Being multi-passionate in a digital world

Multi-passionate Gen Zers trying to capture their essence in the world of social media 👀

👋 Hellooo! We’re The Z Link, a global Gen Z-led social media agency that helps brands reach our generation. The Digital Native, written by our Trends Reporter, Shaurya, takes a deep dive into niche internet micro-trends and subcultures, and analyzes them so you don’t have to. For any feedback, questions or suggestions, just reply to this email! <3

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I know, I know, I’ve written about how Gen Z is obsessed with wanting to pick a niche and trying to fit in. The obsessions with eras and cores. The extremely specific niches to stand out and broader ones to feel like they belong. I’ve written about it all. But what’s ACTUALLY starting to happen is we’re slowly letting go of that notion. Gen Z has realised they don’t have to be just one thing. Yes, this is for all of us multi-passionate people. Let’s talk about the people whose talents often have to have hyphenates.

P.S. This one’s personal, so I pull a lot from personal experiences here.

What are multi-passionate people?

Okay, so I’m sure you’ve heard the terms multi-passionate, multi-potentialites or even “renaissance souls” popping up on social media. But what exactly are they? Multi-passionate people are people who have SO MANY interests and passions, sometimes connected to the same disciplines or across disciplines. We don’t want to pursue just one skill or passion, no, no, no. We feel a need to explore and develop multiple areas of interest throughout our lives. The ones I’ve met have always had their passions connected with each other, often creative. So for me, as an example, my interests revolve around cinema, design, music, photography and fashion, BUT ALSO social media, history and mythology. 

To some extent, all of these go hand in hand but are different disciplines. But there are many other things I like because they’re so fun to learn. I don’t need to know music production, I’m doing it because it seems fun, and I want to learn. Really as simple as that.

For this issue, I also spoke to my girl boss Erifili, who is a fellow multi-passionate girlie, about her experience. When Beyonce sang who run the world, yeah she was talking about Erifili.

Erifili: “I’ve definitely struggled a lot as someone growing up in the age of the internet, to see how I should fit in certain boxes based on my interests and passions, and how it should all tie together.

On one side, I’m the founder and CEO of this social media agency, working full time as a marketer. On the other side, I’m a travel photographer, and a huge amount of my time is spent exploring new places, taking pictures and editing, and that’s something I’ve been interested in for so long. On an equal note though… I’m also incredibly passionate about reading and writing!!! I write poetry and prose almost every day and I’ve always wanted to be a writer in some way. Oh and did I mention I literally have a degree in ART HISTORY? 😭 Literally all over the place.

I often feel like it’s such a hard task capturing myself easily, when it comes to social media profiles or intros to new people; what do I mention?! Do I just exclude a big part of myself in order to make an intro more digestible? I 100% believe the internet has made this seem like a bigger problem than it should be. I also wish I could clone myself x3 so I could have 3 simultaneous careers I’m passionate about. My current solution is not perfect but it’s working for now; I’m trying my hardest to structure my life in a way where work doesn’t take up 100% of my time, so that I can spend time following my inspiration through art/photography and writing. And speaking to fellow Gen Zers about this, I feel very validated, knowing that many others feel the same. If you can relate, let us know— how do you balance all the different passions making up who you are?”

Career paths

So obviously, being multi-passionate isn’t all dandy, especially regarding a career. So many options, but you can’t do them all. Some of us, like myself, may pursue a career that encompasses all our passions. In contrast, others may pursue multiple careers simultaneously. It challenges traditional ideas of career paths and job stability. 

On top of that, multi-passionate people find fulfilment in their work and personal lives despite not following a traditional path. I want to work in the music industry (despite having studied fashion) as someone in PR and a creative director (and possibly produce music)... At the same time, I want to be a content creator on social media and help other creators grow. There’s a lot I want to do, and I’m lucky and so incredibly grateful I found a life that lets me pursue all my passions.

The change in the idea of fulfilment

My idea of fulfilment is creating things that reach people. Whether it’s this newsletter or my content on Instagram. It doesn’t have to get many views, even if it changes ONE person’s life, thinking, or anything, then I’ll know I’m doing a good job.

With Gen Z deviating from traditional career paths, the idea of fulfilment is also changing. Instead of striving to achieve the collective and narrow notion of fulfilment placed by societal norms, Gen Z and multi-hyphenates are working towards their individual idea of fulfilment, and I’m personally really excited to see how the notion of careers throughout one’s life changes as Gen Z grows older. What do you think?

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Any questions/suggestions as to what we should cover next? Reach out to us and we’re always here to chat!

— Written by Shaurya, Trends Reporter at The Z Link

Connect with Shaurya on Instagram where she shares great content and lives her best influencer life as a fashion student in Paris. And she writes all of these great issues too. What can’t she do??? 🧐 Thank you for reading!