Say It Out Loud, It’ll Change Your Life 📣 (2024)

We’re back to your regularly scheduled programming! Thank you for the love and messages of support re: our ARtist email earlier this week 💜

This week, we’re chatting with Vasavi Kumar on why you need to Say It Out Loud! Plus, some great wins for First Nations fashion and BIPOC women in medicine.

Let's get glowing

-Shilpa

News Of The Week

Tech and Fashion

Is she even real?!👖 ICYMI, Levi’s is partnering with an AI company to create fake fashion models (alongside real people). The brands rationale is that it’s part of a “digital transformation journey” of diversity, equity, inclusion and sustainability. Sounds nice… but is it really? Seems to us that Levi’s will create the appearance of diversity, without supporting and paying actual diverse models 🤷🏽‍♀️

Business and Entrepreneurship

Get the bag, ladies 💲 Jing Gao, founder of Fly by Jing, has secured $12 million in Series B funding! The brand launched in 2018 after raising $120,000 through a Kickstarter campaign. Go Jing! Meanwhile, Golde, the superfood-infused beauty and wellness brand by Trinity Mouzon Wofford is expanding into Ulta Beauty. We love to see it!

More News Nuggets

What we’re loving this week:

Read - Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock by Jenny Odell. If we want to change the world we need to dismantle exisiting systems. Jenny Odell offers new models of time, based on putting people over profits ✊🏽

Make - Your favourite British and South Asian fusion recipe from the Desi Kitchen recipe book. We’re living for the Sticky and Spicy Mango Chicken Wings 🤤

Opal Snake Boot by Alterre

$375 (USD, ships worldwide)

Trailblazing Woman Interview

Vasavi Kumar is known as the Queen of Saying It Out Loud.

From her own mental health challenges, divorce, addiction and recovery, Vasavi has relentlessly searched to find her own voice, access the freedom of her creative spirit, and help others along the way.

She’s learned that you have the power to overcome your rock bottom moments successfully, and come out the other side stronger.

Now, Vasavi is sharing her lessons with you. Her book Say It Out Loud will be released on 16 May.

We caught up with Vasavi to hear more about her journey and how Say It Out Loud will help you build true confidence. Let’s go!

Vasavi! You have such a powerful story - one of resilience. Tell us a bit about yourself.

I’m a first generation Indian immigrant born and raised on Long Island, New York. I'm the youngest of two. My childhood wasn't easy. I was one of two Indian kids and an all white school on Long Island, in a very blue collar neighbourhood where my parents were both white collar professionals. I always felt like I was a little too much for the kids at school. We come from such a rich culture, but it wasn't very embraced. I was made acutely aware of how different I was when I was a kid. I really just struggled with surviving.

I did a lot of things to survive throughout my life. I became friends with people who were bullies because I thought if I can't beat them, I should join them. And then I started to do what they did. I smoked my first cigarette when I was 12 years old to be accepted. I smoked for 27 years.

I made a lot of decisions in my life because I thought I should do something. I got married at 28, because all my friends were getting married. Then I got divorced at 32. I’m 40 now, and the past 8 years have been the hardest. They’ve been years of destruction, but in good way - its got me to where I am today.

How did you get from a place of not really knowing who you were to now being a leader in helping others find their voice and build their confidence?

I stopped being dishonest with myself and that's where that confidence comes from. I treat myself with the same respect that I expected from everybody else.

I slowed down for a few months. I started to listen to the voice within me, which we all have. Now, following your intuition is not easy. Your intuition isn't always going to have you do things that's comfortable. More often than not, it's going to be uncomfortable. But I started to build and develop trust with myself again by being consistent by being kind, by honouring my boundaries by speaking them by. I stopped doing the manipulative sh*t that I've done and the things that I've done to just survive in this world.

Being honest with myself built up my confidence. The reason why I am the way I am today is because I'm honest with myself. Confidence is not a feeling. Most people are not confident because they don't do the thing that they're scared of doing, and they're dishonest with themselves. Most of us are dishonest with ourselves about who we really are. We're dishonest with others about who we really are.

Your book, Say It Out Loud, is coming out on the 16th of May. What can people expect from it when they read it?

Say It Out Loud is not about being loud. It's about hearing yourself. My mission with this book is to help you talk to the different parts of yourself and bring them back into your life and move forward in the totality of who you are.

This book is for all my people who've bought all these expensive journals, hoping to become a better person, and they’re like “I can’t do this”. Say It Out Loud is like a verbal journaling book.

There are some exercises in the in the book where I require you to just write some stuff down, but every exercise in the book is going to have you speak out loud. Instead of journal prompts, I have verbal prompts, I'm actually teaching you how to talk to yourself.

The number one question that I ask every single one of my clients is “What are you telling yourself about this situation?” Often the way we react to something in the present has nothing to do with what's going on. We are transported back to a situation that really impacted us or broke us. This book will help you heal those parts of yourself that you've discarded, disowned and abandoned.

Lioness Thoughts

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It can be you, your friends or family or someone else you know. Whether you’ve just started a book club, are creating artistic makeup looks for fun, or are doing some research and want to hear from women of colour. We want to share thing cool things you’re doing with a community shoutout!

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This week's email was brought to you by Shilpa Bhim, founder of Glowreel. You can see more of her work at www.shilpabhim.com or follow her on Instagram @shilpa.bhim

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