038. Yomi Adegoke. Buying A Flat. Class And Race.

In Good Company

Yomi Adegoke is a multi award-winning journalist and author who writes about race, feminism, class, politics and how those things intersect. Besides having columns in both Vogue and the Guardian, Yomi is also the co-author of Slay In Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible, an inspirational guide to life for Black British women, as well as series of follow-up titles including Slay In Your Lane: The Journal, and most recently Loud Black Girls, an anthology of Black British writing featuring essays from the voices of twenty emerging and established Black British writers.

We chatted about the emotional significance of Yomi buying her own home earlier this year, as well as the many responsibilities that come with being a homeowner; her changing class identity and how her upbringing shaped her relationship with money; the ‘shame’ of being middle-class and the cultural reluctance to admit to class privilege, as well as the differences in the Black British experience when you’re middle-class as opposed to working class.

Yomi also shared some brilliant insights into the practicalities – and challenges – of buying a home as a self-employed person, and we finished off with a broader discussion about career anxiety, and how that’s prompted Yomi to think about her long term career plans.

Find Yomi on Twitter (@yomiadegoke) and Instagram (@yomi.adegoke)

Read her Vogue article about homeownership, gentrification, class and race https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/yomi-adegoke-gentrification-and-class

We Need To Talk About Money is published by 4th Estate and available to buy now in hardback, eBook and audio, with signed copies available from Waterstones.com.

Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/we-need-to-talk-about-money/otegha-uwagba/9780008489304

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/We-Need-Talk-About-Money/dp/0008350388

Hive: https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Otegha-Uwagba/We-Need-to-Talk-About-Money/24127150

Bookshop.org: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/we-need-to-talk-about-money/9780008489304

Audible (including an exclusive 1hr Q&A with my editor Michelle Kane): https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/We-Need-to-Talk-About-Money-Audiobook/0008350418

Produced by Chris Sharp and Naomi Mantin

This episode is sponsored by Plum – download the app for free here: https://link.withplum.com/UGzt/InGoodCompany