Get Booked – Zera Zasante From Enrich Charity

Hello, I'm Hazel, and welcome to today's Get Booked radio show here in Covent Garden, supporting women's emotional well-being, opening discussions, and offering support via the incredible writers out there. And today, joining me on my show, I have Zira from Enrich Charity. Hello! Hi, how are How are you? I'm really, really good, thank you. You had a bit of trouble getting in here? Yeah, just a little bit with the trains. We love TfL, don't we? They alone are to do with a lot of— they're responsible for a lot of anxiety going on in London. Yeah, no, completely. I agree with you. So can you tell us a little bit more about why you set up Enrich Charity? Yeah, sure. So I studied at uni 2 years ago Um, during my time at uni, I just didn't really— I didn't see what it was giving me. I mean, obviously I'm there for education and whatnot, but you still learn a lot while you're there, and it just wasn't giving me enough. So I took 2 years out, and then I realized that the main problem was my mental health. It just wasn't in a really good place. So I thought, what bet— like, what better way is it to just help others as well as help myself. So Enrich isn't just for other people, it's for me to learn about myself at the same time. So everything's just a growing progress for me. I mean, it helps, uh, not that it's a prerequisite, but people who start these charities generally do it because of a personal reason, and it gives them a different, um, level of empathy because they have experienced something themselves that makes them understand a lot of the complications around mental health. What particular issues were you having, if you don't mind me asking? Of course. I mean, for me, it was just dealing with daily pressures. I'd never really had the people there to explain how life works as you're growing older. I mean, obviously you have your parents, but there's only so much a child will say to their parents. So you look for different support in different places, and I never had that. So I found myself, just like sometimes you'll build yourself up and then you'll just sink down completely, and there was no one to help me, say, get up, this is what the problem is and this is how we can find the solution. I've never had that, so it was that for me really. I mean, a lot of personal things as well as like home, social lives and things. It was just too demanding for me that I just never knew how to deal with it in the right way. Well, this is the thing, this is all, it's all about being incredibly overwhelmed. And a lot of families, sometimes I have children myself and I kind of, I really put it on them to kind of take responsibility for their actions and try and explain things and teach them things around the house. And there are so So many kids out there that are kind of just mummied too much. Yeah. And then suddenly they go, right, off you go to university in another town. They suddenly go, what? Exactly, yeah. We need life skills and things like that. And there's so many people out there stressing over the pressures to succeed. And social media as well doesn't help with that because people show their best life rather than their true life. And there's— I mean, I was speaking to some parents earlier about all the different things that their kids do, where they're like, they're going out at 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning to do class, to do training, to be their better self. And you just think, when do they get to sleep and chill and chat and make mistakes? And, you know, it's, it's quite hard. So, um, I completely get where you're coming from. Um, you have somebody else as well that you set this up with. Yes. Do you want to tell us a little bit more about her? Yeah, sure. So, um, Abby, I met through a friend that I went to university with. Um, Abby looks at more to do with like the rehabilitation of ex-offenders, so just helping them set up their lives in society. So after they've come out of prison or whatnot, just helping them fit back into society especially to do with younger, the younger males as well, just giving them the opportunity to like express themselves in different ways or just have people to rely on just to support them in terms of work or just social life or just talking and presenting themselves in the way that they need to be seen properly. So it's support and, and making sure that there's just somebody else. Yeah, it can be quite lonely. Yeah. And also, you know, especially with issues of rehabilitation, you know, if you are lonely and you don't have the support, then unfortunately it's so easy to go back to what sent you completely down that route in the first place. So well done, you guys. Um, tell us a little bit more about where people can find out more about the charity Enrich. Sure. So at the moment it's just on Instagram, so it's @enrichxu. And we also, we're in the process of setting up our website as well. I mean, on our personal pages as well, on Instagram and other social media outlets and stuff, we promote a lot of, um, our work as well. Right, okay. And so have you already got the website address? It's not currently like, it's not, um, completely there yet. It's just we, we had a website and then we kind of rebranded the whole thing, so we're just waiting for that to be authorise them and then put that out again. Are you having quite a lot of people getting in touch with you? Or are you still at the very primary stages of Enrich? I mean, for me, it's just like we're not— we're at a good stage, but still kind of at the primary stage. I do get in touch with a lot of like schools and other charities as well, just to find collaborations and that way just put it out there. And it is just about working, getting people to work together. Pretty much. I mean, we go by the slogan, which is just like, love is free, support is free, which is just like, yeah, just help anyone. Like, it doesn't require a lot just to help everyone. Like, you can have a normal conversation with people and still take a lot out of it. So, well, it's, it's just being available for somebody, having somebody to talk to. Yeah. So do you get quite a lot of people kind of interacting on Instagram. Yeah. And you have your own personal Instagram as well. You use that and it's— I can't— it's Zezante, is it? Yes, I'm Zezante7. