Shannon Adomeit on the Look Up Digital Production Course

13 November 2018

This autumn saw the launch of our Look Up Digital Production Course (check out our recap here if you haven't already!), a week-long immersive training course created in partnership with mental health charity Safaplace, and BBC Radio 6 DJ Gilles Peterson and his award-winning radio station Worldwide FM. Now, we're catching up with Shannon Adomeit, one of the trainees on the course, to hear all about her experiences, including working with other creatives, interviewing Goldie, and 'finding your own diamond'. Read on to hear what she had to say...

How did you feel going into the Look Up Digital Production Course – and in comparison, how do you feel now in terms of the skills you’ve gained?

Getting into in the Look Up program was a huge accomplishment for me. At the time that I discovered the Look Up Digital Content Production Course and Create Jobs, I felt at a great standstill in my creative life and career as I had very little motivation but a tremendous amount of ambition. The Look Up course gave me the right amount of inspiration and motivation to tunnel visions my goals and what I wanted after the programme finished.

The thing I was most drawn to about Look Up was the cause! Not only was it a beautiful cause, but it was something I could relate to myself as from the young age of 11 I have suffered with mental health. Music throughout my life has always carried me through the hardships life has thrown at me. It allowed me to express, feel and discover many emotions that I never knew my mind could tap into - let alone feel. So, I felt like I owed it to myself, the mothers who were part of the Look Up Pop Up and all the young people to be a part of this inspiring project.

What was your favourite part of the training?

My favourite part of training was working and learning with my fellow peers. It was great to learn about fellow creatives journeys and how they got here today and what their hopes and dreams are. Also learning a totally new aspect to audio then I was used too that slightly put me out of my comfort zone really made try not to be so tunnel visioned about what the world of audio has to offer. I would definitely say that was one of my favourite parts of training simply because I learned so much and found out about what careers were available and heard from some amazing professionals from not only Worldwide FM, but also the BBC.

Whose session out of all the interviews/performers did you enjoy the most, and why?

My favourite interview and session had to be Goldie’s! I knew this man was an old-school legend but I had no idea what to expect & I wasn’t sure exactly what he was going to say. However, the moment Goldie started talking I was instantly captivated! All sounds, movement, everything was blocked out! It was so refreshing for someone to be so open about their own mental health, the trauma they went through growing up and how they overcame it. So many words that he spoke related to me on different levels. It wasn’t the type of interview where someone talks about mental health and your mind branches out leading you to think 101 things bad or good, but an interview that left me inspired, enlightened and extremely positive. Throughout the interview I would relate to many things, sitting and reflecting on my own life and the straight facts this amazing man was preaching. A lot of the time I was thinking to myself “If I only knew this when I was younger’ but, it’s never too late to learn. He really did connect with every member of the audience, as I looked around the room, I saw numerous heads nodding in agreement to what Goldie was saying. I left that interview being taught many wise things, feeling very in tune and empowered with both my spiritual and mental self. I even had the honour to do a brief interview with him myself outside which led to me being in tears by just how remarkably strong and kind this man is.

How did you feel as you were interviewing Goldie – did he give any advice that has especially stuck with you?

Even though I believe myself, I have been through a tremendous amount of distress from a young age, losing my mother, battling with mental health and problems at home which myself and Goldie all had in common. He still preached about seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, finding your own ‘diamond’ and making your mind clear for all the light to shine through. If anyone does get the time I highly recommend listening to Goldie’s interviews on Worldwide FM from the Look Up Pop Up and even investing in his book! He truly has an extraordinary amount of knowledge to offer about mental health and being in touch with many spiritual aspects of life we should be tuning into!

The next steps I will be taking in my journey will be to get a new job involving audio production, even if I’m just shadowing. I also plan to carry on learning how to DJ, hopefully releasing my first mix sometime next year along with pushing my career in radio and plan to set up a podcast next year too and maybe even write a music blog! The world revolving music has so much to offer and there are no limits on how much of you creative side you can reveal and fulfil.

Thanks to @MrGoldie, thanks to @LookUp, and thanks to Create Jobs for the opportunity!

- Shannon Adomeit

If you would like to keep up with Shannon, you can follow her @bbygazelle on Instagram and @shanxkathleen on Twitter.