How did the idea for Word come about? The idea came about in my final year of University, at a time where youth apathy towards topical issues was frequently discussed in the media. Knowing this wasn’t the case, a friend of mine, Hayel, and I decided to go halves on a budget DSLR camera and go around Uni asking students their opinions and stories on a variety of topics. When we graduated, we also noticed that the burgeoning artform of spoken word poetry didn’t have a dedicated channel on Youtube, so we decided to incorporate this into our work. The channel fast became a go-to platform for youth opinion on current affairs and topical issues, and in 2014 we had the first of six commissions to date aired on Channel 4 news. Shortly after that we created a viral video called What I Wasn’t Taught in School, which encouraged us to diversify the content we produce beyond purely spoken word.
How many people are involved in the enterprise and in what capacity? Currently it is only myself and business partner, Hayel, who run Word on the Curb. In July of this year we decided to both take the leap into the venture full time and we still do everything involved in running the business from; filming, editing, idea creation, finances and sales. More recently we have started to involve a number of freelancers into the work we do with an aim of hiring more full time staff in 2018. I would say that our first video of high quality production, a short film called What I Wasn’t Taught In School, has had the most surprising response - just because of the sheer number of views, comments and emails from all around the World. The piece discusses the poor teaching Which interviews brought about the most surprising responses and why?
Tell us a little about yourself. My name is Ndubuisi Uchea (03-10). I attended the College on a bursary and academic scholarship before going to the University of Manchester where I studied Biomedical Materials Science. After graduating with a 2.1 I got accepted onto the Commercial management trainee scheme with L’Oreal where I stayed for three and a half years whilst starting and running my own business called Word on the Curb. What is Word on the Curb? Word on the Curb is a media platform which uses video content to share stories aimed at a millennial/gen-z audience. Having had success in creating content digested by this demographic, we also help businesses and organisations do the same. Through our work, we offer young people mentorship and opportunities in the creative field such as focus groups, production roles and featuring in actual productions.
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