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. Is that your last name? That's my surname. Yes. Yeah. And are you from London? I am from London, so I'm from like southeast London. Okay. Yeah. Around Woolwich, Elstons. Where'd you go to university? I went to Hertfordshire University. Right. Yeah. Nice. Enjoyed it a lot. It was really good. Oh wait, the producer's going, I went there too. So I was reading, you sent me a blog. You write quite often, you've got a particular medium that you can write through, haven't you? Well, what we're gonna do is we're gonna put all the links up on the show and all of our shows, once they've, we do make sure that they go up the following week on the Women's Radio Station SoundCloud and I quite often put them up on my Twitter @NuttyButty and on my Instagram which is @getbookedwrs. And I have about 6 other Instagrams as well. But we'll put all the links up there so people can find out definitely a bit more about you. And if they want to collaborate with you or find out a little bit more. Yeah, yeah. About what's going on. And how long has Enrich been going so far? So it's been in the works for 2 years now. Right. 2 years now. So that was when I left university. It was just like, start Enrich, just go wholeheartedly into it kind of thing. And are you loving it? I enjoy it so much, I can't lie. I enjoy it. I think it's more to do with meeting different people and just having general conversations and then building it from there. I really enjoy it. What I've found since I became a mental health advocate and especially doing this show where I not only speak to bloggers and mental health advocates, but writers as well who write with a theme to try and help, and so I'm part of this community where everyone's trying to help each other. It's not like, you know, the acting world where they're like, I want this job, I want this. Everybody just wants to help each other. Yeah. Everybody's got something to offer, which I just think is fantastic. Yeah. Now, one of the blogs that I read was Letting Life Happen. Yeah. Now, I think I said to you at the time when we first started chatting that it just, it really struck a chord with me. I want to try and, what I might do until your website gets going, maybe you want to do a guest post on my website so that we could make sure it goes out. How does that sound? That sounds really good. That's exciting. Wicked. Um, and we'll do that because it's just, um, it was, it was just about, you know, going, what, what am I supposed to be doing? I'm here. And it's— I mean, do you want to, do you want to just explain to the listeners what you were thinking about when you wrote, like, Letting Life Happen? Yeah, sure. So, um, I think I wrote it when I was on my way back from work. And it was just like, you know, you see so many different people and everyone has their thing going on. But with me, I just found it like, like you said, what is it that I'm actually supposed to be doing? What is it? I still think that now. Yeah, no. I'm 37, I'm like, uh-huh. Sorry, carry on. No, it's fine. It's just, I think it's just one of those things, it's like, We just have to, for me it was just I had to learn that I had to allow myself to just be and just learn as I go along. So, just let life happen. So, even when things happen and when things go wrong, I just need to understand this is just a stage of life and I need to move. It will take time, it's hard, it's hard work and everything, but it will blow over, kind of thing. And to just, yeah, go with the flow a bit more rather than panicking. Yeah. I read this great quote once, it was, in the Anxiety Girl series where, and she was trying to explain about depression and anxiety, and depression is to do with what's happened in the past, and anxiety is worried about what's going to happen in the future. But we're living now. I know, yeah. So we need to live now, and if we live in the now, depression and anxiety cannot exist. We know that they're going to exist, but I thought the point was Fantastic. And it's just about letting life happen with now. Do you know, I saw a great quote from Miles Davis that said, "If you play a wrong note, it isn't wrong until you play the next note." Yeah. Which is pretty much kind of the same thing. I really love that. Yeah. Do you have any favorite phrases? Instagram posts as we live by? I think I had one. I can't even remember it. It's too tough. But I think it was, I can't actually remember. Oh no. No, I know. Usually I'm like, I would like scream it to people like, yeah, this is my quote box. I put you on the spot. It's a bit like if I turn around to a comedian on one of my shows and I say, tell us a joke, they'll be like, um, yeah. But we'll come back to it because we were actually going to go to a break very, very shortly. And when we come back, I want to talk about a little bit more about your writing. And how people can get, um, involved. And I'd also like to talk to you about 3 of the top tips that you would give to people out there that are suffering, who are in the same situation as what you were in, in university, and just a couple of life hacks that maybe you think are going to work. 