lot of the art had to be done on my own, but I’m proud to see it in fruition. I look back on the times where I would add something to my blog’s design and then delete, restart just to delete again. There were so many instances of throwing things at the wall to see what would stick, and many more instances of giving up, but to see where it’s gotten me so far, to see my work out there in the world for people to experience- such a blessing. And to know that I created something, and other elements within, showed me that I could do way more than I ever thought.

I want people who read my stories or who support the work in any way to know that I make content that I want to see, but more than that, I make content that reflects who I am directly. I’m sharing a huge piece of myself.
My stories are reflections of what I believe we can all relate to, what we’ve all experienced, (I’m just the one who decided it was a good idea to tell our business). But my work is for you, for you to enjoy, laugh, to reflect, to do something differently than what I did, to converse with others about, and even though this work is a part of me, I don’t feel comfortable keeping it to myself.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Oh wow, such a great question!

I think many artists and creatives will agree with me when I say this, but for me, the most rewarding aspect is having my work out there in the world and watching how people react/respond to it.

When a painter has their first solo show or a photographer is introducing their photos for the first time in a gallery, or even posting your artistry online, I can only assume they are lying in wait to see how individuals are interpreting or interacting with their work. That’s exactly what I do. I love seeing and hearing how my stories make people feel or how people respond, leaving comments or asking “did that really happen? No, that didn’t happen, did it?!”. Everyone has their own interpretations, and everyone leaves a story asking different questions and feeling differently than the ones before, but even if the response is negative, that’s okay too because it helps me see just how differently you see the world.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Tough question, but I think non-creatives struggle to see just how much time we as creatives actually need to… well, create.

For me personally, it takes time for me to produce another story right after I just released one, and I don’t want to speak for all creatives when I say this, but we have to be inspired! I have to be inspired! Many of us are perfectionists who live in our heads and overthink and second guess everything anyway, while the other half of our creative crews are painting pictures while writing poetry just after they recorded a song! (I chuckled a bit on that one). But my point is, we’re not limited to just one thing, we don’t know how to do just one thing. We explore every area of our creativity because it’s about expression, and to express is to feel something.
So, we need to feel before we can create.

Non-creatives might confuse this with laziness or the lack of ambition, but no, we, I, am just in my head thinking about how I’m about to blow your mind with my next piece.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://theafricanarien.wixsite.com/theartofbeingawkward
• Instagram: @theartofbeingawkward