Occupation:
Finance and Cinema Production major at Ithaca College, producer of ICBeyondBody
About ICBeyondBody:
ICBeyondBody is a campaign started at Ithaca College that inspires participants to learn about and promote healthy thoughts and behaviors for themselves and among their family and friends. We aim to combat the effects of negative body image by changing the language of affirmation away from physical attributes toward qualities that serve the common good.
ICBeyondBody includes videos, curated social media posts, conversations, and a website that aggregates all the content generated by our team and its ever-expanding network. Together, each part of the ICBeyondBody campaign contributes to one movement on the journey toward body positivity, and illuminates each step along the way.
Young people, often women, but also men, strive to achieve a look that’s created, disseminated and deemed beautiful by the popular media through commercial advertising. #ICBeyondBody invites people of all ages to join our effort to observe, exhibit and cultivate admirable qualities that go beyond surface appearance.
I read about your campaign on Chicago Tribune’s website. Can you tell my readers more about it and what inspired it?
The ICBB project was first conceived by students during a mini-course titled, “Media for Social Responsibility: Does This Culture Make Me Look Fat?” in the spring of 2015. The Park Media Lab developed and produced the idea – including the launch video, social media campaign, and website. Students from the class, and from the original team who pitched the idea, helped develop the campaign.
Personally, I became involved in the Fall of 2015 (as I was a freshman last year). I started at Ithaca College in August 2015 and received a job in Park Productions in September 2015. The original producer of the campaign was getting ready to study abroad in Australia and told me about the project – I fell in love with the message and quickly became the new producer. Park Productions works on many different projects at once (documentaries for coffee growers in Guatemala, naturalist outreach from Cornell professors, etc.) but ICBeyondBody really stuck out to me on a personal level. In high school I was a AA cup. Some people don’t realize a lack of confidence can come in all shapes and sizes. I’m so passionate about this campaign because I know it’s something every single person in this country has dealt with at some point, no matter how perfect someone may look.
After working with this campaign I have come to understand my insecurities derived from the media and social standards created from it. That’s why I invite everyone to take a few moments to look at our launch video or watch some of our volunteers’ stories, I guarantee it’ll make an impact. I mean, I’m still a AA cup and I’m still in my most vulnerable years as a woman, but I can say in total honesty I have never felt more confident than I do right now. And that’s 100% because of ICBeyondBody.
What is one piece of fashion or beauty advice?
Learn from other styles but create your own. The best thing I ever did was stop copying every single thing I saw in the magazines and start orchestrating my own, personal style (a nice blend between Kate Spade and film-student-punk).
How long does it take you to do your makeup?
About thirty seconds. I’m a college student for Pete’s sake!
When do you feel the most beautiful?
I’m not just saying this as a producer of a body positive campaign, but I truly feel at most beautiful when I’ve accomplished something big. That’s our whole message and it’s totally true! It’s extremely cliché but everyone should get to experience the feeling of working super hard at something, seeing it play out, and feeling absolutely empowered and beautiful when your work is recognized. One example for me is from my senior year of high school running track. I was so worried about my legs looking too manly that I didn’t want to give it my all in practice. It wasn’t until my male coach pulled me aside and said “it doesn’t matter if you’re a blob of jello, with a personality like yours, you’re going to get a date for the prom no matter what so start runnin’.” And I did. So much that it became my life. I no longer cared about fitting the media’s standards for a model size build and focuses on the reward of working hard. I ended up breaking four school records that year. That feeling right there is where I feel the most beautiful.
What advice would you give to a young girl on how to feel beautiful and confident?
I love all three of these questions, but this last one is my favorite because I still consider myself a young girl! Since I started working as the producer though, my entire family and all of my high school friends said they noticed “a big change in behavior”. Apparently since making ICBeyondBody my life, I have become crazy confident! To this young girl, I would start off by saying “check out the ICBeyondBody website” obviously. I always remind myself “no one cares more about what you look like than you”. It works in every situation I have ever been in. In a play on stage, giving a speech to 400 students, going in for a job interview in NYC; everyone is only worried about themselves and how they look. No one cares more about how you look than yourself. I would tell them to remind themselves of this in any situation they don’t feel comfortable in. In doing so, they will start perfectly confident, thus showing their beauty! It works for me every time!
Where can readers learn more about ICBeyondBody?
Website: icbeyondbody.org
Facebook: facebook.com/ICBeyondBody
Twitter: twitter.com/ICBeyondBody
Instagram: instagram.com/icbeyondbody
Snapchat: @ICBeyondBody
Youtube: @ICBeyondBody