Hello there.
Thank you for being here.
Welcome
I’m Emma Parnell. If I could have one wish, it would be that everyone was welcome. That we lived in a world where difference was revered, not feared. I believe, for this to be a reality, we all need to get better at showing the parts of ourselves that don’t conform and sharing the experiences we have that we’d normally keep to ourselves.
My biggies are that I have a transgender father, I’m childfree by choice and I live with anxiety. At the other end of the spectrum, I rarely wear a bra and have a chipped tooth because I hit myself in the face with a tennis racket when I was a teenager. Difference comes in all shapes and sizes, for everyone, yet we work so hard to hide it.
The Unspoken Word is a growing collection of personal essays about the things we don’t talk about but should. Mental health, death, money, the reality of long term relationships, the intricacies of human connection, the way in which we have to grapple with our pasts as we get older, menopause, friendship break ups. The list goes on. As I move through my forties, I’m leaning into sharing the parts of life that others might be inclined to hide - in a bid to create connection.
A wise man once told me that my superpower is my honesty. I hope that by channeling my power in this direction I can help others feel less alone in their difference and encourage a collective movement against the conformity of experience.
Why subscribe?
Outside of writing, I’m also a freelance designer running a business of one; Design for Joy. My love for writing grew from my honest reflections on running a business for the first time. I have a large archive of content on this subject and still like to write open and honest reflections about my business life. This content is for paying subscribers only so that I can really lean into writing about the bits we all struggle with but feel nervous to share.
As a paying subscriber you will still receive my weekly essays about the things we don’t talk about but should. You’ll also receive everything I write on running my business and gain access to my ‘Business Truths’ archive which contains three years worth of content on this subject.
In future I’ll also be commissioning guest writers to share their contributions on the things we don’t talk about but should. The income I generate from paid subscriptions will help me to commission this content.
And if you’re here for design
My focus, through Joy, is service design consultancy I also offer mentoring to individuals and speak publicly. I still write and talk about design over on LinkedIn and the blog on my website.
