June Review, July Forecast

Estelle Lucas, reporting for duty!

June Review

If you’re more of a listener than a reader I have made a voice recording about this blog post.

As I write this, it is my second week of work. The first week I tried a 9-5, five-day week and I determined it wasn’t for me. This week I worked three (and a half) days and I felt more present and capable. So far my role has consisted mostly of:

- researching, reading and writing;

- emailing and networking;

- meeting and connecting.

I won't share the specific people that I am networking with in this blog out of respect for privacy and confidentiality. However, if there are connections I am making, that I feel sex workers should know about, I will report it here.

There’s one such interaction I am writing up at the moment that I anticipate some sex workers may not like - but I hope that my transparency will demonstrate the steps I am taking to mitigate risk and harm. I hope to have this post up in the coming weeks.

In terms of what I have completed and in reference to last month’s forecast I:

• sent a submission for the consultation process on the decriminalisation of sex work in Queensland. I’ve made a note to post this on the blog next week. 

• attended an Alumni gathering with the Myer Board and previous Fellows. I felt the day was a success and that my project was welcomed.

• set up my dedicated desk and office in Creative Cubes Co in Carlton and working hours.

• I’ve stated on my social media that I view my role as: a full-time sex worker advocate, a sex industry problem solver, a personal henchman for sex workers and a networker. I hope this conveys that I am a tool for sex workers to create solutions for their workplace.

My strategy for networking requires further development. Despite this, I have made connections with people in academia, the For-Profit sector, the For Purpose sector, and organisations that work with sex workers. I have also reached out to numerous sex worker leaders and advocates to introduce my ideas and get feedback - if you can think of anyone I should be in contact with, please let me know. I most definitely have not reached out to everyone I want to, but I’m getting there.

One of the reasons I am talking to as many people as I can is because I need to get the lay of the land so to speak. I want my Fellowship to be complementary to current efforts and to have the most positive collective, collaborative impact. For this to happen, I must consult as widely as possible - I need to understand how things are done and what other people are doing. 

I’m still working on deploying the Empathise Stage of the design-thinking process. This will involve consultations with sex workers - a sort of market research for product development. The reason this is taking more time than I anticipated is because I want to make sure this consultation process is clear, concise and easy to understand. I keep making revisions to the expression of interest form as I keep battling between wanting to be as informative and transparent as possible and over-explaining things to the point where the form is unnecessarily long and daunting to read.

Once this expression of interest form is released, I will be able to open my calendar for any sex worker (or people involved around the industry) to meet with me online or in-person.

Some things that have fallen low on the priority list are a social media strategy and a system to organise my expenses. I’m still doing these things - just not in an organised fashion.

Things that haven't happened yet because I got the dates wrong include attending a For Purpose networking event and pitch training. Whoops!

July Forecast

July will be my first full month working on my Fellowship. I’ve noticed that my project keeps pivoting with every new connection I make - which is good because as new information comes to light you should update and adjust your approach. I just hope that everything and everyone who can direct this project does so before I’m too far along to turn back or make changes.

Here’s a list of things I hope to get done for July.

• Continue to network and connect on all levels: academia, the For Purpose sector, the For-Profit sector, government bodies and agencies and the sex work sector.

• Finalise my expression of interest form and release and attract sex workers to the consultation process.

• Begin consultations and data collection for the Empathise Stage.

• Open my calendar for sex workers to connect with me informally. 

• Attend that For Purpose networking event on the actual correct date.

• Speak on a panel called ‘What Bias? Breaking In, Breaking Down, Breaking Through’. This will help me network with minority and gender-diverse leaders and will also help support funding for She’s a Crowd. The event is actually today if you’re in Melbourne!

• Get my expense’s system into order.

• Develop a social media strategy including a regular blog writing schedule.

• Make a LinkedIn because many people have asked me for one.

• I will put in an ethics application for qualitative interviews with sex workers. This is separate from the consultations from the Empathise Stage. These interviews will help me write a paper about the occupational health and safety needs for sex workers to publish in a journal. 

• Lots more researching and reading. This includes looking into what a union is and if it’s something that might be suitable for the sex industry.

It doesn’t sound like much, but these consultations will be key to creating a user-driven solution for the occupational health and safety needs for sex workers. Consulting widely will help me identify where this solution sits in alignment with current efforts.

If you require any further information about my doings, then please feel free to email me at mxestellelucas@gmail.com.