Pretty much every creative type will cop to doing some pretty sus things when they’re broke, and Jennifer Lopez, who didn’t hook up with Drake and maybe isn’t really hooking up with A-Rod either, is no exception.
During NBC’s Summer Press Day, J Lo summoned up the strength to relive her broke early days to promote her new show World of Dance, which is hosted by herself, a human Ken doll, Channing Tatum’s wife, and Ne-Yo.
“I always consider myself as a dancer first,” J Lo told a swarm of reporters. “I became a singer and actress after dancing. For me, it’s so part of who I am.”
Right. Don’t be fooled by the rocks that you got, you’re still, you’re still Jenny from the Block.
Don’t worry, we remember.
She continued:
“I remember only getting to have one piece of pizza every day when I was a dancer. That’s how I lived. I did that for a couple of years before I got my first big job. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. For me, coming from that struggle, this is a dream come true for me. I don’t say that lightly.”
What do you mean by “I remember only getting to have one piece of pizza every day?”
Did you mean the only food you ate all day every day was a single slice of pizza, because if so that sounds like a GREAT way to faint in the middle of every audition, thereby making sure you stay in the vicious cycle of not booking jobs and just eating a slice of pizza every day.
Or did you mean that for one meal a day, all you had was a single slice of pizza, which sounds like a sketchy, but ultimately effective way to stay skinny, especially when you’re young, working out all the time and are genetically blessed.
How no reporter in the room pressed for a follow-up question is truly astounding to me.
Marie Lockhart has got it all: looks, style, talent, and this unique cool factor only French women have.
To make her story even more magical, she blew up overnight when Drake discovered her embroidery. Since then, Vogue, Stella McCartney and Christian Dior (to name a few!) followed this self-starter embroiderer.
During our inspirational chat for Galore, Marie talked about her unusual career path, love for making things and the importance of good croissants.
I grew up in not-so-nice suburbs right outside of Paris. I studied business and law, but I quickly realized that I couldn’t fit within the corporate environment. Plus, I hated wearing a suit, so I said “goodbye” and booked a ticket to go to Australia for one year. That was the beginning of all my trouble.
How did you get into fashion?
Eventually, I went back to Paris, where I work at Colette, this concept store kind of like Opening Ceremony. It was fun, but I got bored working in retail. I started living off of my backpack, doing odd jobs while traveling, like fruit picking or waiting tables. I ended up coming to New York for vacation, fell in love, met my husband and have been here for five years!
How did you start your journey with embroidery?
I used to collect vintage patches and put them on my bags and clothes. Then, I decided to draw my designs. It doesn’t cost anything: all you need is a needle and a pair of scissors. I figured that the embroidery could be a replacement for someone who doesn’t want to get a tattoo. I started doing patches for my friends and trading them for poems.
How did your career take off?
Well… Drake happened. At the time, I was working at a restaurant. One time after work, a friend and I took a cab back home. In the cab, we heard “How About Now” by Drake. I became obsessed with the album and its cover: an image of praying hands. I did an embroidery of that drawing on the back of my jeans and one night I tagged Drake on Instagram as a joke. I woke up the next day, but my phone was dead. It turned out that at night, Drake tagged me on his Instagram, and so many people started following me that my phone crashed!
Just like that?
Not quite. I messaged Drake, “Hey man, I don’t know what’s going on, but I just wanted to thank you” and then, he responded (!), “It’s all right. I’d love for you to make clothes for me. Here’s my number, text me. Enjoy your day.” Hell yeah, I’m going to enjoy my day! Finally, he came to New York and dropped his clothes off [to be embroidered] at my work. I was sure he would send a stylist, but then I saw four SUVs and five bodyguards… and Drake himself! So we had a few drinks together!
And then?
Department stores, like Selfridges, Browns, and Barney’s Japan contacted me. Then, I got contacted by Marc Jacobs, Stella McCartney, Christian Dior, Sandro, and Superga. I also did pants for Rihanna and a jacket or Beyoncé and got to work for the Bob Marley family in LA. I get to choose who I want to work with, but I also worked very hard.
In the morning, when I wake up, I perform puja: burn incenses, pray, and meditate. I check my emails and reply to people. I make myself some coffee and get a chocolate croissant. I come back to work on my embroidery. I have freedom in my projects: I do what I want, and I love what I’m doing.
Do you know a good croissant place in New York?
Ceci Cela on Spring and Lafayette. I’m a bread monster. I couldn’t live without bread or cake!
