Hi my loves!
Welcome back to Lavendaire,
and happy International Women's Day!
I want to celebrate today by highlighting some of my female role models.
These are the top women who inspire me and empower me.
Also, I think it's really important for us to recognize that we are here
because of all the people that have paved the way before us, you know.
I know that I am here because I was inspired by so many women, so many people.
And that is why I'm here today.
It's interesting how we continue to inspire each other,
and it really is a web of influence.
No one successful person stands alone.
That person stands on a mountain of all the hard work
and all the stories of the many, many great people that came before them.
I'm going to do an exercise that I've called the Personal Inspirations Map.
I did this a couple of years ago,
so this is going to be an updated version.
What this exercise will help you do is:
It will help you recognize who your inspirations and influences are –
and not only that, but break down why they inspire you,
why they motivate you, why you respect them or admire them so much.
And what that gives you is a list of characteristics and qualities that,
deep down, you want to cultivate in yourself.
Whether you recognize it or not,
the reason why we admire people or are inspired by people
is because people act as our mirrors.
What we see in them, what we're amazed by, is what we secretly want to be.
It's what is in us already, asking to be brought out.
So not only is this exercise fun to do,
but it also helps you reveal the qualities that you want to build in yourself.
Alright, so we start off the Personal Inspirations Map with a circle in the middle,
and that represents me.
And around the circle is where I'm going to list out my inspirations
and why they inspire me.
So I'm starting with Michelle Phan.
Michelle is one of my ultimate female role models.
I've looked up to her ever since high school
since I was watching her makeup videos on YouTube.
And she was one of the first examples that I had
of an Asian American female YouTuber, entrepreneur, business woman.
To see her succeed showed me that it was possible for me to succeed as well.
So she really played a huge part in that,
and I still look up to her for her creativity, just as a business person,
and the fact that she's just a pioneer and leader in the space.
My next female role model is Vicky Tsai.
Now you might not recognize that name,
but she is the founder of Tatcha, the beauty and skincare brand that's sold in Sephora,
and they're just doing so well.
I actually had her on my podcast,
so that episode will be coming out soon.
Vicky is so inspiring because she started the brand Tatcha from scratch.
She built the brand, the business, and an amazing team.
And recently Tatcha got bought out for an estimated $500 million, guys.
But it's not just about how big she built her business.
I'm really most inspired by how Vicky has such a beautiful heart.
She focuses on impact, empowering women.
She wants to do something meaningful and I love that part about her.
And lastly, I love that she is productive and effective.
You guys will hear in her podcast episode,
but she says that she hates wasting time.
She does not waste time and I thought that was really respectable of her.
The next woman who inspires me is Marie Forleo.
Marie is a woman I look up to in the self-help space.
She is a leader and she is doing her business so well.
She teaches me how to create a meaningful business,
how to help others through creating content,
and I've learned so much from her, from her programs.
I've signed up for B-School, for The Copy Cure,
and Marie is just the real deal.
I love everything she puts out.
She is smart, she is funny,
and she's just someone that I want to be more like when I grow up.
Moving on, another huge inspiration in my life is Elizabeth Gilbert.
She is the queen, in my eyes, of creativity.
She wrote the book Big Magic,
which is one of my favorite books that I recommend all the time.
Elizabeth Gilbert wrote the book Eat, Pray, Love,
which I read in college and that's the book that inspired me to study abroad in Italy.
And that is where I started to do my whole soul searching journey:
reading self help books, everything that led to me starting Lavendaire.
So I felt like that was a huge influence.
And in general, Liz Gilbert inspires me to live authentically
because she is so authentic and she's so vulnerable.
If you follow her and you know about her relationship
with her best friend Rayya, who passed away,
she shared that experience and she was so open and vulnerable about it,
even if it was something that might've been controversial,
that a lot of people would judge her for.
So she inspires me not only to live creatively,
but to continue to live as authentic as possible
through the many stages of your life.
Another one of my inspirations is IU.
IU is a Korean singer, songwriter, and actress.
And she is just so unique.
She's really artistic.
I love her aesthetics.
If you know her, you know that she stays true to her style.
I love her personality, how she's humble and low key,
and yet she packs so much talent behind all of that.
She's so multitalented.
She's versatile – not only do I love her singing and her songwriting,
I've watched a couple of her dramas recently
and her acting is pretty good too.
So I'm just very impressed by her and I love her aura, her energy.
After that we have Aimee Song of Song of Style.
She's a fashion blogger and business woman,
and I look up to her not just as a blogger or business person,
but just because I love her personality.
I love that she's fun, she's light-hearted, she's adventurous,
and she's pretty honest in the way that she expresses herself through her content.
And I just think it's amazing that no matter how successful she is,
she can still be really down to earth.
And I like that she has fun in life,
and of course, how she's so chic and stylish.
Next, there are so many other women creators
and girl bosses out there who inspire me.
Clearly you can see that I'm inspired by females who are creatives and entrepreneurs,
because that is what I aspire to be.
And one of the creators that I really look up to is Nabela Noor.
She makes videos talking about self-love, body positivity,
and she's so confident and I just love her energy.
And other person who really inspires me is Liah Yoo,
skincare influencer and founder of Krave Beauty.
She's a friend as well, and I just love that she is such a boss.
She is a true boss, guys, and she's such a hard worker.
And another creator that inspires me is Amy Lee.
Amy makes videos on mental health, fashion, lifestyle, self care,
and what I love most about her is how different she is.
She's not afraid to be herself, to stand out.
She's very Aquarius and I love that characteristic, if you know what I mean.
Aquarius are very independent.
They're not afraid of standing out and being different and standing up for causes.
I really appreciate that about her and just how unique she is.
Lastly, I do have to add Oprah on this list
because she is like the ultimate female role model, to me at least.
She is just such a leader.
She is a visionary.
I'm so grateful to Oprah for being able to bring spirituality more to the mainstream.
She is doing so much work bridging that gap.
She did so much work recommending all these books.
You guys know Eckhart Tolle comes from Oprah’s book recommendations.
And she's just brought so many leaders, thought leaders to the forefront,
and I really, really appreciate her work that she's done.
She is a force.
So those are the top women who inspire me
and the qualities and reasons why they inspire me so much.
I hope you liked it.
I’ve linked all those women down below,
if you want to learn more about them.
Comment down below if you plan to do this exercise because it's really fun.
And also I decided to do a fun little giveaway to go along with this video.
So if you follow @shoplavendaire,
which is our Instagram account for the Lavendaire Shop,
I’m giving out our Daily Planner from our shop.
I use this every day and I love it so much.
All you have to do is go to our @shoplavendaire Instagram,
go to the most recent post,
and comment or tag the top three women who inspire you.
Thanks so much for watching.
If you want more videos on personal growth and lifestyle design,
click down there to subscribe.
I love you so much.
Bye!