Anthony Andrews interviews Jessica Huie MBE, ahead of their first collaboration
An Evening of Purpose
Anthony Andrews and Jessica Huie MBE, on Zoom
A year ago, it was just an idea. Jessica Huie MBE, entrepreneur and author of PURPOSE (who’s worked with the likes of Samuel L. Jackson and the Duchess of Sussex) met up with friends Anthony and Teanne Andrews, co-founders of the multi award-winning We Are Parable, a film exhibition company that celebrates Black cinema and supports Black filmmakers across the UK. They chatted over a coffee at the Barbican centre, which would become a fateful location.
Soon, one thing led to another and the idea was born for their first collaboration, the upcoming event An Evening of Purpose. Since 2021, We Are Parable have also become Creatives in Residence with the Communities & Neighbourhoods team at Barbican, the start of many future partnerships.
An Evening of Purpose takes place Friday 24 June. Here’s some of the recent interview between Anthony and Jessica, which was recorded on Zoom.
JH: We met at the Barbican for a coffee, didn’t we? And there was suddenly this idea on the table, haha!
AA: Yeah, I do remember. We met and there was just like this kindred spirit in the room where we had a similar set of values, we both wanted to create really great things and put them out into the world and we were just like, we have to find a way of working with each other.
JH: Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head when you said ‘kindred spirit’. It’s like whenever there’s that foundation, you know, what we’re really talking about is this feeling of love, this desire to share something… Things just flow. And people feel that and get on board with it, so yeah. Here we are.
AA: Yeah, super excited. So, the event’s called An Evening of Purpose. I wanted to go all the way back to the beginning and ask you: What does purpose mean to you? Especially within the context of the pandemic and everything like that?
JH: And what does it mean to you! I mean, as you know, when we first connected it was just after you’d read PURPOSE. The book emerged through a period of my life where I was just in this space of no agenda. There was no desire to be doing because I was caring for my dad at the end of his life and I was in that very real, pure space of truth, you know which grief opens up.
I started writing a couple of days before Dad passed on, and it changed my life. PURPOSE was a whole new landscape of like…Realness. Not to say I was inauthentic before, but there was a different set of values which began to drive my life. And it’s been beautiful. It’s been a stripping back. I’d say stripped back is where we’ve made ourselves and all of the best things that come from that space.
Purpose… It has nothing actually to do with ‘doing’ at all. It’s about embodying more of our essence, whatever that is. And during the pandemic, I think, you know, what we collectively realised is how important connection is. That’s how we got through it. All those zoom raves and game nights. Coming together… It’s soul food, we need this, we are supposed to connect. And also, it’s about asking questions about whether or not the life that we are living is really aligned with what we want.
AA: Yeah, definitely. I kind of think of purpose as the north star. You’re always moving towards it.
JH: Exactly… To maintain a connection to that north star, it’s about maintaining a connection to ourselves. And all of that is crucial and key to our mental health, right? Because if we’re disconnected from what we’re actually feeling and what we actually want, we start to go off course. We find ourselves feeling burnt out, or feeling unfulfilled, conflicted, and sick.
AA: Yeah, definitely. I think in theory, it sounds so simple. But we all know how life can get on top of us and how that makes our lives so rich at the same time.So I guess for someone who’s struggling with, you know, trying to navigate their way through all those dynamics… what can they do in a very practical way?
JH: I mean, for me, it’s journaling. It’s having some kind of structure, some kind of practice which is non-negotiable. Every morning, I wake up, the first thing I do is just write for a bit, before I check my phone. For years, you know, I would roll out of bed and reach over for the Blackberry (and then the iPhone…) and I would have this onslaught of incoming information and requests and other people’s needs through emails and then straight away, I’m in reactive zone. So then my day and life becomes almost like I’m some kind of living autoresponder whereas today, that’s all inside out. I start the day by asking myself, how am I feeling today? What do I need? That’s essential to a sense of wellbeing.
Often this idea of purpose can feel completely indulgent or like a privilege that is, you know, reserved for those who have that space to reflect. I know for so many years I didn’t, our parents certainly didn’t! They just had to be in a kind of survival mode.
AA: Yes, and I’m glad you mention the importance of mental health. These may seem like small things, but it might actually be a case of, you know, revising the things you do and seeing them as a form of self-care.
JH: And I had a question for you… around the sort of modern constructs of masculinity. What’s your journey been with that? I’m curious to know. Is it something that’s reared its head through your mental health journey, as a man?
AA: Yeah, no, definitely. I was born in 1980 and obviously, you know, that’s a certain generation where boys have to be boys and you weren’t supposed to cry and you weren’t supposed to say certain things or listen to certain types of music… and you know, that really does leave its indelible mark on you. And I think there’s a lot that you need to unlearn. It’s like thinking about those three separate stages: surrender, leap & purpose. It’s only now whilst we’re talking and I’m thinking about my life over the last six years and how it’s almost been segmented into those three areas.
Before 2016, my life was very smooth. I got married, and we had kids. Then suddenly, my best friend passed away and took me for a tailspin.
That was the first time that I’d really had someone close to me pass away and it was very hard to navigate all those feelings. I couldn’t hide from it. And it was just something that would completely change how I would approach the bad things in my life. Old me used to bottle things up and compartmentalise and forget about it. But the new me thinks, no, I’ve actually got to deal with things and surrender to those feelings.
Then the leap of my life came around 2018 when I decided to go part time with the business. I was like, right, I’m not happy doing the job that I’ve been doing… I know the thing that makes me happy is getting people in the cinema and creating wonderful experiences and showing them amazing films. So I was like, if i can make a career out of that then, that’s great. Four years later, we’re still here and working full time and it’s been incredible to see that growth.
And then I think 2020 was the year of purpose. I don’t think anyone needs me to tell them how much of a pivotal moment that was but I think, you know, seeing the George Floyd murder, seeing the Black Lives Matter movement, the way COVID ravaged the black community in this country… That really lit a fire in myself to go on and think, how can we use the goodwill that we’ve generated in this industry and turn that into goods for filmmakers who are trying to get their work made? And that’s how we came up with the project, Momentum. So that was a real moment like where I felt, this is what we’re here to do. We’re here to show great films to amazing audiences but let’s go behind the curtains and help these filmmakers, too.
JH: Yes, that’s beautiful. And for me, you know, those candlelit vigil moments spent by my dad’s bedside evolved into the book PURPOSE and now we’re doing An Evening of Purpose. There’s a beauty in being willing to lean into those hard emotions. And it’s not always the death of a person. Sometimes it’s just acknowledging our experiences because you know, trauma is trauma, and we’ve all experienced collective trauma through the pandemic.
AA: I wanted to talk to you about flow, actually, and how that happens…
JH: It can sound a bit fluffy, but it’s about being who we are and not being in a state of resistance… That’s when we know we’re in a state of flow. So, when life presents us with the hard stuff we’re able to view in a way which says, OK, what’s the lesson here? What is this teaching me? It doesn’t necessarily take away the pain but it just means we’re not at the mercy of life. Life is working for us. Thrive, drive and flow, for sure.
AA: I feel like it’s those kinds of concepts that are really important when we’re thinking about our purpose… As horrible as it was, what happened to my friend and all the things that have happened to me in my life, it’s those moments that have shaped who I am. They can be painful, but they’re propelling me in ways that I could never have imagined.
JH: I cannot agree with you more. If we’re able to look at our life experiences, the joys and the biggest challenges and find the gold and the gifts they’ve given us, then we can repurpose that into something that we can share and that is life changing.