What inspires you?
Beautiful movies and music. Light and color, because they change the way you look at things. When I was traveling in Europe and Morocco, I was doing my embroidery. I’m happy; this is… the life that I dreamed of.
Plans and what are you working on?
Maybe moving out of New York, but not too far. Embroidery is just one thing that I do. I want to make things, like cooking, taking care of my little garden; creating by hand is beautiful!
What’s your advice for other women afraid to pursue their dreams?
After luxury retailer Net-a-Porter got caught photoshopping a bomber jacket recently, you might feel like you can’t trust any online brands anymore.
But if you work in the fashion industry, you probably aren’t surprised one bit. And if you’re just a consumer, you’re probably wondering just how far e-tailers go with the Photoshop on clothing. After all, if a company with nice-ass clothing like Net-a-Porter has to photoshop, what are the newbie and non-luxury websites doing?
Well, we were curious too. So we talked to someone who actually knows the industry. Marine Michel‘s first job out of college was as a professional retoucher for a luxury retailer that was basically the German version of Net-a-Porter, so we asked her to spill the beans.
What kind of stuff did you have to do while working there?
Basically we had a studio there, and they had all the clothes coming in and they would shoot the pictures, and they would give us hundreds of pictures from the day. We’d have to do skin retouching, making sure there were no pimples on the models, no hair out of place, and basically improving the general look of the pictures so they’re all kind of unified and they all fit together. That included changing the feet of the models, so we would cut out the feet and paste on this preset that all the graphic designers had there, and it was just two feet with a shadow underneath, already made.
We had to photoshop this in for every picture. Same for necks, the back of the neck, so the hair would be perfect on the back of the neck. It was pretty intense actually, and we had to do about 15 pictures an hour, so that’s a lot. It’s very, very fast work.
So every model would have the same feet basically?
In the end yeah, they would all have the same feet or the same hands so it looks like there’s just one model working there, but there are actually like two to four. It just has to look totally perfect. I mean, it’s high-end clients, you know, so they want everything to look similar.
So what about the clothes? What kind of retouching did you do on the clothes?
Well there was a lot of cleaning up of course, stains, etc. But also making the clothes look a little better quality, so anything from stitches to shinier zippers, just making the fabric look nicer. You know, sometimes you have this fabric cloth were you can immediately see through it from shitty online shops. Like when the girl is wearing a dress and she has her legs slightly apart you can see through the dress and you know this is super bad polyester fabric. Well, we would color it in so it would look like nice heavy material. I mean the dress might cost 500 bucks, but it’s still shit quality, that doesn’t change anything. But we gotta sell it, so we gotta make it look good.
If you guys are doing all that retouching for expensive clothing, I can only imagine how much fast fashion retailers must retouch everything.
I think they do it way less because I notice these things now when I go on online shops. In the UK we have Boohoo, which is quite cheap, and it doesn’t look that retouched. Maybe a little bit of skin retouching, but very finely done, same for H&M, it’s not that bad. But when you go to luxury retailers then you realize how much they do it and they pay us really like shit. It’s like 10 bucks an hour.
Where there ever times when you notice people would return stuff and complain how it didn’t look it did online?
Yeah definitely, because we were in the studio with the whole team. It would happen that sometimes people were really unhappy with the quality. For example, it’s not only clothes, but also jewelry, we had these bracelets flown in from Italy and they were really expensive, like 1000 euros each. They were supposed to be with crystals and stuff like that, and the crystals popped off immediately as we received them. Not because of damage from packaging, but because they were glued on really badly and then we just sent them back to the client with glue that we got from the office and nobody said anything. This happened all the time, clothes would get rips in them just from the models putting them on, and we would have to photoshop them.
So since you know what goes into photoshopping, you kind of noticed how Boohoo and H&M don’t retouch as much. When you online shop, do you feel like you can usually tell what an item looks like in real life or what has been retouched?
Yeah a little bit, I don’t want to say that I’m an expert at it cause I’m sure there are people who are amazing at retouching, but I also used to work for a fashion magazine as an art director and I did the photo retouching for them, so I know what it looks like, what has been heavily edited. I think most of the cheaper brands are somehow a little bit more honest. Unless they’re doing the changing of the colors of the clothing without actually changing the clothing, just changing the color on photoshop, that is pretty obvious. But the cheaper brands are pretty honest because they can’t afford to do this heavy retouching for the price of cost, it’s expensive. Or they have to outsource, but most people don’t outsource it anywhere else so they just do it locally, and they avoid doing too much work so they just take off the sunlight or acne you know, they don’t really retouch the clothing.