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Welcome back to the second half of today's Get Booked show here at our lovely, lovely studio in Covent Garden. We've been chatting away to Zira from Enrich Charity, finding out a little bit more about why the charity was started and a little bit more about Zira. You're here now to kind of— I gave you a little bit of a heads up that we'd like maybe 3 tips to give to somebody who was going through the same kind of struggles that you were going through and just kind of figuring out what's life. Yeah, and what would be your tips to anybody? Men, women, cats, dogs? My first one would be just to take it easy. Just take it easy on yourself, take time with yourself as well. My second one would be just find passion in something that helps you feel free so you can just feel liberated, do you know what I mean? That's brilliant. Yeah. You see, before we go into your third one, it's interesting that you say that. I was about to write a blog. It's just about finding your happy place, and for me, it doesn't necessarily have to be a passion for running or some sort of sport or reading or whatever. It's just whatever sorts your head out. Yeah. And for some people, it's running because you're away from social media, you're doing this, and for me, it's cooking because of the order of it all and being in my headspace and drinking a glass of wine. And it's, you need to find something that gets you in that head zone. So that's brilliant, that's a brilliant one, thank you. And your third? My third one would be just to maybe realize that it isn't the end of the world. Like there's so many times you're just at that point and you just think, I'm not gonna do this anymore, I'm not gonna, like I'm just gonna give up with everything. There's so many times I've like seen bills and stuff and I'm just like, you know what, I'm not even gonna think about it. But do you, like, do you know what I mean? But you have to because those things are not gonna go away. So just understand that it's a problem, like, this is not a good situation at the moment, but I'm gonna move from it. And do you know what, failure is, people make out it's such a bad thing. People who fail learn how to do things even better. Can you imagine people who go out and try and do something and they get it perfect every single time? How boring. And also, when it does finally go wrong for them, they're gonna crash so hard. So take failure as a lesson in just developing yourself and improving. And do you know what? Seeing other people, letting other people see you fail gives people more confidence to just get out and do stuff. Fear holds us back. And if you try failing a couple of times, not try to fail, but if you do fail, you know what I mean, then at least then you're in a position to kind of, it's not that scary. No, I think it adds a lot more to character as well. Yes. Like, there's actually, not to say that people that have it easy or can do things well the first time that there's nothing to them, but there's just a little bit more to someone who's had to build from a situation kind of thing, like. An experience. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, 'cause you can always help other people And I've always said that the way that I feel about a certain thing, you may not feel the same, and that's completely fine. It just might be easier for you, whereas for me, I have to— like I've said to a friend, like, I have to personally go through something. So I have to realize how bad it is at the start and then build on it before I can see what the problem is or what it's done for me or how it's impacted me, kind of thing. Whereas some people just like to saw it and don't want to think about it again. And some people who supposedly, um, just bash it out the park first time round, they're in denial. Yeah. Oh, they're just very good at hiding it, and then that's when people crash as well because they realize they've not been living their true self. Yeah. So yeah, great advice. Thank you. You are welcome. Um, I keep— things that I keep on coming out with on talking to people about on this show and I quite often use air quotes, which is great, and I stopped myself that time from using air quotes because it doesn't come across well on radio for the listeners. It's not great. Do you read? I do read. I like to read a lot of philosophy. Oh wow. Philosophical books, yeah. So I'm like into like all the old philosophers and things like that. I also read, I wouldn't say self-help books, but books more or less self-help books as well. Just to like broaden my understanding of certain things. Right, so who's your favourite philosopher? My favourite philosopher would have to be between, I don't pronounce his name properly, but it's Sartre, I think it is. Yeah. And Nietzsche, I find them very interesting, so yeah. Do you, I mean, I've tried reading books on philosophy and suddenly I realise that my brain goes, ah. Yeah, you switch off, yeah. Yeah, 'cause it's quite deep. Yeah. Did you ever see, um, The Good Place? Did you watch The Good Place? Yeah, I did. Because he came out with a lot of philosophy, and he did it in a way that you could kind of understand it, but sometimes you just go, I don't get it, I don't get it. No. Yeah. And then Kristin would suddenly go, whoa, that's what he means! And you'd be like, oh, so that's philosophy done in simplified terms. And I thought that was quite a good philosophical dilemma that they constantly dealt with. Yeah. Every episode. And I know it's silly American program, but that was like my favorite show. That was my favorite show because I thought, wow, a show about philosophy, like, that's so nerdy. But it was so good. It was kind of nerdy, but there's also like life-size bugs running around and devils trying to cause problems. So, you know, it had its fun element. Well, yeah, I'm not— not that I'm saying philosophy isn't fun. I wouldn't say that. I think there's a new series coming out. Yeah, there is, there is. I think, um, I think they're on season 2 already 'cause I watched the recent one, but I haven't like checked on it recently, so. I've watched it, I've watched as far as I possibly could. I absolutely love it. Jameela Jamil, 'cause again, Jameela, she, I follow her on Ai Weiwei. Do you follow her on Ai Weiwei? Yes, I do. Oh, she is brilliant. She's amazing. The producer's looking at me. You need to check out