Episode 17: Divinity Specials - Tommie, MA Theology

In the first of our divinity specials, we speak to Tommie from the Class of 2020  about YouTube fame, avoiding accountancy and Bible accurate angels. 

Each episode is a snapshot, a moment, a sneak inside the minds of our graduates. Season one talks to our 2020 graduates about how things are going, or not going, for them. 

Subscribe now and find out what everyone is up to and how they feel about this weird and unpredictable time.

All opinions expressed are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect those of the University of Edinburgh. 

Multi Story Edinburgh has been created and produced by the Alumni Relations team at the University of Edinburgh. If you are interested in telling your story, please get in touch and let's talk.

Music: Since When by Mise Darling. 

Transcript

Sonia Mullineux (host)  0:07  
This is a snapshot, a moment, a sneak inside the minds of our graduates. This is season one, class of 2020.

Tommie  0:18  
I'm Tommi, I was at the University of Edinburgh from 2016 to 2020. And, um, studied Theology, so religion, um, but specifically the Old Testament - that sort of became my niche, as a sort of path through University. But yeah, and I'm from Hastings, South East of England so going up to Edinburgh - train, plane - is a long way. But yeah, much worth the journey. I've had a very strange, I guess, everyone's had a really strange, um, sort of departure from University, but, um, shortly before lockdown, um, I - along with probably many people in sort of the class of 2020 - sort of was sort of paralysed with a thought of what on earth do I do? What on earth do we do after this step? So I remember, you know, applying around, not really sure, at one point, I even went to like an Accountancy thing. I don't know, I mean, I know Accountancy is, but I do a Theology degree, it's really not up my street, sort of, aside from that I applied for a Master's. So that was sort of something that because I really enjoyed what I study, so I thought, okay, maybe this could also be a thing. But anyway, shortly before lockdown, I had sort of moment of realisation that I wanted to be, or wanted to become a documentary filmmaker, or work in documentary. Previously, thoughts like that I put off because it sort of you assume someone else to do it, you know, not someone with a Theology degree. 

Tommie  1:53  
Anyway, so... And lockdown started, I started a YouTube channel. Um, and since then, it's actually surprisingly done, okay. It's got a, I've, it's grown. I've received a 100,000 subscribers play button, a few days ago in the mail. It's been a very strange journey. But basically, since then, I've been accidentally become like a YouTuber, or something of that sort. Yeah, it's very, it's been very weird. I don't really know why I started it was almost just accidental. I'm just gonna make it, make a channel, you know, set it up. And for me, at least, it was not in order to be a YouTuber or to do YouTube things. It was honestly just to learn video editing. I think that was what I wanted to do. Because I had in my mind that I wanted to do documentary film. So I thought, well, I ought to learn how to edit videos properly. So I downloaded Premiere Pro, and I just set myself a target of okay, every week, I'm just going to make one video, assuming that no one is going to watch it only for me, this is really only for me. 

Tommie  3:01  
So the channel's called Hochelaga, H-O-C-H-E-L-A-G-A - I hope I've spelt that right! Anyway. So looking at it now, what it's become, it's actually very close to what I studied at Edinburgh. So it's exploring the origins behind myths, especially in the Bible. So it's taking an academic approach, it's sort of going into different myths or different things, predominantly in the Bible. It's not a religious channel at all. I'm not religious myself, it's sort of taking these things and exploring their origin. So for example, I made a video about the origins of the seven deadly sins, or the origins of Lucifer. And my most popular video is one which is called, quote, unquote, why Bible accurate angels are so creepy. That video was sent across the internet, I think it's got 6.3 million views of the time of this recording. The channel is predominantly kind of stuff which I was interested at university and you know, I've got, I've got this knowledge that, you know, might as well try something new with it. For me, at least, I know that boredom and I, I don't mix well with boredom. I can get quite agitated from sort of sitting around and not knowing what to do. So at the start of lockdown in March, that was actually quite tricky. And so I made the resolution yeah, sort of late April, early May. And my days became structured around making videos. It got me to wake up at eight, start at nine, work till lunch, then work into sort of early evening. And it made, without it I don't know what I don't know what I would have done in my summer, because it gave me so much structure to base my life around and the fact that it actually seems to have gone somewhere in the end, but the fact that that time, I put in, sort of, you know materialised into a YouTube channel. Um, it's quite rewarding, but it was obviously never, never the goal from the start.

