TWMs Jade-Louise sat down with Roberta Fraggle of Roberta Fraggle Art and TWM fame, to talk all things content and real life, from home life to future goals
Roberta also runs and works on two other websites, www.ShookTheMagazine.com and www.RobertaFraggleArt.weebly.com – she is also a keen photographer and all-around badass.
Not to make this too much like a Tinder date, tell me a little about yourself and your story?
Where to begin…I’m 35, I’m queer, I love all things clothes, drag, makeup and artistic. I am a photographer, writer, self-proclaimed model and drag queen and I work every day on loving myself. I have just finished my degree in Visual Communications and work in a bar.
I have no idea what I actually want to do with my life because quite honestly I want to do it all. Podcasts, modelling, photography, writing, drag, drape myself seductively on a chaise lounge while gorgeous people feed me and inspire people to love themselves unconditionally. Oh and I also have a pituitary tumour which has caused mayhem with my body over the last year and a half.
I think the best way to describe myself and my story is the Facebook relationship status “It’s Complicated”. But I am more than happy to talk about it…
Why should someone new access your content?
I think people find my approach to life refreshing. I am completely honest about who I am, how hard life is at times and how much work and effort I put into making myself happy. I show off when I am feeling myself, but equally, tell just how utterly shitty my day has been.
Because I am a 35-year-old who quit their job after trying to live the “normal” adult life, went back to education and doesn’t really have an idea about what the hell they want to do for the next 50 years just shows a side of reality that most people don’t see.
I know I needed to see it. I needed to see that there was something else in this world beyond working a regular 9 – 5 job, being bored out of my brains and losing the will to continue. I was miserable, suffered from depression and anxiety and didn’t know that it was possible to just not do it until one day I was brave enough to say “I don’t want to do this anymore”.
I had people who supported me and others who thought I was insane. But I definitely made the right decision to just live my life as I need to and not how society thought I should. That is what all my work is about, whether it’s an article or a photograph, it’s about being unconditionally myself with no filters.
What inspired you to get into Writing?
I have always wanted to write. I love reading and learning, but because I have a specific style of writing, which is similar to how I talk, I was told from a young age I couldn’t do it. Which is all kinds of sad.
But then I needed an article for my own publication, it had to be about living with an illness that people, in general, do not understand. I have a pituitary tumour which caused my body to think it was pregnant. It has meant my body has changed drastically a few times over the last couple of years. Writing about my own personal experience, using my own words and style of writing. The response I got about the article and specifically about how I write was incredibly positive, it made me realise that I may not be for everyone but I will be perfect for a lot of people and I will write for them.
Has the Pandemic affected the way you present content in any way?
To be honest, because I only really started writing while in the pandemic, I found it to be a way of expressing myself. It became a balm when all other avenues of work were shut down to me due to literal shutdowns or my own health.
What’s your favourite food?
Ok, I will tell but people are going to judge. Belly pork, mashed potato, stuffing and gravy in a sandwich.
It is amazing!! It is the ultimate comfort food that then helps you sleep until you feel better.
Favourite Book Genre? And why?
This is a super hard question for me because I love most genres and will give pretty much any book a try. However, looking at my bookcase I would have to say Fantasy. Why though? Because it covers so many different genres in of itself. Terry Pratchett, Jasper Fforde, Robert Rankin, Robert Jordan, Robin Hobb, Anne McCaffrey, Diana Wynne Jones…as we can tell, I could go on and on and on and on.
Favourite music genre? And why?
I don’t have a genre I love more than any other. My main goal when it comes to music is to find either something that is amazing to dance/lipsync to or to find a song (primarily by a woman) that hits home. I feel it, I live it!
Some of my favourite artists are so far apart genre-wise that people hate when I am in control of the music. I love Doja Cat, Ella Fitzgerald, Lizzo, Allie X, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Cher, Madonna, Paramore, Elle King, Dolly Parton, Erykah Badu, Natalie Cole…
Sorry, I’ll stop now.
Favourite band/singer?
I think my all-time favourite has to be Lizzo. Her style, her voice and the lyrics she writes just hit me hard. I could happily just spend the whole day listening to her work and I would never get bored.
What do you want to see for your industry in the next 5 years?
I want to see an industry that is completely fair. I want men to be able to discuss their emotions within their work and see women take on the hard-hitting stuff that isn’t just about how women are treated or affected. I want to see an industry that embraces people for who they are, not what they look like, what their race, sexuality or gender is. Because wrestling is a world we can define as we want to and not how the rest of the world sees it. Just look at some of the wrestling characters out there…we can have an alien who is covered in glitter but can’t have a trans woman holding a company’s main title?
Do you like video games?
I do like them but I rarely play them. I am the kind of person who loses days when playing a game. I once sat in the same position with no food or drink for 8 hours playing Koudelka. My partner came home and had to help me because I didn’t even realise I had been there for so long.
Favourite Content Creator?
Herspectivefeminist, fckslutshaming, msgiggles and theconsciouslee
They have helped reshape not only how I think about myself, but how I look at others and the work I know I need to do to create a better world.
What’s your favourite thing about your content?
The fact that I am free. I have been so confined by society, my own understanding of how to be an adult and literally being at uni, I now get to explore and put out what I want. It sometimes works, it sometimes doesn’t. But it is always 100% me, my thoughts and how I see the world/myself.
What are your goals for this year?
To try and get back to normality. This isn’t in regards to the world in general, but more about me figuring out what I want to do, working (part time) and learning how to balance my life. I have been unwell for a long while, so I need to learn how to be in the world again.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
I want to be travelling, photographing, modelling, writing, podcasting, expanding my publication and earning from my own work.
Do you have any other interests?
Ummm, trying to think of something I haven’t already covered?!? I love to dance, I do dance class twice a week and normally have a boogy every day. I love to mess around with makeup and make myself look different.
I love to write poetry. I used to do it a lot as a teen, but have found my love for it again as an adult.
Where can people find you?
@robertafraggle (Instagram)
@RobertaFraggle (Twitter)