Queer multidisciplinary creative, Tori West, is the editor and founder of the independent publication, BRICKS Magazine. Since launching the title at university, Tori has funded the ideas of thousands of creatives and worked with some of the world's biggest companies, such as Valentino, Coach, Adidas, Gucci’s Chime for Change and TikTok. In 2019, Tori's work was listed as a Dazed 100 recipient, and she has contributed to ELLE and Dazed.
From a working-class background and born in a former mining town in Wales, Tori is vocal on how her low-income background has impacted her career progression. To further tackle the lack of representation of low-income people in the creative industry, she has dedicated most of her work to providing opportunities and alternative education methods to underrepresented creatives.
Tori took a moment out from her Media Ethics and Social Change masters to talk to us about career highlights, print media and media representation…
What inspired the launch of BRICKS Magazine?
I kickstarted BRICKS mainly out of frustration. I never felt comfortable or safe in-house and really felt there wasn’t a genuine home for budding creatives from marginalised backgrounds in publishing, especially for those from low-income backgrounds. When only 16% of the creative industry workforce is made up of working-class people, it was no surprise I felt out of place. I started it at the time because I couldn’t find an alternative. I’m a strong believer in that you can’t be what you can’t see, so I hoped BRICKS would help other creatives see themselves in this industry.
Do you think there are enough queer voices in journalism?
There are so many incredibly talented queer writers, but we’re still heavily tokenized and commissioned to only write on queer issues or stories. Of course those stories are still so important, but I feel like most people from marginalised backgrounds fear they are only hired to write about their identity politics. There’s a real disconnect for queer voices who want to just write about fashion, music or arts culture. For example, there’s still a massive feeling in the queer creative community that we’re often only supported during LGBTQ+ History month or Pride month. Support queer voices in journalism across the board, not just about our identity politics. That’s when we’ll truly feel represented in the media industry.
How did you get the attention of such big brands?
I feel so incredibly blessed to be where we are at, but it did take years of battling for credibility. I spent so many years cold emailing brands to introduce our work. I was ignored for so long but after gaining a social following on TikTok and Instagram, people started taking us a bit more seriously. We never had a financial budget when I started BRICKS, but I did manage to build a community of like-minded people who wanted to create cool stuff, and there’s no amount of money in the world that can buy you a community, I think brands are now starting to realise that. Connecting with PRs was also so imperative for us to be introduced to brands.
What is your career highlight to date?
Every day at the moment feels like such a blessing, but it has to be getting an email from Atlantic Records to put Paramore on the cover. I called my mum crying when it happened. That was such a wild 360 moment. They were my favourite band growing up, but I never saw them play because I could never afford tickets. Sitting on Zoom with them 16 years later interviewing them for a magazine I started on my bedroom floor was such a pinch me moment. They later put me on the guest list to finally see them play, it was so surreal. We also recently live streamed the Valentino show for them, which was also pretty incredible.
Who is the most inspiring person you’ve met?
Munroe Bergdorf. She was our first ever cover star and last year we made her the only person to ever appear on our cover more than once for our 10th issue dedicated to the BRICKS family, past and present. If it wasn’t for her wanting to support a queer-led independent all those years ago, I doubt we’d be where we are today. She’s such a kind and genuine beam of light in this industry and such an important voice in the queer community.
Do you consider yourself an influencer?
I suppose so. It wasn’t really my plan to be an influencer, I always preferred to be behind the scenes. My main role today is being a producer behind the camera, so it took a little while to be comfortable with it. I fell into it originally as an accident, I made a personal following because of BRICKS, and I got picked up by an agent who helped me break more into personal content making and storytelling. I'm still with Crumb Agency to this day and they’ve been so invaluable to my career progression as a content creator. It took me a while to accept being “an influencer” but I’m so grateful for it because the money really helps me not be reliant on taking a salary at BRICKS so I can focus on investing back into the company and our contributors instead.
Tell us about your podcast.
BRICKS recently collaborated on TikTok’s first ever podcast collaboration, the ‘I Did That’ video podcast. We invited guests who managed to carve their own space in the creative industry against all odds. From successful independent musicians without a major label deal to TikTokers turned Netflix stars. I learned so much from the amazing guests and was so grateful for them sharing their journeys with me and our audience.
What are you passionate about?
Alternative education and breaking more low-income people into the creative industry. I’m pretty much making it my entire career mission at this point to get that 16% up. We launched our own alternative education channel, The Learner Platform, to offer more creative career advice from experts in our network, provide practical accessible workshops and we also push out a weekly opportunities newsletter featuring around 50-70 roles each week across freelance, fixed-term contracts, grants and internships.
Is there still a market for print media?
I hope so. Our digital platforms are the most prevalent now in comparison to our annual print, but with digital and social media, there still comes a lot of censorship and bias in algorithms. I currently study media ethics and social change at the University of Sussex, and a lot of our course is questioning algorithmic bias and censorship, because they’re built from human bias. The technology industry is also dominated by privileged cis men, so it also can inevitably brew misogyny into its algorithms and platforms. I feel like true radical journalism and content made from marginalised creators can only exist without censorship with zine culture and self-print publishing.
Would you like to hear from brand PRs?
Yes absolutely! However, there’s often a disconnect between us and brands when they don’t fund us or our community. If they aren’t going to financially support our work by advertising with us or placing partnerships with us so that we can financially support our contributors and our in-house team, we can’t push their product launches. It has to work both ways, otherwise we’re working for free for them to profit from our work.
What’s the best way to contact you?
By email, I’m terrible with keeping up with my social media interactions as it’s so overwhelming.
What advice would you give fellow writers?
To always build your own online relationship with your readers outside of your publisher. I’ve seen so many amazing journalists lose faith as soon as they’ve lost their in-house role at a mainstream publication. But a magazine is only as good as their writers and content makers, so that audience will always want to read your work if you keep up a relationship with them. If your contract allows it, start a Substack, talk about your online articles on social to provoke further conversations. Really try and utilise your online presence and personal relationships with people that are reading your work.
What legacy would you like to leave behind?
I’d like BRICKS to live on without me, just to prove a working-class queer woman could build something of that magnitude completely on her own terms. I hope it always lives as a safe welcoming space for others to share their thoughts and be supported. I’d also really love others to feel like because we exist, they could maybe kickstart one too. I don’t know one media company birthed by a working-class queer woman, that’s pretty cool.
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