Side Hustle: A Bundle Of Sticks

We were excited to sit down with John Furno, who is the National Marketing and Partnerships Producer for General Assembly. His side hustle, A Bundle of Sticks, is a platform for the LGBTQ+ community to share their ‘coming out’ stories to help inspire and encourage others. 

As June is pride month, we wanted to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community and shine a spotlight on individuals who are doing inspirational and interesting projects to benefit the community.

In the UK alone, there are 1M+ individuals who identify as LGBTQIA+ in the 16-24 age bracket! Pride month is for celebrating love, diversity, inclusivity, and recognising and honouring those who have paved (and continue to pave the way) since the stonewall riots in June 1969.

John calls himself an “Australian wanderer who can’t function without coffee” (so, basically the Australian version of every person at Orbis!). His role at National Assembly is to help align GAs values with collaborative brands and curate impactful events to inspire the community to pursue a career they love. 

Before making the move to London, he gained experience working for sexual diversity magazine Archer, as well as an LGBT role model for The Reach Foundation. 

He also worked as a graphic designer for Snap Fitness, Watch & Grow and Oracle Creative Media, as well as lastly developing leadership skills as a supervisor for retail companies New Look and Kmart Australia.

A Bundle of Sticks had been an idea of his for a number of years. It started at the age of 18 when he was on the road to self acceptance. John highlighted that he had no one to turn to who understood what he was going through, as well as no one to reach out to for advice. At the time, he needed a platform like A Bundle of Sticks to tell him that everything was going to be OK.

“From a young age, I knew I was different and struggled to fit in with others my age. School was incredibly tough and bullying was a constant reminder that I wasn’t ‘normal’ in others' eyes.”

The idea started as a Facebook page in 2014, where his friends started to contribute, and the queer community slowly grew. Seeing people sharing their vulnerability and truth in a written format was beautiful, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. 

The platform then plateaued slightly as it was heavily reliant on people sharing their stories, John knew things needed to change, but still had to ensure that he was investing ample energy into his full-time career. 

“I put my energy into finishing my studies as a graphic designer and moved to London working for tech education company General Assembly. There I picked back up A Bundle of Sticks to drive more diversity and inclusion within a very historically male-dominated industry. 

The idea evolved into reaching out to a global community to feature their stories, which I would publish as a physical magazine to leave around campus and spark a conversation across the month of Pride.”

As a result, 15 stories were featured in Issue 1 which invoked a range of positive feedback from not only the queer community but straight as well, opening up minds and sparking necessary conversation. This then grew to a second and third issue, which is currently in production!

“A Bundle of Sticks wasn’t something I wanted to do but something I had to do, giving me the inspiration to use my voice and this platform to help to inspire others like me who are told they’re different from a young age, showing them we’re not alone, and that we’re in this together. “

John explained that there is still so much work needed to grow A Bundle of Sticks to the point of world domination, but for now, he’s focused on ensuring this provides value, rather than to make money or take over his full-time role. 

“With the release of Issue 2, 2020 took a devastating turn with Covid-19 and adding to this, the world is still witnessing one of the biggest civil rights movements of our generation in the fight against racism. 

With this, I donated 50% of all proceeds to @ukblackpride that had A Bundle of Sticks raised a total of £221.25. “

Although there have been a lot of bumps in the road, and Covid-19 took its toll both mentally and physically, John expressed his happiness for being able to meet incredible people who are so willing to share and open up about their valuable coming out experiences.

“The constant feeling of being inspired by their truth has me seeing similarities in some stories and a love for the community where we’re all in this together. 

I’ve enjoyed the feedback they share with me on how their story could heal past traumas or mend relationships with family and friends.”

Although John is unsure of how A Bundle Of Sticks will evolve, he would love to turn it into an online platform for the LGBTQ+ community to connect, inspire, and share stories - or even better, create a safe space to run open discussions and events to learn from each other.

You can visit their website here, or follow their Instagram here. 

Have you got a side hustle you want to talk about? Email us - we would love to feature you in this series.