Wer ist billie jd porter

What’s your favourite thing about your job?

Every single place that I’ve visited as a result of my work has meant so much to me. When you go somewhere to follow a certain story you see so much stuff that you’d never see on holiday. To be meeting people and following real life stories has been such an incredible experience – there’s nothing else like it.

Has there been a defining moment in your life that has made you who you are?

For me the most difficult moments in my life have been the ones that have also been the most defining. I left home when I was quite young and also left school when I was young, but all of that stuff has led me to what I’m doing now.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

As much as I’m really eager to do loads of things and do them quickly, one thing that’s really held me back is being a bit of a perfectionist. I always used to feel like I should maybe hold back in certain areas that I’m not really qualified in. I interviewed the writer Clive James about a year ago and he told me that I didn’t need to wait until all of my ideas are fully formed to explore them. He said I should just jump into them and start expressing myself more.

Billie JD Porter (* 14. Juni 1992 in London) ist eine britische Journalistin, Model und Dokumentarfilmerin.

Sie begann ihre Karriere als Musikautorin bereits in der Schule und trug zu Titeln wie NME, Vice, Dazed amp; Confused und iD bei. Uu Wahrend ihrer Zeit bei Vice begann sie, einige der fruhen Videoinhalte zu veroffentlichen, die auf der Website des Magazins erscheinen sollten, darunter zwei Dokumentarfilme. Rose Boy und Freunde und betrunkener Ruhm. Porter hat behauptet, dass sie wahrend ihrer Zeit bei Vice regelma?ig von Mannern, die doppelt so alt sind wie sie, mit Getranken und Drogen belegt und fur Sex vorgeschlagen wurde.Sie machte diese Behauptungen auf Channel 4 geltend,nachdem Viceeinige Jahre spaterbei Me Too- MarschenLiteratur verteilt hatte.

Ihr Durchbruch als Fernsehmoderatorin gelang ihr im Alter von 18 Jahren als fahrende Reporterin in Channel 4 's umstrittener faktischer Unterhaltungsserie The Joy of Teen Sex.

2014 moderierte Porter eine dreiteilige Dokumentarserie fur BBC Three mit dem Titel Secrets of South America, die in Argentinien, Venezuela und Brasilien gedreht wurde.Sein Erfolg fuhrte zu einem Auftrag fur eine zweite Serie namens Secrets of China.

Porter ist eine der jungsten Reporterinnen, die fur Channel 4 News berichtet hat, fur die sie Clive James interviewteund vor den Parlamentswahlen 2015 ein politisches Segment ausrichtete.

Im Jahr 2017 kreierte und produzierte Porter Sound and Vision, eine vierteilige Dokumentarserie fur Channel 4's Late Night Music Slate.Darunter waren Kunstler wie Mykki Blanco, Lady Leshurr, Hatsune Miku und Fuse ODG.

Sie setzte sich gegen den Brexit ein und grundete eine Initiative zum Thema Jugendengagement in der Politik mit dem Titel Use Your Voice. Sie produzierte einen Kurzfilm uber die Wahrnehmung der politischen Klasse und leitete eine digitale Social-Media-Kampagne, in der junge Menschen ermutigt wurden, bei den Wahlen 2017 zu wahlen.

Why is Project Twist-It a crucial initiative? Because too often, poverty is a subject that people shy away from talking about, or even thinking about. It’s a word that means different things to different people, which is exactly why we need to be hearing from a number of different voices on the issue. 

There’s such an overwhelming sense of guilt and shame when it comes to financial struggle. I was conflicted about how open to be in this post, because part of me almost feels disloyal by speaking about the difficulties my parents have faced over the years. Its not nice to think about the period not long ago when my father was begging on the street, or that my mum has to do a part time cleaning job while having a lung disease and nearing retirement age. 

I’m certainly not embarrassed; my decision to be private about this stuff, even to some of my close friends, has been nothing to do with vanity or pride, but more how twisted the public perception is of people who find themselves in similar, or worse, positions to those my parents have been in. 

SEEING ISN'T BELIEVING

Our society is conditioned to believe that money is a reflection of hard work, and, conversely, that a lack of it is a sign of laziness. 

My mum and dad are both charming, intelligent and talented people, but I grew up in an environment where depression and addiction rendered them unable to work for much of my life.

The ‘benefits scrounger’ narrative doesn’t attempt to understand illnesses such as these. Honestly, I could probably have solved some of their financial issues if I had a pound for every time I winced through the question, ‘if your parents are poor, why don’t they just get a job?’ as a teenager.  

“Poor”, was the label we were all desperate to avoid at my school, even though most of us came from low-income families, or households with unemployment. I was perpetually anxious about being judged for things that seem so trivial now; using own brand supermarket goods in Food Tech class, or being on the free school meals program. I made it worse for my parents by asking for money so I could eat outside school grounds with my friends, but then had a daily panic when I still couldn’t afford to buy lunch where they did. Obviously none of us were earning at the time, but money seemed so important; I’m pretty sure my peers would have preferred to have a reputation for being mean or unintelligent, than being ‘poor’.

PRESSURE POINTS

Today growing up there’s far more to contend with. Never has there been a culture so saturated with materialistic ideals, exaggerated to the point of utter fantasy through the smoke and mirrors of social media.

“It makes me so depressed,” a fourteen year old girl told me, when I asked a group of young carers how they feel when they see people flaunting their wealth online. As part of Project Twist- It, we were discussing the perception of poverty amongst young people, and the difficulties that come with being a teenager today in a family where money is tight. The group was unanimous: seeing endless images of what others have, can be a glaring and upsetting reminder of what you do not have. 

It made me think of this Charlie Brooker sketch. Today, over ten years after it first aired, it takes on a whole new context: the ‘aspirational lifestyle’ isn’t just a marketing tool used by corporations to sell us things, its now an idea we use to lord ourselves over one another. 

I, like many others my age, am 100% a guilty part of this trend. Maybe its no coincidence, that as inequality widens in rich countries like the UK and America, we’ve taken to creating, and consuming, gratuitous and often disingenuous candy-coated versions of the world online. Is it escapism?

I guess nobody wants to actually see,or be reminded about, the potential of financial trouble, the same way people going through it don’t want to broadcast it. I didn’t consider posting a selfie as I tearfully applied for a crisis loan at the job centre after being fired with no severance pay, several years ago. In fact, when the loan didn’t cover my expenses, I felt so awkward about having lost my job, that instead of asking for help from my friends or relatives, I just started pawning my jewellery. 

The social stigma that’s attached to asking for money can make what starts as a bad situation unravel into a desperate one in a matter of hours. 

I’m very lucky. My extended family have stepped in on occasion to help both my parents and me in times of need, and I no longer feel like money (or lack of it) is the elephant in the room.  But growing up, I didn’t feel I could talk about visits from bailiffs, or the times we ran out of money for gas and electric.  

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Millions of young people across the UK and America are living in poverty, and this project seeks to normalise the opportunity for them to share those experiences, and for people in general to feel less embarrassed to discuss their relationship with money. Conversations about financial inequality in our society can be uncomfortable. Maybe they need to be at first. 

Poverty isn’t simple. It never has been. Poverty is intersectional. It’s easier for certain groups to lift themselves out of poverty than others.  Poverty isn’t necessarily to do with ‘class’. Poverty can be short-term, long-term, and about more than just the money in your bank account.