Erika Jayne did not have the best debut on Dancing With the Stars, and some people seem pretty convinced that’s because the judges were slut shaming her.
Even though Dancing With the Stars revolves around people running around in skimpy, sequin-covered dance costumes, it’s still a show about ballroom dancing.
And ballroom dancing is something conservative ass people like to do when they’re feeling buck wild.
Now Erika Jayne, of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills fame, is not conservative.
So to give the fans what they want, her first routine for DWTS highlighted this strength of hers.
But here’s the thing.
As you may expect from a celebrity who’s not already a professional dancer or gymnast, while Erika Jayne’s first routine was sexy, it was not filled with great dancing.
So the judges being judges, they told her as much.
Head old judge Len Goodman said, “I know the salsa’s a sort of a sexy dance. For me, it was a little bit too raunchy, but I am what I am.”
Meanwhile the ex-Fly Girl judge said, “I’d like to see in the future you go out of your comfort zone, because you were definitely in your comfort zone. But I’d like to see a little bit more of the elegant side next week, so well done.”
And Julianne Hough, a.k.a. Sandy from Grease Live, remarked, “You are out here trying to show that women should embrace their sensuality and that it’s OK and it’s amazing.”
Wow.
Not quite slut shamey, right?
Still, people pointed out that every other woman was dressed like a thot and some guys didn’t even have their shirts on and yet they weren’t criticized for being “too raunchy.”
Umm why the hell are all the judges basically slut-shaming @erikajayne for being sexy?? Do they not see the other women dancers?? #dwts
Right because trying to slut-shame other contestants is a great way to make a point about how slut-shaming is wrong.
Honestly, the only comment that even verges on slut shamey territory is when an old white guy told her the dance was “too raunchy,” but that’s not slut shaming, that’s just some ballroom dance expert saying Erika Jayne was not great at salsa.
When you think of kitten heels, you probably think of the shoes you wore to cotillion class or your cousin’s wedding when you were 13. Now that you’re a grown ass bitch, you rock sky-high stilettos and crush fuckboys’ hearts every night.
Kitten heels are training wheels for awkward girls going through puberty who aren’t skilled enough to walk in six-inchers, and for old ladies who can’t wear high heels due to their knee replacements (no offense, Grandma).
But when you’re young and hawt, why would you settle for baby kitten heels? They’re not comfortable like shorter block heels (which are also coming back), and they make your feet look long af. If you’re going for a comfy look, you might as well throw on some sneakers since those are totally acceptable to wear to the club these days.
Even if you’re all about trying the kitten heel this season because you’re so trendy, you probably have an army of sky-scraping heels in your closet that you’re not suddenly going to stop wearing because kitten heels are “allegedly” back. It’s just like how flared jeans are coming back, you might buy one pair and add it into your rotation, but you’re still rocking skinny jeans a majority of the time.
It’s also unlikely that you’re going to splurge over $1,000 on the only cute pair of kitten heels we’ve found — this Gucci pair. Keep in mind that just because Gucci is making kitten heels now doesn’t mean they’re “cool,” they’ve been making kitten heels forever because by the time most people can afford Gucci shoes they can no longer wear high-heels.
Instead, we foresee kitten heels being one of those things that fashion bloggers and anyone else who tries way too hard to be “edgy” will wear. Maybe it’ll eventually trickle down to the masses, but it’s kind of like jean skirts. You need to wear them in a super 2017, cool way or risk looking like you just got home from the mall with your parents.
Living in a generation where women have to curve men who are constantly sliding into our DM’s who are more times than none just looking to get some play, us ladies are very much aware that Social Media is one of, if not the biggest networking tools we have accessible to us and it’s not just a means of finding love or quite frankly a hook up for the night.
Born and bred New Yorker Germania Mejias (@oohhgee), who is not a model but could totally be one, is a prime example of a woman who genuinely supports the notion of empowering other women and it ended up being something that without expecting anything in return, presented her with a great opportunity.
One day while scrolling through her IG stories she came across Tizita Balemlay’s (@theplugsdaughterr) story and saw that Tizita’s brand PLUGGEDNYC (@pluggednycstore) had recently signed a contract to sell her items with major fashion online retailer ASOS. Germania then decided to send her a message to simply congratulate her on this power move and moments later Balemlay sent her a message asking if she would be interested in shooting for the brand for the ASOS launch. I mean talk about a “LOOK AT GOD” moment!
