Cool Girls with Tag: cool girl

Megan Jayne Crabbe is Back!

Name: Megan Jayne Crabbe
Age: 26
Location: Essex, UK
Occupation: Author, influencer and advocate for body positivity and mental health awareness

A few years ago, we profiled Megan Jayne Crabbe, aka bodyposipanda, and gave her serious kudos for all of her body positive social media love. Today, we asked Megan to be our first ever repeat Cool Girl in honor of National Self-Confidence Day on March 26th.

In the time following our initial interview, Megan Jayne Crabbe has become a blogger at The Unedit, been featured in Cosmopolitan magazine, and has written a book, Body Positive Power. Still, with a larger platform and the label of being an Instagram influencer, she remains the same down-to-earth, accessible, utterly lovable human being.

“I’m still living a bit of a double life between being an influencer and also remaining a caregiver for my older sister Gemma. I’m definitely still just as much of a dog lady and I’m still dancing around in my underwear on the internet!” she says.

The immediacy and transparency of living life online hasn’t always been easy, however.

“A lot of my personal growth over the last couple of years has come from adjusting to the highs and lows of existing on the internet,” Megan admits. “I’ve always said that as someone who struggles with anxiety and self-doubt in the ways I do, I’m not really made for this world. A lot of putting yourself out there online is dealing with hundreds of people every day telling you who they think you are – good or bad – and it’s super hard not to lose your own sense of who you are in that. I’m definitely better at keeping hold of that now and trusting that I know who I am better than strangers on social media do, but it’s been a real journey!”

Over the course of nine months, Megan wrestled with aforementioned anxiety, and many pots of coffee, in order to create Body Positive Power, her new book that is largely an inspirational autobiography.

“I was just trying to pass along the things I’d learned in my own body acceptance, with a bit of sass and a lot of straight talk about diet culture. I’m so thankful people have connected with it the way they have and used it to start reclaiming their body and a life that isn’t filled with hunger and self-hatred,” she says.

The healing power of the writing process, as well as the perks of her personality being at the forefront of the mainstream body positivity movement, has led to a lot of transformation.

“I’m never done learning. There are always ways to be a better advocate, make my message more pure, and hold myself accountable for that. But there also has to be a lot of room for self-forgiveness when you don’t get it right, which is often,” she says.

When it comes to navigating the often cruel ocean of social media, Megan has a bevy of sage, hard-learned advice.

“I think it’s on each of us to treat the people on our timelines as full human beings. So much of what makes social media toxic is that it enables us to put people into one-dimensional boxes of who we want them to be. In reality, we’re all more than our social media, we have more going in our lives, we make mistakes, we screw up, we learn. We have to allow the people we follow to be human. And when it comes to the straight up trolls who just want to spread hate – block on sight, they’re not worthy of your time or energy,” Megan says.

“Also, the same as always, what you see everyday has a huge effect on how you see yourself. We should all be regularly curating our social media feeds to be full of inspiration rather than negative comparison. We should be conscious of what we’re reading and what we’re watching, we deserve to feel represented in the media we consume and we don’t need anything in our lives convincing us that our bodies are wrong. Follow a diverse range of humans online, watch shows with casts of strong characters whose differences are celebrated, throw out the photoshopped magazine covers. Curate what you consume as much as you can so that the messaging you’re getting is that you’re good enough as you are,” she adds.

As for the average young woman, Megan empowers everyone to ditch the self-hate.

“We are all affected by diet culture, fatphobia and beauty ideals in some way, and we deserve to have our feelings recognized and understood. Find the people who will fight back with you, whether they’re in real life, online, on podcasts or even in books! You really aren’t alone in this.”

And what advice does the passionate and compassionate new author have to pass along to each of us in honor of National Self-Confidence Day?

“When I was learning about why we hate our bodies and where that comes from, I realized that it is so much bigger than you or me. Our cultural body dissatisfaction is something that we’ve been taught since we were children, by thousands of messages we take in every day about beauty, weight and worth.

We didn’t ask to live in a world that values how we look over who we are. And it’s not our fault that we feel the way we do. Once you really believe that you can let go of the blame you’re holding against your body and get angry at the real culprit: diet culture! Unrealistic beauty standards! Patriarchy! I think self confidence ultimately is about refusing to see yourself as anything less than what you’re worth, which is the absolute world.”

For her constant body positivity, and being a light for everyone who is yearning to grow in self-love and acceptance, we think Megan Jayne Crabbe is a very Cool Girl! Check out Body Positive Power and Megan’s advice column, as well as her Instagram and website.

Camila Rosa

Name: Camila Rosa
Age: 30
Hometown: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Occupation: Illustrator and Visual Artist

Artist Camila Rosa uses her talent to create visually stunning illustrations that are meant to inspire women and connect them across social boundaries. Her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Bust, GQ, and on Spotify as well as in myriad other publications and advertisements. That’s not to say that this Brazilian born trailblazer has always had it all figured out.

“I went to industrial design school in my hometown, and after working for a big company designing trophies, I decided to quit and that changed my life,” Camila says. “I moved to Sao Paulo and started to work with graphic design and illustration, which was my distant dream back in 2012. It was very hard to move to a new city, a new job along with a lot of other changes at just 21 years old, but it was worth it after all.”

