Interview with Julia, social media manager

We want to bring you a very special series of stories.

We know our followers probably use our content often but struggle to put a name and face behind Drugs and Me.

For this reason, we have done a series of interviews with our team so you can get to know more about who we are and what we do.

Here, we've interviewed Julia, who is behind our social media work and has led our first ever academic publication!

Q: Where are you from?

A: My mum is Spanish and my dad is half Latvian half Polish, but I was born in Spain and have lived there almost my whole life. I now live in England.

Q: Could you tell us a bit about your work and study background?

A: I study Biomedical Sciences at The University of Manchester and I am currently finishing my fourth year. I am still quite unsure of what I want to do after I graduate, but I would love to work with people.

Q: How did you get involved with Drugs & Me?

A: Three years ago, after my first year in uni, I was quite shocked at the drug culture in UK universities. I thought people were very uninformed about the harms of their use, and I met so many people with mental health problems which partly originated from their use. Universities really didn't seem to care, but I wanted to do something about it, and I was lucky enough to get to know about Drugs and Me through mutual friends. I clicked really quickly with them and their approach because I felt it was really friendly, realistic and applicable.

Q: Why Drugs & Me?

A: My involvement with Drugs and Me started as a summer internship but has turned into a project where I have met amazing people and grown so much as a person and scientist. My favourite thing is that the team is really varied and approachable, and that everyone gets to input their own thoughts and vision onto the project. I also really like that you can be flexible about how you want to contribute which allows you to develop the skills you want/need. And also that there is always something going on!

Q: Tell us a little about a typical month /day in the life of a social media manager at Drugs & Me.

A: How I work has changed over time. I normally work in a team, where we all participate in the process of creating content. While I normally come up with the visuals and ideas, my colleagues help with supervision, re-framing and coordinating with events. Everyone in the project has a full time job or is studying, which is why we don't have a set schedule and we tend to do a few hours a week in a very flexible manner.

Q: Tell us a little about your interests - what do you like to do in your free time? How do you switch off from work?

A: I love art history and I have been going to museums since I was really young. That’s probably my favourite way to disconnect on a weekly basis. When I have more time, my main interest is traveling. My last trip was to Mexico and my next ideal trip would be to Colombia.

Q: What would you say is the highlight of your work at Drugs & Me?

A: Asides from the friends and memories I have made, probably my first scientific publication! This was the main project during my internship, and it is unbelievable that after two years of work we just managed to publish it in a scientific journal.

Q: What do you think is the best drug to take?

A: I don't have extensive experience with drugs aside from alcohol, so I probably can't pick one. From my experiences, all I can say is that how you take it really makes a difference, and it is always beneficial to be informed. You can take the same drug and have an amazing or terrible experience, which is why I believe it's not so much about the drug but about how/when/who you take it with.

Q: What do you think is the best activity to do while on drugs?

A: I am a pretty introspective person and I love to learn about my emotions, where they stem from and how I can manage them. For this reason, I think journaling is really good, but of course it probably doesn't work with all drugs! A fun night out with good music is probably a good one too.