This just goes to show you that without being thirsty, having no expectations and by being your authentic self, something amazing could be placed in your path.
Come on fellas, the ladies are winning in every other aspect of life, do we really have to teach you DM etiquette as well?!
Check out the brief Q&A I had with Germania to learn a little bit more her thoughts on Social Media and how this unique opportunity came about.
What’s the lamest thing a dude has ever said to you via DM?
Lol. “I’m a nice guy, so if you don’t respond to me, smd.” And the ones who DM you saying they saw you but couldn’t speak are weird.
Do you think men primarily use social media as a way to find their “flavor” of the night?
Maybe not of the night, does it happen that fast? Lol I would say, yes. Guys are persistent too in there, that’s like the new friend zone.
What made you want to send @theplugsdaughterr a message congratulating her on her recent deal with ASOS?
I was inspired. I was sitting at my home desk working and scrolling and I said out loud, YES GIRL! I was so happy for her. I didn’t have to know her but in that moment I felt like I did because I know things like that don’t just happen it takes hard work and dedication and smarts. That made me congratulate a woman who was winning. She’s an inspiration to girls who want to be more than a pretty face. Getting that win shows character beyond it.
What was your initial reaction when she replied back to you asking to be a part of a photo shoot for her brand?
“Omg, but I’m not a model.” Lol.
Do you think genuine business connections can be made through the use of social media?
Yes. It’s the time of business we are in. It’s the “Instagram” era, it’s where you’ll find businesses look for new faces and ideas. It’s about the reach these days and social media changed that forever.
What motto do you live by?
I’m a woman first. That makes me naturally choose love, it makes me think of others before myself, it makes me compassionate. I feel like woman are nurturing, so I learned to take that step back and say what would a woman do, how would a woman react?
What does girl power mean to you?
It means that men don’t decide on the level of our power. Woman have been historically stereotyped as acting on emotions and not the good ones and that’s why we can’t get along. Girl power says we are capable of more than the box they put us in.
Bless Gigi Hadid’s heart, because she will go down with the sinking ship of a fashion trend she started back in November that we’ve affectionately nicknamed the most disturbing trend of our time.
Wearing a turtleneck layered underneath a crewneck sweater.
Now, this clothing trend may not sound like a big deal, but rest assured not even the Gigis, Kendalls and Selenas of the world can wear it without either looking like a little kid or like they’re just messing with us.
But Gigi isn’t ready to give up the good fight just yet, so over the weekend she once again pledged allegiance to the united states of turtleneck, and this time she ended up looking like a Halloween pumpkin.
Selena Gomez has a well-documented hate hate relationship with Instagram, but somehow she keeps finding new ways to express just how tortured that relationship has become.
In an interview with the New York Times, Selena confessed, “I delete the app from my phone at least once a week.”
Like can you imagine hating Instagram so much that you deleted it at least every week, but you were also so famous that you couldn’t actually keep it deleted because that would be social suicide?
Plus it gets even worse when you remember that Selena doesn’t even know the password to her Instagram account, which means that whenever she wants to re-install Instagram, she has to wait for her assistant to come over and do it for her.
She’s literally that powerless over her own IG account.
And you wanna know what it is that Selena really hates about Instagram.
The comments.
“You fixate on the [negative] ones,” she explained. “They’re not like, ‘You’re ugly’ It’s like they want to cut to your soul. Imagine all the insecurities that you already feel about yourself and having someone write a paragraph pointing out every little thing – even if it’s just physical.”
You’d think that after a decade of being in the public eye, Selena would have learned by now that people are their worst selves on social media, or at least learned how to hit that button that disables comments on a post, but clearly she hasn’t.
If you checked out photos from French Montana’s birthday party a few months back, you would’ve seen a babe in braids posing for solo pics with Drake, French, and Christina Milian. Was it an influencer? A groupie? French’s new girlfriend? Nope, it was Lola Plaku.
But who is Lola Plaku? You may not know her name, or even her face, but you know her work. She’s been a journalist, a brand consultant, an event planner, and an artist manager; and she’s worked with all your favorite rappers during their come-up, from Drake to The Weeknd.
But how did Lola go from working at a fast food place to building the brands for some of the biggest Toronto rappers? We talked to the multi-talented boss about how she created her own career for herself, how she made big rappers take her seriously, and what she’s doing to help younger girls follow their dreams.