By then she’d been involved with Coletivo CHÁ, an artists collective she joined one month after two of her friends founded it. 

“We started with the desire to publicize our ideas, and we chose to put it on the streets. Being part of a group of five women supporting each other was the best way to believe in ourselves and in our work. I decided to be an Illustrator because of the collective,” Camila confesses. 

Between her professional endeavors as a freelancer and her desire to inspire other women, Camila has found herself on the forefront of a socially conscious design revolution. From feminist calendars to Pride Month illustrations for Refinery29 to provocative works such as her “No Human Is Illegal”, Camila’s work goes beyond the simplistic eye candy of commercial art. But, believe it or not, abundant sparks of artistic ingenuity don’t come naturally. 

“I always have a hard time trying to be creative,” Camila says. “I think we have to exercise our minds every day, and for me, it’s never an easy job. I believe that creativity is not about what you are, it’s about what you experience. It’s a moment.”

And these days, most of her workday consists of the solitary practice of being a freelance artist toiling at home. 

“Being a full-time freelance illustrator, it’s a big challenge because you have to do all the work, including the business part, planning my schedule, chatting with clients, and everything else. I’m a one-woman studio and sometimes it’s not easy to do all the work,” she says.

When she’s not illustrating, Camila is going to punk and hardcore shows, traveling, visiting museums and exhibitions, and hanging out with her pals. 

Other than gleaning inspiration from everyday experiences, Camila hopes to strike the balance between commercial success and creative expression by honing her artistic skills beyond design. That said, she recognizes the importance of keeping her illustrations out there as a professional, beyond the fact that it is her career. 

“I believe it’s important to keep doing commercial work just so I can still show my work to the world,” she says.

With her art speaking volumes, is there any message to young girls out there that Camila would like to add?

“Believe in yourself and never give up. It’s important we understand that we can do stuff, and to do that, we need to educate ourselves!”

Bold words from a brilliant artist! For her electrifying and thought-provoking artistic works, and for her perseverance when it comes to female unity, we think Camila Rosa is a very Cool Girl!

—

See more of Camila’s work on her website camilarosa.net. Like her on Facebook or follow on Instagram.

We made a $200 donation to The Maria Da Penha Institute to help support women against violence and abuse. We encourage you to make a donation too! The Institute is in Brazil so you may need to use a translator and a currency converter to donate. 

Camila Rosa

Name: Camila Rosa
Age: 30
Hometown: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Occupation: Illustrator and Visual Artist

Artist Camila Rosa uses her talent to create visually stunning illustrations that are meant to inspire women and connect them across social boundaries. Her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Bust, GQ, and on Spotify as well as in myriad other publications and advertisements. That’s not to say that this Brazilian born trailblazer has always had it all figured out.

“I went to industrial design school in my hometown, and after working for a big company designing trophies, I decided to quit and that changed my life,” Camila says. “I moved to Sao Paulo and started to work with graphic design and illustration, which was my distant dream back in 2012. It was very hard to move to a new city, a new job along with a lot of other changes at just 21 years old, but it was worth it after all.”

By then she’d been involved with Coletivo CHÁ, an artists collective she joined one month after two of her friends founded it. 

“We started with the desire to publicize our ideas, and we chose to put it on the streets. Being part of a group of five women supporting each other was the best way to believe in ourselves and in our work. I decided to be an Illustrator because of the collective,” Camila confesses. 

Between her professional endeavors as a freelancer and her desire to inspire other women, Camila has found herself on the forefront of a socially conscious design revolution. From feminist calendars to Pride Month illustrations for Refinery29 to provocative works such as her “No Human Is Illegal”, Camila’s work goes beyond the simplistic eye candy of commercial art. But, believe it or not, abundant sparks of artistic ingenuity don’t come naturally. 

“I always have a hard time trying to be creative,” Camila says. “I think we have to exercise our minds every day, and for me, it’s never an easy job. I believe that creativity is not about what you are, it’s about what you experience. It’s a moment.”

And these days, most of her workday consists of the solitary practice of being a freelance artist toiling at home. 

“Being a full-time freelance illustrator, it’s a big challenge because you have to do all the work, including the business part, planning my schedule, chatting with clients, and everything else. I’m a one-woman studio and sometimes it’s not easy to do all the work,” she says.

When she’s not illustrating, Camila is going to punk and hardcore shows, traveling, visiting museums and exhibitions, and hanging out with her pals. 

Other than gleaning inspiration from everyday experiences, Camila hopes to strike the balance between commercial success and creative expression by honing her artistic skills beyond design. That said, she recognizes the importance of keeping her illustrations out there as a professional, beyond the fact that it is her career. 

“I believe it’s important to keep doing commercial work just so I can still show my work to the world,” she says.

With her art speaking volumes, is there any message to young girls out there that Camila would like to add?

“Believe in yourself and never give up. It’s important we understand that we can do stuff, and to do that, we need to educate ourselves!”

Bold words from a brilliant artist! For her electrifying and thought-provoking artistic works, and for her perseverance when it comes to female unity, we think Camila Rosa is a very Cool Girl!

—

See more of Camila’s work on her website camilarosa.net. Like her on Facebook or follow on Instagram.