Okay, where do I even begin?

I’ve always had too many interests. I love writing, painting, journaling, pretty paper, making things with my hands, learning random things and getting completely obsessed with ideas. I like seeing art in ordinary things, and I think there’s something so special about making something that didn’t exist before.

During lockdown, I remember spending one or two hours just journaling, painting, writing down my thoughts or doing something creative. It was genuinely one of my favourite parts of the day.

But somewhere over the past few years, I feel like I’ve slowly stopped doing those things. I don’t paint or write nearly as much anymore, and I miss that version of myself.

I’m currently a student on a drop year, and I’ve also been creating content since 2022. Between academics, content creation and everything else, I’ve had this constant feeling that I wanted to do something outside of all of it. Something that wasn’t about grades, views, deadlines or algorithms. Just something I could make because I wanted to.
And that thought stayed with me.   

I also started questioning something else. I’ve worked with brands for over three years now, and while I’ve genuinely loved parts of content creation, I’ve also experienced the other side of it. The negotiations, payment delays, endless terms, and sometimes the feeling that you’re working according to someone else’s rules rather than creating something that’s truly yours.

It made me wonder: what happens if all of this suddenly disappears?
What if brands stop working with creators? What if the whole influencer industry changes overnight? We’ve already seen platforms disappear from countries. What happens when the views stop coming, the trends change and the opportunities aren’t there anymore?

I’m still a student. I have college to get into, a degree to complete and a whole future to figure out. I didn’t want my entire identity or my sense of security to depend on an industry that could change at any moment.

I wanted to build something of my own. A name, an identity, a brand that I could grow with and take somewhere.

And then there’s the name.

Some of you might remember when my page was called basicnotesv (I know, please 😭). When I changed it to Studma, a combination of study and Shamama, I remember thinking that I wanted this name to become something much bigger someday. I didn’t know what exactly I was going to build, but I knew I didn’t want it to remain just a username.

And that’s still the plan.

Studma Mail Club is my first step towards that.

But there’s another reason this particular idea means so much to me.

I feel like we’re slowly losing the joy of making things ourselves. Everything is becoming faster, more automated and more focused on convenience. There’s AI-generated everything, endless scrolling and perfectly presented versions of people’s lives everywhere. And somewhere in all of that, I really miss things that feel human.

Handwritten letters. Paint on your fingers. Uneven handwriting. A page filled with thoughts. Handmade details that aren’t perfectly identical. Someone taking the time to make, wrap and pack something for another person.

I miss the excitement of receiving an actual letter. I miss the art of writing, the joy of painting, having hobbies just because they’re fun and making things without wondering whether they’ll perform well online.

I also think school and academics can take up so much of a student’s life that there’s barely any room left to explore who they are outside the classroom. I don’t want to lose my creativity just because I’m studying, and I don’t think anyone should have to.

So I wanted to create something that brings some of that back.

A mail club that’s handmade, personal and genuinely human. With letters, art, interesting things to read, creative activities and details that someone has actually spent time making. No mass-produced personality, no pressure to be perfect. Just real things made by a real person.

I want Studma to be about beauty and brains, creativity and curiosity, and all the interests that make us who we are. You can love bows and biology. You can spend an afternoon painting and the evening learning about neuroscience. You don’t have to pick one version of yourself.

I have no idea how far I’ll be able to take this. I don’t have the entire business figured out, and I’m definitely going to make mistakes along the way. I don’t know exactly what Studma will look like a year or five years from now.

But I do know that I’ve finally started.

And for now, it starts with a mail club.

Let’s see how far we can take it <3

With love & a tiny bow,
Shamama
The girl behind Studma