What inspired you to start this blog?

Since 2020, I’ve had a desire to better understand the world we live in. The pandemic led me to keep up with the latest headlines and developments relating to it. This naturally led to me to be in the loop with geopolitics and world affairs too. This, mixed in with a want to become ‘commercially aware’ allowed me to start noticing trends and patterns from such industries and link them together.

This blog has a heavy focus on stories from within the business and financial world because I came to the realisation that companies and financial institutions wield great importance, power and influence to a country, and the world. Whether that is through job market, inflation, or interest rate reports, which can signal the economic position of a country, international trade deals or relaxed laws and regulations, which can highlight how open a nation is to trade and growth, or through the collapse of banks, which can have ripple effects across industries and people globally. It’s no doubt that the business and financial world is a significant factor when it comes to influencing how the world works. I would analyse and comment on headlines that caught my interest into a personal Word document from these industries. I did this for several months.

This ultimate desire also influenced the modules I chose for the final year of my Law degree. I participated in related programmes, such as Soliya’s Connect Global programme, and my University’s GOLD Programme.

Through all of this, I thought it was a good time to start sharing these insights with you, and a blog seemed like a great medium to do so.

Why did you decide to change your previous blog?

As some of you may be aware, I had a previous blog called, ‘The Legal Christian’. It brought three of my interests together, which were business and financial affairs, the Christian faith, and personal development in the form of book reviews. I thought it was a unique idea, but as time went on, I realised that writing about three different interests of mine was no longer feasible. I was struggling to come up with an overall aim, the research ended up taking a huge chunk out of my time, and I wasn’t consistent with the posts.

I realised that it was better for each category to have its own ‘thing’. So I am starting with my love for business and financial affairs, in the form of Parah Insights. I believe that it’s okay to start again. If something isn’t working out as you intended, then it’s alright to go back to the drawing board, re-strategise, and can come back better and with more clarity.

I changed the name because it no longer aligns with the vision I have for my life and this blog. Do I still want to be a solicitor? Yes. Am I still a Christian? 100%. But do I want to explore my other interests? Definitely. Since the vision has changed, my name had to change along with it.

How did you come up with the name and logo?

Coming up with the logo was a quicker process than coming up with the name. For several weeks, I struggled to come up with a good name to capture this blog, and my future business endeavours. I wanted the name to be significant, unique and personable. I would come up with what I thought was a decent name, only to find that someone else had essentially taken it.

The word, ‘Parah’ in Hebrew means, ‘to be fruitful’, ‘to bear fruit’. I see the name as having three separate meanings – I want to be fruitful to others, fruitful in business, and fruitful in the Christian faith.

As for the logo – I wanted it to have a simple design and feel to it. I played around with a few, until I came up with this. I also wanted something symbolic on it, hence the leaf, which to me represents growth. I went with dark green as the main colour because I like it, and it also has some symbolic connotations to it, such as wisdom and growth.

How did you come up with the slogan?

“Helping you to better understand the business and financial world – one story at a time.”

I thought about the best way to summarise the intention of this blog, and to me, this is a fitting one. I’ll explain the slogan in a bit more detail below.

The source of the Insights you will be seeing, are of headlines from the business and/or financial world. They will be from various industries, from the electric vehicle market, to the oil and gas sector and more. Since I will be conducting research into these stories, it will expose me to a wide range of related factors relating to the business and financial world.

For example – let’s say I choose a headline about the company Shell. Shell is a part of the oil and gas industry. I could decide to look into Shell’s business model, look at how their share price has fared from a certain period, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors, and even look at the legal cases they have faced, and much more. The week after, I can decide to look at how Wilko has fallen into administration. Wilko is a part of the retail industry. I could decide to look into what happens when a company falls into administration, look into the firms that are helping them, look at the effect this could have on retail investors, look at how this could influence the retail industry as a whole and much more.

“The whole crux of the slogan is that one story can provide you with a lot of insight the industry in which it operates, as well as a broader range of related topics as you dissect the headline. In turn, it will lead to a greater understanding of various industries within the business and financial world, and thus, a greater understanding of these two industries as a whole.”

What is the aim of this blog?

The aim of this blog is to help you to come out with a better understanding of the headline and story. I do a lot of research into them, and choose what I will focus on, carefully. I want you the leave more informed, than when you first clicked on the Insight.

However, my ultimate aim is to be a light for the Christian faith.

Colossians 3:17 (ESV) – “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

In no way shape or form am I ‘perfect’, I’m a human like you. However, I believe anything and anyone, can be used as a light for the Christian faith.

How will you structure your blog posts?

There is no set structure per se, but most of the Insights will contain a ‘What happened?’ section, and an analysis in some way, ie, ‘Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat’ (SWOT) or ‘Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental’ (PESTLE) formula. Note, the Insights will be in the format of a long read, roughly a 5 – 7 minute read.

I will try my best to post a brief introduction to each Insight to my social media platforms, but the full read will always be found on the blog.

Insights will be published every Saturday at 12pm.

This is a very broad blog writing on various industries within the business and financial world. Will this blog become more niched to a specific area within these fields? Who knows. But for now, expect broad Insights.  

What kind of Book Reviews do we expect to see?

Expect to see reviews from under the business, finance and geopolitical categories.

They’ll be a very broad range of books, but will relate to the categories in some way.

Book reviews will be posted on the last Wednesday of every month at 12pm.

What can we expect from your newsletter?

Expect:

-          Four additional headlines that have interested me for that week.

-          ‘Last Week Today’, a section where you can view updates about previous Insights, seven days after it has been published, along with further comments.

-          ‘A Stat and a Quote’. Here, I’ll provide a statistic (of relevance) and briefly explain what they mean and one motivational quote you can take into the new week.

-          Read the occasional story or two. This could be from a conversation that I’ve had with someone, my thoughts on an event I attended, or even something that has been on my mind. These will be relevant to the overall theme of Parah Insights too.

My newsletter, ‘Parah Insights +’ will be sent out every Sunday at 6pm.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I studied Law at the University of Kent, and I graduated in July 2023. I have many interests, have a sweet tooth and I describe myself as a person who is very curious. You can learn more about me in my ‘About’ section or follow my social media platforms: @parahinsights

That’s a wrap!

I hope this Q&A section has given you more clarity as to what this blog is about, how it will be structured and more.

Posts and Parah Insights + will begin on the w/c Mon 25/09/23.

DISCLAIMER:

This blog is for educational purposes only. What I post is not financial, investing or legal advice.

“This blog isn’t written by an individual who has years of experience within the corporate world. Nor is it written by someone who has a lot of accolades or academics behind her from these fields. However, it is written by one who has a desire to better understand these industries and has just decided to share her journey with others.”

Until next time, remember to stay curious!

Mary :)