If you haven’t met me yet, hello! I am so glad you found Make Light Matter. I hope it will inspire you to find out more about light nutrition and start experimenting with how it can support your own health, happiness and productivity – and to support those in your care.
It’s fair to say I’m now a complete and unapologetic geek when it comes to understanding and managing the health impacts of light. But it wasn’t always this way.
I battled through autumns and winters in college and university alongside part-time jobs, then establishing a career in marketing before I got a handle on how to manage seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Even then, I still tripped up some years – and I am still learning too.
Diagnosed in my early 20s, I started using a bright light therapy device straight away and it transformed, possibly even saved my life. But over the years, I have continued researching and experimenting on how to help myself and others – ever more fascinated by the emerging science behind how light influences our health. I hear lots of people’s accounts of their experiences, and it never ceases to amaze me how individual this all is. It’s not just seasonal light changes. It connects with daily rhythms, monthly cycles, weather changes, the impact of geography, environments, culture and more.
At the point I was diagnosed, scientists had just discovered that human eyes contain cells that have nothing to do with vision. They carry signals to a master clock in the brain that coordinates clock genes in nearly every cell in the body.
So the science is still relatively new and developing all the time, bringing lots of exciting new discoveries.
My interest began to cross over with my professional experience as I began writing a blog on SAD, sharing my experiences and learnings. I then started monthly events that enabled people to experience bright light therapy while enjoying mindful crafting and company. I served on the board of a national charity dedicated to supporting people with SAD for nearly three years.
Still, I had a strong urge to do more to help others, even as my career took me in the direction of customer insights and journalism.
Make Light Matter was born out of this desire to understand more, share more, and support more.
I discovered a much bigger picture than I could have ever imagined. The simple question I started with, ‘what prevents us from consciously managing our exposure to light, so we effectively manage our health?’ turned out to have a simple answer on the surface. We don’t manage it because we’re largely unaware.
Of course, scratch beneath the surface, and it grows arms and legs! Forming a community interest company (CIC) enabled me to speak with more than 80 professionals around the ecosystem while giving them confidence that I was, and would remain a friendly entity. This is important because there are a lot of commercial players and there are real complexities to overcome.
I was seeking understanding overall, and also learning what the ecosystem needs to be successful. And what, with my background, can I contribute? I love to research, interview people, write, connect and encourage change through events, workshops, consultancy and coaching.
What I have come to understand from my research is that light nutrition is really individual. As much as we might like a one-size-fits-all solution, there isn’t one.
There are also interdependencies that we need to work with. Individuals become understandably frustrated when they learn about light nutrition but aren’t supported by employers and service providers to manage their needs. In turn, those organisations become frustrated when they learn about light nutrition and aren’t able to change things in their buildings. Professionals get frustrated when they have to work within standards and policies that don’t help individuals to meet their light nutrition needs.
Creating change at system level is a huge challenge. My intention is that Make Light Matter becomes a hub for learning, connecting and solutions. None of us has all the answers, but together we can be more than the sum of our parts. While this isn’t a political organisation, I hope it will serve the needs of policymakers too.
There are already a lot of industry bodies within disciplines, and paid subscription models are, by definition, exclusive. So, this hub is free-to-access for all. I’m developing commercial services with the aim of generating income to pay for this to be provided, and all profits will be used to continue developing and providing more services.
They say it takes a village to raise a child, and I believe the same is true of social enterprises. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to so many people who have supported my journey to this point. My volunteer non-exec directors, advisory board, consumer panel, all the professionals I’ve interviewed, business advisors and coaches. My friends, family and colleagues who have been endlessly bemused yet encouraging, as I have explored and shaped ‘this light stuff’.
I hope you’ll find something that serves you here.
Neina