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This Boy Knows Adam Coleman This Boy Knows Adam Coleman

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Get to know: This boy Knows Adam Coleman

Get to know: This boy Knows Adam Coleman.
This Boy Knows Adam Coleman pictured for a photo shoot with ilovelimerick. Picture: Cian Reinhardt/ilovelimerick.

Who is This Boy Knows? Well some of you may know me from my mental health writing, or simply as Adam Coleman. What do I do? In a nutshell – blogging.

Blogging is often criticised nowadays, due to its popularity in 2016, and while it is simply a hobby/pastime for some; it is a career for others. My story began a short 8 months ago.

After suffering from mental health issues for over 2 years, I had got somewhat control of my mind. I wanted to volunteer for some charities to help others, so off I sent email after email one Sunday. Mental Health Ireland got a hold of it and wanted me to add to it to publish it as a blog post on their site. From there, I had published it across many Irish & UK mental health sites.


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I always had a love for writing, for as long as I can remember. From writing poetry in school to taking part in write-a-book competitions. I loved to write on anything.

This Boy Knows Adam Coleman

Get to know: Blogger This Boy Knows Adam Coleman. Picture: Cian Reinhardt/ilovelimerick

Other than writing, I had my obsession for fashion. Growing up in the country and attending a Christian brothers school – you can imagine the obsessions for sports that went on, but not for me. I was always seen as an outsider because I liked to dress differently. I cared about how I looked, I loved piercings, I loved tattoos, I loved dying my hair. These were all things I got in trouble for in school. While others caused havoc in the yard and classroom, I was criticised for an earring! I went on to study media in college, it was my creative outlet, somewhere I wasn’t judged for how I looked.

So moving back to early 2016, my social medias were full of my outfits, favourite trends and finds in the fashion industry. From my mental health blogging, I was offered my first Fashion Blogging job in London! They liked my writing skills, liked my style and gave me the opportunity to mix the two! This was a job I did from home here in Limerick. Long story short, it was a start-up company that lasted a good 5 months. After that fell, I bit the bullet and decided to start up my own blog. I was pushed by my supportive family to do this and I couldn’t be happier I did it!

Picking a name was the toughest, I wanted to keep my genre broad. I didn’t want to limit it to just Men or fashion or just mental health. I wanted to write about all my passions, interests and skills. I wanted something short, catchy but memorable. So “This Boy Knows” was born. I thought thisboyknows.com had a nice ring to it, and people could remember me as This Boy Knows rather than a complicated blog name.

After launching the blog in July, my following and readership grew rapidly. I recently hit a milestone of 10,000 followers on Instagram and cannot believe the success I have had in the short few months. I feel now, like I have finally proved everyone wrong.

This Boy Knows Adam Coleman

Get to know: Blogger This Boy Knows Adam Coleman. Picture: Cian Reinhardt/ilovelimerick

Blogging is seen as something simple, take a few photos and off you go! But that’s not the case. My daily work includes everything from photo shoots, content creation, website admin, business meetings, never-ending emails, social media management, collaborating with brands and up-keeping my mental health work.

I have gone and studied PR, Digital Marketing, SEO, Creative Writing, Social Media Management, Graphic Design & Photography – all to build my blog as a business. I had this hunger for turning my passion into a business. And while it isn’t seen as the most conventional route in life, I am enjoying every step of the way.

In the short few months, I have been published on huge media sites I could only dream of, I receive amazing messages saying how much I help people from my mental health writing, I have become an official SeeChange.ie Ambassador, I have went from a socially anxious boy to now public speaking on my journey, I have collaborated with brands I have loved wearing for years, I have been named one of The Irish Blogger Associations Featured Bloggers & Nominated for their 2017 Awards!, I have met some amazing people in the industry that I have looked up to for so long, and most recently had the opportunity to speak in front of hundreds about my blog at BLOGGERCONF (Ireland’s biggest blogger event).

I finally feel like I have found somewhere I belong, and am happily working from home on something I love and taking control of my mental health.

So that’s pretty much my journey so far, but it’s still only the beginning!

You can follow This Boy Knows blog here.
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Pictures: Cian Reinhardt/ilovelimerick

Richard is a presenter, producer, songwriter and actor. He was named the Limerick Person of the Year (2011) and won an online award at the Metro Éireann Media and Multicultural Awards (2011) for promoting multi-culturalism online. Richard says that the ilovelimerick.com concept is very much a community driven project that aims to document life in Limerick. So, that in 20 years time people can look back and remember the events that were making the headlines.