Nona Van Braeckel
YouTuberContent creator on Instagram and TikTokDigital Creative at Studio BrusselOwn podcast After the funeral processionStudied Media and Entertainment business (MEB) at Thomas More University of Applied SciencesStudied Applied Audiovisual Communication (BATAC) at Thomas More University of Applied Sciences
Nona van Braeckel lost her father to cancer on March 21, 2017. Six years later, on November 1, she shares the moving podcast After the Funeral Procession with the public. In the podcast she talks to various fellow sufferers about the loss of a parent, the grieving process and the silence about it.
Most people know you from your YouTube channel, Instagram and TikTok account and job at Studio Brussels. When did you start YouTube?
Nona Van Braeckel: ‘As a fourteen-year-old, I created a YouTube channel in 2014. I drew inspiration from a classmate whose videos I discovered and then binged for a week.”
Did you receive a lot of criticism at the time?
‘The comments of others didn’t stop me. I enjoyed doing it and to be honest, I only realized later that I was being laughed at. I’m glad I started it at the time, without thinking about it too much. From a very young age I grew an elephant skin through it. I also noticed that as I got more subscribers, the laughing at me became less and less.’
Your channel is doing very well. What was a turning point in your YouTube career?
‘My followers gradually increased. In 2017 I posted a video for the first time about my dad’s death. I already shared most of my life on YouTube, and therefore couldn’t pretend I still had a daddy.’
‘As a sixteen-year-old I would have liked to have had such resources. Now I try to offer something for fellow sufferers’
‘That unexpectedly resulted in quite a few new subscribers and that video ended up being the most viewed. These new followers were people who recognized themselves in it, or who were curious about the video.’
What were the reactions?
‘When I posted the video, I was flooded with responses from people who had experienced the same thing. Only then did I realize that I was not alone. The loneliness I experienced before was mainly due to the topic not being discussed.’
‘The reactions I read made me want to keep talking about it. My podcast After the funeral procession is a direct result of this. As a sixteen year old I would have liked to have such resources. Now I try to offer something for fellow sufferers.’
Your podcast After the funeral procession will be online on November 1. That same podcast started out as a graduation project?
‘Before I started at Studio Brussels, I studied Applied Audiovisual Communication (BATAC) at Thomas More University of Applied Sciences and I made a podcast about grieving as a bachelor’s thesis. I looked for fellow sufferers and started talking to them.’
‘Roos Van Acker took my podcast to the editor-in-chief of Studio Brussels’
‘Roos van Acker, presenter at Studio Brussels, was part of the jury at the time during the assessment of the bachelor’s theses. After hearing my podcast, she went to the editor-in-chief of Studio Brussels. Before I fully realized it, I was reworking my graduation project into a broadcastable VRT podcast.’
Did Studio Brussels give you free rein regarding the podcast?
‘Actually, yes. I revised my bachelor’s thesis under the supervision of Eva Moeraert, not an unknown name in the podcast landscape. Without her it would never have become what it is today.’
‘I also spent a whole month alone behind my computer. Fortunately, someone else took care of the music mix and so on. The DIY element was a little too clearly audible after my first attempts.’ (laughs)
Your current position at Studio Brussels is Digital Creative. You studied BATAC radio. Would you like to get behind the microphone again in the future and present your own radio program?
‘I’m fine where I am. I also completed a Media and Entertainment Business (MEB) course, which placed a great emphasis on online skills.’
‘I really enjoy my job. Studio Brussel’s socials reach a huge number of listeners. This way you can really bind your followers to you as a brand. I get a lot of satisfaction from that.’
‘Speak more often how much you love your parents’
‘If I get the chance, I would also like to present later, I certainly don’t hide that. But if it isn’t, then it is. I am actually very happy with the job I have now. We’ll see what the future may or may not bring.’
What is one of your highlights so far at StuBru?
‘Last summer I made a video during Pukkelpop in which I and a listener acted as roadie for Joost Klein. For the first time, I was allowed to host a video that would also be broadcast on VRT MAX and Canvas and again with Joost! I completed that assignment with trembling knees. “I’ve never done it before, so I think I can!”, as Pippi Longstocking says. That’s how you should look at life.’ (laughs)
© Robin Geukens
‘In addition, being able to release my own podcast After the funeral procession is of course also an ultimate highlight. That still has to dawn on me.’
How did the process of collecting testimonies from fellow sufferers go?
‘Because of my YouTube video at the time, I knew that there were some fellow sufferers among my followers. I therefore placed a call on Instagram. This is how I discovered how people close to me turned out to be fellow sufferers as well. Juliette De Meester, one of the witnesses in the podcast, sat next to me on the school desk for three years. All this time I had no suspicion that she too had lost her daddy.’