What was your first job out of school and what you do now?
When I was going to university I was interning at the same time. I was paid to do PR work, I was paid to write bios, I was paid as a journalist because I was a journalism major. I was paid throughout that and when I moved to Canada at 15, I already had a job. I worked at A&W, I worked at a bank, I worked at a bunch of different places. So when I graduated university, I wasn’t handed a job, it was more so the money I would make from submitting articles or from interviews or PR work. The first place that got me a position was Little X, I did marketing for his event production company in Toronto. At the time, this label called CP Records, now it’s called XO Management, and they manage the Weeknd. In Canada they had a full service record label and I became the online marketing director for that label.
Okay going back, since most people aren’t getting paid to do what you were getting paid to do in university, how did you get to that point?
I interned a lot, I wrote a lot of articles, I became an editor for an online magazine called Hip-Hop Canada. I never got paid for that, it was always an internship the entire time. But whenever other people would see I got [interviews with] TI and The Black Eyed Peas or whoever, they’d be like, “oh, we want that content.” It wasn’t like anyone was assigning me [these people], I just had these relationships. And they’d be like, “well, we need this person for our magazine, can you get them? We’ll pay you $150 for this piece.”
Most people aren’t getting paid [to write freelance] now because a lot of time they don’t have the relationships for the story. They want to be able to get paid, but if the editor is giving you the interview and is assigning you content, they can give it to a staff writer.
I would send out so many pitches to American magazines hoping they would hire me, and I didn’t realize you needed a work visa. I was like, “I have experience, I know a shit ton of people, why can’t I get hired?” And then one person said, “maybe you can send me a pitch for a piece instead.” That’s when I realized that what editors are looking for was for people to actually go to them with a story, versus people being like, “hi, I’m a writer, can you please hire me?”
So you were saying you had relationships with these artists that other magazines wanted, how did you get those contacts?
Canada was an untapped market. So a lot of the content came from the editor assigning me little pieces coming from up and coming rappers. When he saw that I was adequate in writing a good story, he then assigned me a bigger piece. I was just really good at talking, I guess. I would always say to management or whoever I was connected with over email, “if you ever need anything in Toronto, just let me know. if you want to be booked for an event or if you need more interviews or need more press let me know.”
I wasn’t just doing one thing; I was all over the place. When I started working with Little X’s company, I had the opportunity to put some of their artists I interviewed together for a show. For example, I interviewed Fab and kept in touch with management, and I told them I wanted them to come back and do a party. And they were like, “okay, can you book us?” I said yes, I knew the promoters, because back then there was no Instagram, no Twitter, there was no way to find out [for someone who didn’t know]. Now you can just email artists, “hey, I want to book you for something.”
I was that person in Toronto, cause I knew the scene. So when an artist would need to come back to Toronto they would call me. I became kind of like the plug in Canada. I was sad it wasn’t the states, but it was an advantage to me.
Strategy development and artist management. That is it. I develop strategies and branding for artists to help gain more exposure in the industry and I also decided to get into artist management.
When you went from journalism to PR and marketing, was it a conscious decision or did it just happen?
It just happened. I would have upcoming rappers in Toronto be like, “hey, you go through a shit load of press kits, can you tell me what I should do on my press kit?” I would be charging like $150 for a bio, $1000 for a press kit, and I thought I made it. If I had known how to structure my business properly from then, I would probably have a super bombin’ business, but I didn’t.
It’s nice that with journalism they come to you, whereas in PR you have to go to the journalists.
Yeah, that’s the worst. When you do PR and have to go to editors or journalists and ask them for a story and sometimes you’ll get a really cool artist, and sometimes you won’t get someone so cool and they’ll be like, “uh I don’t know if that makes sense for our brand.” That’s what I’m going back to right now, instead of doing PR and articles, it’s more so developing a pitch.
At the time we used to send folders, it would be full press kits in folders, like printed biographies and full albums in there. We would put CDs in the press kits and whoever had the coolest physical press kit design got the story. I remembered Jesse was the editor-in-chief of the site and some people’s [press kits] would be one flimsy page, which sucks cause maybe they had a cool story to tell, but they just didn’t know how to put it together properly.
Nowadays with social media I feel like so many people in this industry are trying to get their own 15 minutes, and trying to be influencers, but you were more helping other people get their 15 minutes, so how do you think that ended up working to your advantage?