Ai Weiwei. She basically is sitting there going, stop body shaming, stop saying this, stop saying this about people. And I think when there's people like the Kardashians that are promoting pregnancy lose weight tea, tea that you're supposed to drink when you're pregnant to keep your weight down. She's like, man, you're going to hell in a cart. But she's quite funny. No, she is, she is. I think I saw the one recently about the, so Raisa said the body makeup. And I just loved her response to the whole product. I didn't see it. No, I think the Kardashian, one of the Kardashians, Kim, created a foundation that covers up blemishes on the skin, like on your body. Right. And she was like, this is like, you might as well just fall in love with the faults that are on your body. I mean, what? Yeah. Like, why not? That's just, it's just a bit too, like, I don't know. It's a bit too much, but. Fall in love with who we are. I mean, makeup's fun, but it shouldn't be used to completely disguise ourselves. No. And yet people do feel self-conscious, and I get that completely. Yeah, but don't force people to feel self-conscious, you know. Yeah, wounds are there, wounds make us interesting. Otherwise we'd all just be wandering around just, you know, looking like ridiculousness. Yeah, looking like Love Island. I can't lie, I'm guilty for Love Island. You watch Love Island? Yeah, yeah. No, not a fan. Well, do you know what? This is wrong because I've never watched an episode and I just, I'm worried that I'll never get that time back. Yeah. But from what I can see from the pictures, they all use the same hairstylist. They use the same contour kit. And I know the editor of the program. Oh really? And it's just, I mean, I get it's fake, but you know, I don't know. I just don't, I don't know whether I could handle it. It's just one of those things you like, you have to watch. During a time to like just pass time, if anything. Okay, do you think I should— should I watch it? No, no, I think if you haven't started it, no, no, no. Yeah, fair enough. I just— they are great fun, but again, the mental health element, I'd love to see how they're going to handle the end of this series because it was, it was a tragedy. Yeah, I think it's nice how, um, a lot more of them can openly speak about their feelings and stuff about how they feel. But they would have been told they had to if they wanted to come out. I think so. I think so. Because it's such a big thing now that it's like you was definitely nudged to say, yeah, let's talk about how you feel about this and stuff. And people— but the thing is, people are judged so highly again, especially with the, um, with the I Weigh account from Jameela Jamil. Um, It's, you know, people look perfect and then if they ever put up a non-perfect one because they're just chilling out, they're like, oh, they slum it. Like, seriously? I think, do you know, some of my friends when they don't put makeup on, they look the best. Yeah, just because they look a little bit natural and less kind of same samey. Yeah, which is why I very rarely try make any effort. I mean, it's not that, you know, I don't take my job seriously, it's just sometimes I can't be bothered brushing my hair. Sometimes it's just like you don't have the time. I mean, you can do something else, you know what I mean? Exactly, yeah, exactly. And I've got a lot of reading to do. No, exactly. So, um, so another— so you like philosophy? Yeah, we kind of digress. We went off to Love Island and everything. Seriously, can see how it can consume your existence. Are there any good self-help books that you've been reading? What have you been reading recently? So I've read, I'm reading one now, it's called Quiet. So it's about introverts, I consider myself an introvert, just standing up for what they believe in and just using that personality type to their power, I guess. So it's how to utilize what you have? Yeah. That's brilliant. Yeah. Okay, yeah. I've read one book, it was called Dibs. In Search of Self, and it was by Virginia Cox, I think it was. Okay. And she was a child psycho— a child therapist, sorry. And the child, obviously, he came from a state, he was at a stage where he didn't communicate with anyone or things like that, and it's just watching over him progress. That book has changed my life. Really? It is an amazing book. Can you email that over to me? No problem, yeah. No, that book is amazing. I learned so much and it's coming from a little boy who is 6 years old but he had so much to say and it was good. Well, what we actually do is there is a section on GetBooked where we, on the GetBooked Show element of Women's Radio Station where we put all the books that we discuss on there. Oh yeah. And we get a lot of authors and we put their books on there. So if you send the details over, I'll make sure that it gets up on there so it's a nice and easy resource for people to go to on womensradiostation.com. And just very quickly before we end today's show, if you just give yourself a quick plug, tell people where they can find you, what you're here for, and why you're doing it. Okay, so you can find me on Instagram @zassanti7. Um, I'm here for about, um, for self-development, mental health, and just loving yourself. I mean, I'm here for the people. I always say that to people. I'm just here to support as many people and give out love as much as I can. Love it. Thank you so much for joining me here on Get Worked. Enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you, and good luck with Enrich. Thank you everybody for listening, and make sure you listen in every day, 5 PM. Welcome to the Women's Radio Station, supporting women's well-being. Women's Radio Station is all about diversity, from opinions, career, ethnicity, education, and most importantly, women's well-being. We aim to celebrate the individuality of every woman everywhere, providing opportunities and the platform for your voice. 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