I call myself a “social media queen” because I love to post about my life and my inspirations on social media. My focus is on body positivity and I aim to spread confidence and empowerment through my posts. As a result, a beautiful community has grown among me and my followers.

People are always surprised to hear that I wasn’t always this way, that it took me a while to build up my confidence and feel comfortable in my own skin.

Growing up, looking into the mirror was always the hardest thing and I would try and avoid looking at myself as much as possible. When I turned on the T.V. or checked social media I would see beautiful, flawless women that looked perfect being celebrated and whenever I was at school, the girls that looked like the women on T.V. would be the ones getting all the attention.

My confidence plummeted and I tried to stay away from T.V. and social media to keep myself comparing myself and worrying about how I looked.

A couple of years ago, I started a journalism class at school which I was really excited about but my teacher advised me in order to do my best in her class I needed to be on social media in order to keep up with world events and understand how journalism was evolving.

I was nervous about trying and explained my concerns to her but she said she’d help me navigate it all. I opened some accounts that afternoon and my life soon changed.

I realised that with social media I could control part of what I was reading and seeing. From privacy settings to unfollowing negative channels, I curated my own content. My lecturer also encouraged me to be the change I wanted to see online. “Use your social media to change the messages you think aren’t good for young women,” she said.

I started using my Instagram and Facebook page to post inspiring stories about the things I saw around me - particularly body positivity and women I admired. My pages were about being comfortable in your body and I started to notice a lot of girls following my pages. They wanted to see stories about how to follow a happy healthy life as much as I did! Through social media, I was able to speak out, start a movement about self-love and start a community that celebrates women and the things we really care about.

How do you express self-love for yourself? What do you do to celebrate your beauty? Tell us in the comments below.