I became an influencer by default when I started doing concerts and fans would see me with the artist. They would be like, “Oh my God, you’re so cool, you must be so important.” Being a girl and being around so many artists was also super difficult because fans look at you and are like, “Well, what do you really do? Why are you around these people, what is your job title and job description?”
Nowadays influencers are always just on their phones, or Snapchats and socials, and artists become accustomed to it and they want it. They want people who have high profiles and high followers to be around them. Like, we invite influencers on set to music videos. I have no problem bringing influencers around because we want their cosign, influencers now dictate what is cool. Before, artists wanted their privacy.
I’ve never said this to a media outlet before, but I took a photo onset of a major video on my Blackberry back in 2007/2008. Twitter had just started and I had like, no followers. One blog had followed me and saw my picture on set, and [reposted it]. I literally got shunned from videos from that artist for like five years. Now you get invited on set with artists and if you don’t put them on Instagram or Snapchat it’s almost an insult [to them].
So kind of going back to earlier about people being like, “oh who is that girl?” The music industry is dominated by men and most rappers are men. Were there times where you felt uncomfortable or as a businesswoman you felt disrespected?
I think that as a woman, most of the time people overlook you because they feel like you’re not assertive enough. It’s been difficult because a lot of artists don’t take you seriously unless you have crazy money. Rappers take financial success seriously to some extent, and as a women you have to either be up to par with their lifestyle, or be so accomplished they can’t say no to you. So yeah it was a struggle because no matter how much I did, it never equated to them saying, “you’re the shit, you have done this and accomplished this.” Only the past few years, the more I work with artists, the more they respect the fact that I can break them and I can help them come out into the public and build a fan base.
When I was younger of course it was fucking difficult. Cuz you would get into the room and they’d be like, “Oh she’s just a girl, oh she’s so cute, oh you’re so pretty.” So when I would do concerts, sometimes I feel bad because I would have to overcompensate and I would be really rude or really mean to a lot of people. When I worked with French [Montana], we would go to concerts and I would be like, “lights aren’t ready, this isn’t ready, we need this done, we need that done,” and it just automatically came, like the bossiness in me came out. Nobody would do it if you asked politely. If you are a woman, you had to have assertiveness for people to listen.
I also find that as a woman you also have to know what you’re talking about. When I was a journalist and doing all of my interviews, I would research the shit out of everybody I was interviewing because I never wanted it to be like, “What do you know about hip hop? You’re just a white girl.” So I would study tapes and everything I could do to be informed in that. When I wanted to book an artist, I knew everything about the venue, the capacity, the ticket prices, I would know everything. My strength was just to inform myself and to be able to be quick as possible when dealing with men or artists or whatever, and be just as capable as the next guy.
Are there times when it’s hard to draw the line from business and pleasure?
I’ve tried to be something unattainable. I don’t know if I just decided to wear overly baggy clothes or to not wear makeup, but I never wanted to be the center of attention, I never wanted to walk into a room and have people be like, “Look at Lola, she’s so bad.” I just wanted be unnoticed and to work, just work really hard. And I feel like over time people were like, “Yo, Lola works her fucking ass off.” To me that’s a bigger compliment then, “Oh my god, you’re so beautiful.”
Now it’s easier, if you’re really good at what you do people will deal with whatever baggage you bring. Or if you’re a women and you’re really popping or cool, no matter what people will respect that because you’re almost on their status, you’re almost just like a celebrity whereas back then when I was working I could never be the cool girl. I had to be the hard worker. I’ve never wanted to walk in the room and be the girl people would point out and be like, “Yeah, I smashed. I wanted to make whatever decision, I wanted to be conscious of everything I did and I wanted to walk into the room being able to hold my head up high knowing that whatever I did, I did it fully knowing what’s up. I just never wanted to let my free time fuck up my business relationships in any way.
How are you starting to share your knowledge of the industry with others aspiring entrepreneurs?
To me it is very challenging to see young women or men get in the business for the wrong reasons. Get in the business because they want to be around artists or be popular, they want to be in cool events or backstage. So I want to be able to teach young people that they can be great at anything they want to do. They don’t need to work in the music industry for them to see greatness. I’m starting a mentorship program in Toronto called Girl Connected, where I am accepting 50 girls to start with and I’m offering workshops to work one on one with them, to help create a direction for where they want to go in life and give them mentors and people they can learn from in whatever industry they want to be in. So I feel like that’s my way of guiding the youth in the right way, because I feel like Instagram and Twitter makes people think that [creative industries] are the only way to be popular and cool. Some of the most important things that we enjoy in life today are from people who work really hard in sciences or in other fields that have made discoveries to help us be who we are today.
