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Meet Simone Thompson for our 4th installment of our RADICAL SELF CARE video series where we invite some of our NOTO FACES to tell us how they've experienced radical self care over this last year. You may recognize Simone as not only a friend, NOTO model, and NOTO face, but also as Gloria's co-host for our upcoming podcast She They Gay, launching this Feb!
Hi, my name is Simone! I’m queer, my pronouns are she/her and I’m a photographer and model. I moved to LA three years ago from New York and the last few years I’ve been finding my footing here in LA as an artist. I got started as a photographer through modeling in New York, when I had the opportunity to work with several photographers whose work I really loved and admired - That sparked an interest in photography for myself. Four years later, here we are and it’s my full-time career.
Do you have any upcoming projects you’re looking forward to?
I have a few projects I’m excited for this year - One in particular is my podcast with Gloria Noto launching at the beginning of February.
What has Radical Self Care looked like for you this last year?
Radical self care in 2020 for me has looked like listening to my body and establishing healthy routines. It’s included facing complicated feelings, tapping into new interests, initiating difficult conversations and finding new meaning in old work. I came to the realization early in quarantine that so much of my self worth was contingent on my productivity, and 10 months of lockdown has forced me to challenge that idea in a great way. Prior to this year, I was working 6 days a week and splitting my time between LA and San Diego. My life started to feel reduced to hours and hours a week commuting in my car, always fighting the persistent need for rest and ignoring how run down I felt. Despite all the creative opportunities I was getting, my weeks started to feel mechanical. Instead of establishing healthy routines and boundaries, I felt weighed down with stress and trapped in a cycle of having to constantly deprioritize my own needs for the sake of productivity.
Once covid was in full force, months of mandated quarantine periods and isolation initially catapulted so many of us into a collective ego death. Speaking for myself, I struggled with my self identity with the absence of work and socializing in a big way, and staying connected from a distance felt daunting and like work. I was now faced with the task of having to slow down and be present, and that initially felt really difficult and foreign. I’ve found though that I've grown and discovered so much more about myself since March. I’ve cooked more in 2020 than I have in 3 years, and I’ve spent weeks of quarantine baking. I’ve discovered new grocery stores in LA and have taken pleasure in making new meals with my partner. I’ve been taking care of my skin, making playlists and watching movies on Criterion. In a nutshell, radical self care for me has meant self acceptance, prioritization and getting closer to the people I am closest to.
• Check out more of Simone’s work HERE
• Get 10% off your next NOTO purchase with code SIMONE10 !