Tommie  5:06  
I feel like whilst this is a sort of a solo project, I'm very much not alone, I feel like I've got a really great network of people to sort of trade ideas with. There's another YouTuber, quote unquote, YouTuber, I don't really like using that word. But yeah, there's another one who's doing a Master's Course with me, or he's doing History, I'm doing Theology. But he also has a YouTube channel. So we might connect. I've also from Edinburgh, I've got a huge sort of pool of friends who have helped me make videos or have inspired me, I'm thinking of one of them who actually designed my logo, and has done all the graphic design, helping out with thumbnails. And without her, I think the channel wouldn't, would look very different. And also friends, I run past ideas with friends from Edinburgh, also in my my course, Theology, um, one who I was doing stuff to do with the Old Testament with and saying, Oh, is this a good idea for a video, and then she comes back to me. And even, yeah, I know, some who actually do have their own channel. So who knows, I could be making a collaborative video with people in the future. 

Tommie  6:17  
With Coronavirus or Covid, or this funny year, um, it's been very, very difficult for everyone. It has had its compensations. I think it's big one was time. I think everyone's had time. And for me, the time was quite frightening. So I responded to it with like, just sitting my room and just working and doing YouTube stuff. But yeah, it certainly, it certainly wasn't easy to get to that point. I think a lot of sort of dedication, and, you know, I only only started getting any views, you could say only very, very recently. So I think something I have certainly learned is the importance of sticking to something and not giving up. That's that's the key thing. I think. I don't think I think without all this, I don't think I would have realised the importance of that. And also in my own personal story, I think without this change to the routine, I think I would have become an accountant or something, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to just be like, I want to do this. And I'm at a point now where I've started this new journey, which I don't know, I would have. I don't think I would have had were it not for this funny world we're in at the moment. Yeah. Definitely, big thing I've learned is, firstly, anyone can be creative. I don't see myself as a creative person. But I think creativity, there's so many myths about creativity. And the key one is that creativity just comes to us, isn't it? I don't think at least it's not like you have a canvas and you just sort of just work your magic. I think creativity is a slog, and it's a grind, and it's ugly, and it's unpleasant. But anyone can be creative through just being pretty sort of hard headed about it and being, I think perfectionism as well is a big curse. And so I have the sort of 70% or whatever I do, it's only 70% of what I could do, because then that allows me to move forward and not get sort of bogged down by the details. This whole time has has given time, I guess.No one would want to be in this, but I think for me at least, it's I'm sure it's more luck. Like I you know, I can't control the way the internet works. But it seems that they found my videos.

Sonia Mullineux (host)  8:50  
We also asked our graduates to share a place, somewhere special, somewhere we can get together when all this has finished.

Tommie  8:59  
So I've recently explored my local area, um, which sounds weird because I've lived in Hastings in this area for I think at this point 15 years, we moved down there 15 years ago. But I never sort of took the time and really, really explored. So I, the specific place where I take people is a forest, it's called Brede. And throughout the summer it was just the place I'd walk to every single day go to the same loop, or at least try and explore that forest with you know, it's enormous. And I feel like it was just me there. It was brilliant. But yeah, go down all the winding forest paths and all that. And it was just a place of sort of serenity. I can stick on a podcast or music, um, feel refreshed and I'd just do that every day and it's just a place where I go to now, um, and I just feel sort of creatively renewed so I would, you know, whenever whenever someone comes over in the future, I'd 100% go there first. I feel like it's a, and I'm sure everyone gets this when they walk in nature, but for me, it's very replenishing.

Sonia Mullineux (host)  10:10  
Thank you for listening. Join us next time for another graduate and another story.

Kirsten Roche  10:25  
Feeling inspired by what you've just heard? Take the first step to getting the career you want by contacting the Careers Service. As a recent graduate, you can continue to access all of our services, including access to vacancies on My Career Hub, practice interviews, our full calendar of online employer events, and online appointments with one of our careers consultants. Find out more at edd.ac.uk forward slash careers

Transcribed by https://otter.ai