How I Became ‘A Changed Woman’

Young Ashford based photographer, Naomi Holton, recently became ‘a changed woman’ after being tagged in a Facebook post created by the town’s local social enterprise Bauhaus Café CIC.

The organisation, run by award winning musician and artist Betsy Aidinyantz, is a place for young people to gain knowledge in the artistic and musical industry, to start new businesses in the field and to network. Betsy describes it as; “A place where I’ve seen miracles happen.”

The Facebook post was aimed to recruit young creatives on a FREE youth exchange to Georgia, that little known country on the Black Sea, created by Bauhaus Café CIC and funded by Erasmus+, the European Union programme for education, training, youth and sport.

Intrigued, Naomi, who has done little with her creative flair after studying at university, quickly signed up looking forward to mixing with other creative minds and cultures. She knew that she wanted to step out of her comfort zone and to push herself, determined to better herself, be more creative and “...become a better person.”

Taking annual leave from her day job in Victim Support, Naomi wasn’t quite sure what to expect as she had never travelled alone before and knew no one. However, she knew that she would be with other creative people of the same mind set so she let her other worries go.

Excited, she met the other young members of the UK team and of course Betsy at Ashford International Station in early October and set off for Luton airport. Here, they found the team from France and some serious bonding started on the flight to Georgia and then on the hair- raising bus ride in the pitch dark from the airport in Batumi to seaside Kobuleti, which would be their home for the next 10 days.

The next day was spent exploring Kobuleti, all its little markets and stalls, meeting the street dogs and finding the beach with the British and French group who arrived together, consisting of an actor, photographers, a poet, artists, musicians and more. Naomi did not realise it then, but she was making friends for life and she would never be the same again.

As the other groups arrived from Azerbaijan, Georgia itself, Cyprus, Ukraine, Armenia and Turkey, it was time to get on with the serious job and Naomi immersed herself in all the workshops offered, from marketing yourself as an artist, how to go about funding and attracting the media. Naomi found the workshop on Social media particularly helpful and as a result she set up a new Instagram account to promote herself and her work. She also found it very beneficial to network with the other artistes to see how they had successfully promoted themselves on social media. She said it was great to learn good practice from people from different cultures; to see how they worked in different ways and recognise the similarities.

Our young, homegrown photographer says; “I was nervous in the beginning, but we had a few days to bond; we were all there for the same reason albeit from different cultures. I have grown hugely in self-confidence. When I went back to my day job, they said I was a ‘changed woman!’ “

Professionally, Naomi has received lots of help, support and confidence from both the youth exchange, and still now from Betsy at Bauhaus Café CIC. She has learnt about events that she didn’t know existed such as open mics and exhibitions. Betsy has helped her enter photographic competitions and now she has the confidence to push herself harder, she has just agreed to undertake a professional photographic project with the charity Last Chance Animal Rescue.

Go Naomi! You are our local success and we are proud of you.

If you would like to contact Naomi, you can find her at www.naomi-holton-photography.co.uk or ring 07783881454. She specialises in portraits, people and pets, but is open to any projects.

Or are you a young artiste wondering how you can change your life just like Naomi? Then you need to contact Betsy at Bauhaus Café CIC as she is looking for participants who would like to learn to run their own business to join on her next youth exchange. This exchange will take place in sunny Cyprus in January and will be completely free.

Sounds too good to be true? It’s not. Contact Betsy without delay!

You can find her here http://bauhauscafe.co.uk/ or email her at info@bauhauscafe.co.uk

Prepare to change your life forever.

Written by Helena Noifeld