In Her Shoes: Kim & Laura from The Oh Nine

WHAT IS THE OH NINE?

Hey! A bit about us, during the daytime Kim is a graphic designer (for A&C no less!) and Laura is head of promotions for Sony Music, and together in our (limited) spare time we run a website, The Oh Nine. The way we describe it now is it is our verbal processing – an online written platform for our collective experience and exploration. It is a space to encourage engaging fully with ourselves and the world around us, exploring relationships, mental health and the overarching curiosity to delve into what influences us and why we act and think like we do.

talking business.

When setting out on your current path in business, what was the vision you had for the future and how is this different (or the same) to your reality today?

Laura: When we started The Oh Nine a few years ago, we had a vision to cover store openings and iced latte guides, which if you delve into our archives you can find some cringe-worthy evidence of. And then later that year, my partner at the time became ill and actually lost his ability to walk. In that aftermath ranking eggs benedicts didn't seem that important, so I started writing about what we were experiencing. Since then, we have covered a lot of ground: publishing letters people wish they could send to their exes, dissecting psychological and relational theories, interviewing politicians, musicians and award-winning journalists, and we're about to launch our first ever event (!!!) Over 100 people have written pieces, sent in paragraphs or DM’d anon answers that have formulated our voice, and that reality is pretty incredible, to be a place for people to tell their stories and encourage others to explore their own.

talking health.

Name two of your favourite ‘feel-good’ activities that help to maintain your wellbeing – one that’s virtuous and one that’s a vice (or a guilty pleasure) – and tell us what you love about them.

Kim: I feel like I’ve been trying to minimise the importance of daily exercise, basically because I’ve been too lazy to actually do it, but moving every day is something that is truly so good for my wellbeing. Even if it’s just an after-dinner walk around the block I try to prioritise it, and the fresh air is great for clearing the head. Something I find equally good for my wellbeing but strangely easier to execute is a G&T with friends. I’d argue it’s far better for clearing the head too, especially if you have more than two.

talking home.

How do you approach the styling of your home to make it truly ‘yours’ and how do you like to spend your time there?

Kim: We’re both renters so the styling of a place takes on a whole new importance when it’s not your own to start with, and you can’t make any big adjustments. Much to my dad’s dismay growing up, I like my spaces to feel ‘lived in’, which as I’ve gotten older has become less *messy* and more intentional. I like displaying everyday items that some might hide away and using them to incorporate colour and texture: a shelf of nice glasses and barware, jewellery dishes, vases of fresh flowers, a big ceramic fruit bowl, a stack of coffee table books, etc. The little details can make four walls (whatever state they’re in) feel like home.

talking women.

What do you think some of the big issues women are facing today and what change would you like to see happen before International Women’s Day 2021?

Laura: Each year for IWD I write a piece that crowdsources this question, and every time I am humbled and overwhelmed by the response. The issues facing women are broad and debilitating, from equal pay to imposter syndrome, motherhood to misogyny. For myself personally as we learn to navigate this post Me-Too space and all the nuances that encompasses, I would like to see better education and support available for people of all genders, that in turn delivers diverse, systemic change. It’s not enough to simply declare that ‘all women are superheroes’, if this sort of corporate, pop feminism was so transcendent wouldn’t we be in a space where the Academy wasn’t merely 32% female? I would love to see a real shift from talk to tangible action.