Paris Hilton has been dating her actor BF Chris Zylka for a hot second now, and things are apparently going so well it might be time for the two of them to start jewelry shopping.
While walking hand-in-hand into the airport, Paris and the man she called the love of her life four days ago were swarmed by the paparazzi, who didn’t waste much time before getting down to the questions we all wanted to know.
“This is very lovey dovey, is, are you guys, is this the one?” the TMZ paparazzo asked.
With a smile on her face, Paris nodded in his general direction, before turning back to her boyfriend with a big smile on her face.
So obviously the next plausible question to ask was, “Are you guys moved in yet?”
“That’s already happening,” Paris responded.
And then, right before Paris and her boo waltzed through doors the press couldn’t follow, the paparazzo asked her, “When are we going to see a wedding ring?”
After a brief pause, Paris cheekily chirped, “Stay tuned.”
Sounds funny, right? Because everyone loves shitting on their exes as if they never shared a bed with them or had feelings for them. Normal.
And while people think they’re shading their exes hardcore by tweeting shit like “#TipsForDatingMyEx: be ready for four inches,” or “#TipsForDatingMyEx: have no standards,” they’re actually just shading themselves.
First off, if your ex is so shitty, why did you date them?
Secondly, why is your whack ex still on your mind?
Instead of being petty, some Twitter users decided to be killjoys and tweet actual nice shit about their exes, which made all the bitter people look even worse.
#TipsForDatingMyEx actually, you’re lucky if he dates you. he has his issues of course but he has a huge heart and always means well.
People like @ahkneesuh made all the other people throwing torches look like huge assholes, and also like people who clearly aren’t over their exes. Awk!
Bottom line: if you’re still talking about your ex online, you’re clearly not over them, or you’re immature af. If you’re going to take to any form of social media to vent about your ex, it’s definitely Twitter, but maybe just keep things to yourself next time.
Shannon Boodram aka Shan Boody, is a woman you won’t be able to forget.
You may know her from BET, MTV, or her new show “Shan Boody is the Perfect Date.” But you probably most likely know her for her amazing channel on YouTube. She’s a sexologist and author whose approach to sexuality, the body, and love is unconventional. She even has her own vibrator out that’s so discreet, you can wear it around your neck and take pleasure wherever you go.
Shan speaks from a place of truth and honesty, which is definitely exemplified in her discussions about open relationships, casual sex, vaginal aesthetics, and more. Her ability to make you feel comfortable about yourself and open others’s minds about things that probably never thought about is admirable.
I had to pleasure of speaking to her and let me tell you, she is dropping some serious gems!
I want to start off by asking you who is Shannon Boodram for those who don’t know you yet?
I would describe myself as sexologist, as an author, and YouTuber.
What made you decide to pursue a career as a sexologist?
Essentially, I saw a niche. So, when I turned 19, I went to school for journalism and then day one of journalism school they say write what you know. And to me, I was really passionate about sexuality and I had a really shitty teen sex life and so I thought to myself I don’t there’s anybody else who looks like me, around my age who’s talking about this thing in a conformed perspective. So, it was really just a matter of me like seeing that there was a hole that needed to be filled.
What were you doing before?
I did track! So, I ran. I did sports. Probably from the age of like nine to 19 really. That’s like all I really thought I would be doing — going to the Olympics and competing professionally. I felt like I was behind actually when I started to work on my craft as a writer and as journalist because I had no experience. It wasn’t until I gave up my scholarship and I came back to school in Canada that I started to think about what else I should be doing with my life.y
How did you get started doing YouTube?
I think YouTube is awesome. It’s like a place where if you work in the beauty area, you have always wait for someone else to say yes to you or someone else to green light your idea. A lot of times you don’t get to work on your ideas, you’re working on someone else’s idea. And on YouTube is a place where you get to be your own CEO and whatever you want to do is what you get to put out and it’s 100% your voice and that can be scary because there’s no else to blame, but also like a really powerful and empowering place and I’m like so grateful to apart of that community.
Have ever thought about teaching a course on sex education at a high school or university or even a course about self-love and embracing your sexuality? And I’m talking about actual real life sex education, not the sugar coated ish that we normally get from school.
