Rachel Kennelly (she/they)

Ur Internet Friends

Rachel Kennelly identifies as a queer, disabled, Jewish woman from Kansas City studying Computer Science and is a transfer student to University of Michigan- Dearborn. Inspired by the art their friends were making Rachel started Ur Internet Friends with co-founder Isaac, to lift up marginalized voices in arts and media. What started out as just one zine has turned into a website, podcast, business, and brand all about representation. Rachel is a Cohort VIII Summer fellow and is now a peer mentor with optiMize

Visit the Ur Internet Friends Instagram or Website to learn more.

The community that optiMize has brought into my life is just unparalleled. optiMize really gave us the space to make what we wanted, to make it on our terms , and gave a lot of support for us to do that. The optiMize community wanted to see what we were making. Also, I am so inspired by the other cool stuff that people in the cohort of the challenge and my cohort of fellows were making. I think our cohort in particular had such cool, diverse projects that it's really inspiring to see the stuff that other people are doing.

Ur Internet Friends is officially a company now, which is very cool. That felt like a really big stepping stone. It definitely shifted from just an art project we made to a brand that we're trying to build. We've now released two magazines and we have an online store where we sell merch. Not only do we sell stuff, but people buy it, which is cool. The first zine was really born out of the whole optiMize message of “why not me?” We have added this whole business behind our project, which is cool, and I don’t think I would have been able to do without optiMize. The connections we've both made with optiMize mentors have really empowered both of us. At the beginning of my fellowship, I would not have even called myself an artist, creative, or business person and now I label myself as a creative entrepreneur who has a company. That's probably not something I would have had the confidence to describe myself as without optiMize. 

My advice to you is dream big. If you're thinking there's no way I could do that, there is probably a way you can—you might just not know yet. The people at optiMize are here to help you figure out how you can do that. Really internalize that “why not me?” message because it's always better to try and fail than just wonder what would happen if you had, which I know is kind of a cliche platitude, but I believe it wholeheartedly. Just shoot your shot. The best thing that optimize gave us I would say isn't the money, it's the community and the empowerment. You have to remember that what you're doing is helping the world in its own way. You should definitely do the challenge, especially in this time where everything can feel really isolating and alienating and hopeless. optiMize doesn't feel like that, and that's really important. I know I take advantage of that as much as I can and you should too.