Presenter, DJ, and production company head honcho Henrie Kwushue has debuted the first episode of her new series Untold Stories. The YouTube short docs zone in on fascinating stories that remind us we are all human, shining an uncanny light on everyday topics from football to parenthood, big breaks, relationships, horror holiday experiences, and being Black in education. Monumentally, Henrie hired marginalised creatives to craft Untold Stories.

“I really just wanted to be able to give people who are underprivileged and who don’t get as much opportunity… a foot in the door, because it was super hard for me to be able to do anything within the TV world, let alone media,” Henrie Kwushue told Dazed previously. Untold Stories has been funded by the Ideas Fund driven by Dazed and Converse as part of last year’s Dazed 100. 

2020’s ambitious Dazed 100 campaign platformed 100 of the most exciting, expansive-minded new talents across fashion, music, film, TV, art, and activism. Amid a pandemic, the Dazed 100 transformed to meet the moment. Dazed partnered with Converse to create a £50k Ideas Fund to be split between four recipients with ambitions to create projects that stoke positive change. 

Henrie really came through with her previous docuseries Is Your Area Changing? via her production company HTK Productions, the series explored gentrification in her home of south London, fronting it with astute reflections and charisma. It offered an illuminating look at the amorphous landscape of London, with a light touch and humour. For Untold Stories, Henrie was passionate about hiring a team of creatives from underrepresented communities with her production company, and creating a series that speaks to everyday, human stories.

“I remember how hard it was – working in news, TV, and radio – when I was the only one that believed in me (and) my ideas,” Henrie said during 2020’s Dazed 100 campaign. “I don’t want people to feel that way, and if I can create a community of people where their differences unite them, that will just be incredible. I want to enable people who have the talent to shine, regardless of their circumstances.”

The other fund recipients continue to thrive. DJ Freedem launched a website to expand their Underground Plant Trade initiative, which sees white people give Black people plants; Ella Snyder has been working on a photobook to document and celebrate members of her trans community; Alfie White, has been building a photo essay of the pandemic’s effects on people in the UK, and a global, collaborative photo-document of the last year. 

Untold Stories consists of 19 videos and will drop weekly. The first episode centres on football – timely, given that we’re amid the Euros – and focuses on personal stories from across its culture and community, with talking heads Daniyal, Olu, and Justin. We hear how football united a father and son during a battle with cancer, how one would-be footballer took their eye of the ball, and how experiences of the sport and its culture changed their lives forever.

“Some of these stories are very funny, some are thought provoking, some are tear-jerking but all stories are real. In most topics, there will be faces you are familiar with,” says Henrie.

Others will explore the struggles and triumphs against adversity that come with being Black in education, the stratospheric big breaks of creatives like No Signal, and heartfelt breakdowns of relationships. At the heart of Henrie’s project is a mission to provoke thought and empathy, and bring an uncanny light to the everyday experience – so get tuning in!

You can watch the very first episode of Untold Stories on Henrie’s YouTube now, with new episodes dropping every Tuesday 5pm