To all my girls out there…remember in elementary and primary school when there was the first categorization we had regarding our femininity? I am of course referring to the classic question, “are you a tom-boy or a girly-girl?”. The age old question that made each of us feel lesser than became our first glimpse into a continual fight with labels. As a self proclaimed “girly-girl” I have always viewed my femininity through the color pink, bows in my hair, barbie dolls, and disney princesses…and somewhere along the way that got labeled as “weak”. Yet while I was being called weak, my friends who were self proclaimed “tom-boys” got labeled as “wrong” or as “pick me” girls. The labels women face have been plaguing them for generations and will always pose a problem, yet it is our job as women to support one another and fight back by simply being ourselves.
As I grew older I had to continually remind myself that wearing bows or ruffles did not make me “silly”, liking the color pink did not make me “weak”, and that enjoying rom-coms did not mean I was not “smart”. Our strengths as women come from who we are at our core, it comes from our passion, our ideals that were passed down through generations of mothers, sisters, friends. Feeling as if we have to stifle bits and pieces of ourselves to fit into a professional mold or fill a specific quota, when in the midst of growing up did being a girl become a hindrance? Coming to college it became clear that you do truly have to work harder as a woman, to fight to be taken seriously, to prove that the work I am showing you on my computer matters more than the pink color of my laptop case.
Visiting many agencies over the week in the city allowed me to see countless strong women that were owning their power, their intelligence, their creativity…without dimming their individual shine. The one that stood out the most was when we visited Futura Collective, an incredible agency founded by Madonna Badger, an icon and powerhouse in the Advertising industry who is unabashedly herself. The work shown to us during the agency tour was moving, inspiring, and above all…feminine. Work that was creative and strong, showcasing countless women who are making impacts and waves for generations of girls. While Futura Collective is a small agency, they are creating work that is forward-thinking, powerful, and incredibly successful. It is a testament to the idea that the future is feminine, and the change makers and individualists within the industry are making that more possible with each story, advertisement, and connection.
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