About
What is Matriarch? Who are we? Have all your questions answered.
Welcome to Matriarch!
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My name is Ria and I founded Matriarch in July 2019. I had just finished my first year at the University of Exeter studying English and as quite common, I came out of my first year, fresh faced and confident.
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"For the first time I felt like I had opinions."
Genuine ones with reason. I felt like I had the confidence to raise them, discuss and inspect them – even start conversations with people. I finally utilised my voice and it was empowering. So, finally feeling like I had a bit of worldly wisdom, I was yearning for a platform to express this on and so, Matriarch was born, the Positivity Platform that strives to create change, empower and build human connection.
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I don’t really know where the name ‘Matriarch’ came from. It feels like a word that would hold a lot of gravity for a person or a word they’d really hold onto. But to be honest, I didn’t really have much relation with it – at least not consciously. Now that I think about it, ‘Matriarch’ is a really applicable and constant term in my life. I have always been surrounded by strong women, matriarchal figures. I’m the youngest of three sisters with amazing parents at the helm, I went to an all girls school for 15 years – it comes as no surprise ‘Matriarch’ was the name chosen. I am a woman living her life. I have family, friends, thoughts and feelings. I eat, sleep (occasionally), study and exercise. But I’m developing, rapidly, as a person and there’s part of me that wants to document it, but also another side that is yearning to interact and share it with the world.
Original design mock ups - we tried every colour. Yellow was just right.
"I have empowered myself by publicising my voice - whether or not people care to listen."
Fastforward to March 2020 -
Enter the Matriarch Community.
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About 6 months into Matriarch that I really felt a sense of community – one that was growing, particularly through our Instagram (@mtrrch) This was an amazing development that was unexpected but truly felt (and still feels) special. And so, Matriarch became a collaborative blog, a collection of voices and a showcase of perspectives. See more on our Matriarch Community page. Anyone and everyone is welcome to join the community, so, if you feel like you want to write for us, email a pitch to: mtrrch@hotmail.com
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Since then, we've started making resources, writing poetry, launching our editorials, our IGTV's and there is so much more to come. I sincerely believe that the content we make at Matriarch is helping at least someone every day and that's all we want to do - help people, in whatever way we can.
So, what's the point?
Being fresh-face out of uni is great but arguably makes you a cynic. I learnt about a wealth of discourses and perspectives on our world and felt aggravated. I was not happy with the way the world was, the labels we put on each other, the discourses and categories we live within. And – let’s be frank here – I’m just not having it. So I endeavour to change them. I hope that Matriarch develops and continues to be the positivity platform that strives to create change, empower and build human connection.