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HiFriend,

At FRIDA, our home lives have always been interconnected with our work lives. We are a global network of young feminist activists from different corners of the world who have been working remotely much before it became an inevitable norm in the present times. (Curious how we do it? Click here to gain some insights on remote working.) As a consequence, our parents, partners and pets see us through every deadline, zoom call and late evenings, but most of them don’t have any clue what we truly do for a living. Over the years, we’ve heard some genuinely hilarious and amusing answers when our families tried (and oftentimes failed) to describe our day-to-day work. In this edition of our newsletter, we share some of the best with you.

Some of our parents are convinced their children may be doing something illegal….

a woman with red hair looks left to right shiftily and asks, Is that legal?

1. “My mom and aunties talked a lot about this, because they were assistants their whole life. Now they say: you are like us but with incredible/magical supervisors. Fun fact: when I received my offer letter, my mommy was super scared because she thought it wasn't real and could be something illegal.” - Andy

2. “How can you just sit on the machine all day, talk, laugh, read and write, and get paid for it? My parents think I read, talk a lot and write all day about women’s issues. When I told my parents about this job, they asked me “when are you traveling to start work?” My dad asked if they were scammers and if I verified the source. They say they will believe it is a real job after my first pay!” -Pertulla

3. "When I first received the offer letter, FRIDA was registered in Panama and my folks thought the whole organization was a bogus company. ” - Deepa

4. “I think for a moment they thought I had a sugar mommy/daddy and I was pretending I was employed. Now, that I’m back in my hometown and they see me on calls, they say I give psychotherapy online (which sometimes feels true)” -Mayra

Some think their children are typists with branding….

5. "My mother thinks I'm something between a tik tok manager and auditioning to be a secretary in a 1950's murder mystery . "All you do is swipe on your phone, and sit on zoom. And typing. Too much typing. Very noisy typing." - Maame

6. “I think my mom thinks I work in a call center. She said: "You talk a lot, you're always on Zoom talking, you spend plenty time on that laptop" - Paige

7. "My mother said, “I really don't know what you're always doing on that laptop- something with women's empowerment and organizing meetings?" (emphasis on the question mark) - Darcelle

And some know we’re causing good trouble…

Rihanna tilts her head and says Tell your friends to pull up

8. “My mom thinks that I'm spending all my time worrying too much about the world and asking people what they think and how they feel. With a reason very different from mine, she is so proud that we don't take money from the US government, and she wishes one day our home country’s First Lady will hire me to run her foundation!” - Di

9. “My mom said: You support young women around the world that are activists. And you’re a spy training 2 super spies.” - Nadia

10. “My father thinks I work for Frida Kahlo’s imaginary foundation of female artists. Mother thinks I do something with gardens and women and my brother thinks I'm becoming a hacker …” - Maria Alejandra

Whilst some parents aren’t convinced we’re working at all….

A person lays reclined on a couch with a pink eye mask on, in a comfortable robe. They are sipping osomething from a jar. They look luxurious and relaxed.

11. "I once heard my mom tell her friends that her daughter had “one of those modern jobs in front of a computer” and her friends just decided to agree and don’t ask any questions. Also, when she sees me doing something “not normal”, like volunteering, attending a protest or giving workshops, she assumes that is my work too.” -Nelly

13. “My father thinks that my job does not exist, to begin with. How do I work from home, sit in front of a computer every day, with people I have never met, populating Google docs together? In his words, "how do you manage a resource you cannot see?" We go down this road at least once a month, bless his heart. The one time I let him explain to people what I do for a living, they ended up thinking I do online writing, needless to say I now take the lead in explaining what my work entails.” - Wanjiru

12. "My dad thinks I *volunteer* for a charity that supports women's rights. He doesn't get that it is a paid position. Nor that it's not a charity. Feminism is never mentioned. But generally I just do something dodgy, and for free.” - Kinga

Here’s hoping all our families continue to let us do our jobs, as they try and figure out our livelihoods.

We hope this blast of joy brought a little lightheartedness to your day.

With love and laughter,

All of us at FRIDA