“I love talking about women and social media,” beamed Jilly Hendrix before Wednesday’s panel at Samsung 837, where the topic of discussion was how females can create positive change through their digital channels. Hendrix, who hosted the panel— featuring Aurora James of Brother Vellies, LPA the Label’s Pia Aarrobio, and Anna Blue of Girl Up (the charity in focus)— is no stranger to the power that social media can have. Her Instagram account, @Notes2MySelfie, brought on success for the self-proclaimed writer, comedian, and actress and launched her career based in content development. “I think that it’s really important to be aware of what you’re putting out on social media and making sure that you’re thinking about the effect that your content is having on the world,” Hendrix said.
The inherent understanding that content, specifically female-generated, can have a significant impact was the opening topic of conversation. Blue stressed that by virtually connecting girls within the Girl Up program, a safe space is developed and the impact of sharing can first be seen through the lens of community. “We have 15,000 girls online who can connect with each other. It’s girls championing girls around the world,” said Blue. Social media, she explained, plays a key role in the program’s success. “It helps us pay attention to how girls are seeing the world.”
Self-expression through social media came up repeatedly, which Aarrobio and James both passionately related to. James, who often uses her personal Instagram to voice her feelings (even when they are what she called “rage strokes”) stressed the importance of virtually speaking up. “Social media has become such a powerful tool today and I think it’s important for other designers to use their platforms to voice their opinions and set an example of how we can further empower young girls and women,” she said. An opinion, she elaborated, can be as simply communicated as ‘liking’ something. “I love liking stuff on Instagram—I feel like I’m voting.”
Aarrobio admitted that showing her vulnerability allowed her to connect with her followers –and told the audience that “sometimes I feel shallow about what I do.” The emotional ups and downs of publicly sharing across social and inviting the world to form opinions was a topic that all four women related to. “It has to be girls and women who change the narrative for girls and women,” said Blue.
That concept of women supporting women played a central role in the audience question portion of the panel. When asked if she’ll ever extend her line to the plus-size market, Aarrobio gave sales-given data precedence over her ability as a designer to support women of all sizes. “The sales are very low for plus-size,” she said of her brand, owned by Reformation. “It may sound crazy but we are actually making smaller sizes. From a data perspective, smaller sizes drive more sales.”
James was asked about how she strives to specifically empower African American women. “I hope it’s organic,” she said. “As black women, we have to support each other [but] we need to represent for all black women, not just some because we come in many different shades.”
As one audience member pointed out, the women were indeed “amusing” – however, their table-side style of banter did touch on some exceptional insights: making your voice heard, finding a supportive online community, learning how to cope with negativity, developing an honest (and at times vulnerable) representation of yourself on your social channels, and using your platform to speak on topics that are important to you were just some of the key takeaways. The effect of women supporting women across the digital space was manifested through each panel participant. “My grandmother always said, all ships rise with the tide,” said James, sending a ripple of nods through the crowd.