‘I also found a fellow sufferer at Studio Brussels. I had been doing an internship at Studio Brussels for less than a month when I saw an Insta post from our newsreader Jonas Maes. He lost his father 25 years ago. Then I thought: you are one of us.’
In After the funeral procession we mainly hear the testimonies of female fellow sufferers. Did you feel like you got more responses from women than men?
‘The first version originally consisted only of female testimonies. It was not an easy task to find male companions. They often found it difficult to share their story on such a public medium.’
‘The podcast has reopened old wounds that had become scabbed in the meantime’
‘In the end I managed to convince Jonas. It is interesting to highlight the views of someone who lost a parent, but now also has children of her own.’
‘He recognized himself in my brother. My brother talks much less about his grief than I do. He especially likes to chat about the nice memories, the great moments. He looked for a way to live with it on his own.’
How did your immediate environment respond to the podcast?
‘I have already received many moving responses. On the one hand from people who have experienced it themselves and identify with it enormously, on the other hand from people for whom the podcast has unleashed a new level of understanding. They now understand more what other people are going through.’
‘One of the most important messages that the podcast conveys is that you should express more often how much you love your parents. That’s the thing I regret the most. I can’t express how much I loved Dad anymore.’
In the podcast you talk about the new normal. What was it like for you to be confronted with those heavy feelings again after such a long time?
‘The whole process was a long rollercoaster of feelings. It has reopened old wounds that had developed a scab. I experienced more sadness during the production process than I originally expected.’
‘I try to keep Dad informed through my diaries’
“I was given a full month to work on the podcast full-time. Even though I have told my story many times, it was still difficult to deal with it day in, day out. I was confronted with the origin of the podcast, that my dad is no longer here at all. Nevertheless, I experience that that rollercoaster was necessary to start a new period of my grieving process.’
Each episode starts and ends with Florida 2009 by Joost Klein. Does music play a major role in your coping process?
‘Yes, without a doubt. With Joost’s music – the song Friesenjung, for example – I can escape reality on the one hand, but on the other hand I can also completely immerse myself in my sadness with songs like Florida 2009.’
Which songs have such a special meaning for you?
‘Adele is an important artist within our family, especially the song Make you feel my love. We regularly caught Dad quietly singing along to her songs. Make you feel my love was also played at his funeral.’
‘My mother was admitted earlier this year. When my brother and I called the hospital to ask which room she was in, we were put on hold for a moment and an Adele song came on. Then we thought: our daddy is here, everything will be fine. I’m not religious, but at times like that you think: this can’t be a coincidence.’
You mention in your podcast that you keep diaries. Since when did you start doing that?
‘I started my first diary a few years ago to sort out my thoughts, on the advice of my mother. Since 2018, I switched from “Hello Diary” to “Hello Dad”. That became my way of communicating with Dad. I try to keep him informed that way.’
Do you think you will take initiatives in the future such as creating this podcast, where fellow sufferers who have lost parents or other family members can find support?
‘This podcast is already a first hand that I can extend to fellow sufferers. Mourning is a subject that I like to talk about and that I would like to discuss. I like to talk about my daddy to keep him alive. There is clearly a need to talk about grief: the podcast isn’t even out yet and I’m already receiving a new message from a fellow sufferer every now and then.’
In the fourth episode you indicate that people should simply ask the question: How can people best be there for you?
“You absolutely can’t go wrong with asking. Don’t try to avoid such a topic when someone brings it up themselves.’
‘For example, I really enjoy talking about it. Both about grieving and about my dad. I like it when people ask who and what he was like. When it comes to lunch boxes at the dinner table, I like to talk about Dad who used to measure our sandwiches so that they would fit perfectly in our lunch box.’
The podcast will be released on November 1. How do you look back on the process?
‘It was not an easy period, but I look back on it with a positive feeling. I am extremely grateful that I was able to make this podcast and that it is now being given a stage by a media house. In this way I hope to reach as many fellow sufferers and other listeners as possible.’
‘I hope that After the funeral procession will feel like a virtual hug for fellow sufferers’
‘That would be a step in the right direction to break the taboo surrounding mourning. After the funeral procession, but also programs such as Days without a brother or Boris puncture the unrealistic image of a grieving process. In the past, when someone died, we wore black clothes for months. Now we can stay at home for a few days and you are expected to pick up your life immediately afterwards.’
‘The processing process will last my entire life, there is no end point. I hope that After the funeral procession will feel like a virtual hug for fellow sufferers.’
© Robin Geukens
2023-11-12 19:28:25
#processing #process #point