I think on my YouTube channel and the content that I make and on media in that regard, I come to this realization really clearly of late too. Like I definitely got into the field knowing how I wanted to share a story and I make that comment all the time when people say, “I want to become a sexologist. Can you help me?” And I’m like I don’t know if I’m the best person to ask for help from because I have a very specific way of that I wanted to practice.
I knew I never wanted to be a college professional or a teacher. I knew I never wanted to work in a pharmacy. And then even in doing the one on one consoling work that I do, while I enjoy it, I definitely like see that as a side thing I do because it’s nice to have a way to connect with people versus this how I want to make my money. And so, for me, telling stories via media or via writing or videos, it’s definitely [how I prefer]. I mean at the end of the day, I’m a never say never person and so I don’t know if in 10 years I may feel totally different, but right now the way I want to provide information is exactly how I’m doing it.
I love how open you are about your life and views on love, sex, the body, and relationships throughout your platform. Was that always so easy for you to do?
Yeah! You know what I talked about this today actually. It’s like all of my entire life, I feel like people have been like “it’s so brave of you to say that.” And it’s like… it feels not great. When I wrote my book Laid, people [were saying] I’m so brave to share my experience, but by the time I shared an experience with you guys, I’ve already talked about it with friends and family, talked about it with that person — gone through the motions. So, I’m at the place now where I’m like ok, I totally get that or I’ve gotten what I wanted out of the situation lesson wise. Now I’m sharing it with somebody so they can start the same process for themselves. I’m never sharing a story or experience or relationship that I’m still… like I don’t know what to do or I don’t know how I feel about something. And I think there’s a big part of the protection of being able to share myself on camera is that I’m always sharing an old version of me. It’s almost like an outdated iPhone Shannon that I’m sharing versus what I’m currently dealing with. I wouldn’t feel as comfortable going through what I’m going through right now on camera until I understood exactly like, “ok, what’s the lesson in all of this.”
I think it can be super dangerous— it’s dangerous for your self-esteem. Like if I’m putting out my relationship style, but I’m not comfortable with it yet then hearing people’s negative comments is like going to sway my opinion or make me second guess myself versus I’m putting it out there because I’m already totally comfortable with it and I already totally embraced it. And now it’s entertainment. It’s not Shannon and like my hopes, dreams being put on a video. It’s like entertainment that can do good for other people, but it already had its purpose for me.
You said in one of your latest YouTube videos that when you wrote your first book, “Laid,” you weren’t really ready to answer the questions of random people that came up to quit yet even though you wrote this book? Do you feel that over the years since, you become more comfortable with interactions such as and more willing to provide answer to them?
For sure! And a big thing for me was like I never for a long time… I started doing sex ed in my teens. I’m now in my 30s and so in my teens I was like I never (or even in my early 20s) I didn’t want to be the sex girl. So, I was like I don’t mind talking about this. I think it’s a good story. I think people can learn from it, but I don’t want to be the sex girl. Like it’s not what I want to be.
So, when people approach me in the street and talk about sex, I’m like ok, cool, but I’m a sex girl you know that right? It wasn’t until my late 20s that I’m like “no, no, I’m the sex girl.” It’s just like a comfort within myself of like embracing the topic. And that’s like why I give a lot of space for other people not be completely open about sex because I wasn’t that person. So, I really can’t judge you because I’m now not that person. But for a long time, I did whatever possible to sort of balance talking about sex while trying to distant myself from it. Where as of now, I look at it all the same and I’m just much happier obviously because of that.
On your YouTube channel, you discuss your open relationship with your partner publicly, which automatically opened the door for everyone’s opinion. Have you received a lot of backlash because of it? If so, how have you been handling it?
My partner is really good at managing criticism and he has a really healthy opinion of it. Even I may say to you “oh, it’s entertainment. I don’t really care.” I’m still somebody who in my normal life, I’m a catty person. So, if somebody in my normal life was to approach me and say something sideways to me, I wouldn’t be the person to “turn the other cheek.” I’m engaging with you — like it’s going to be like a beef thing. So, it took a long time and I’m still sort of doing the balance.
Like this morning actually, someone called my scalp dry and I commented back. And then my partner was like, “why did you feel the need to do that? Like why are you still talking to people like that?” Because I felt really disappointed. “Like I don’t understand.” So, I think that’s been helpful. I mean again it’s like one of those things like I don’t think my scalp is dry and I also don’t think my relationship style is negative or shitty and a place of insecurity and shame. And so, because I don’t think those things like realistically it doesn’t matter what people are going to think.
I was reading somewhere that the average person thinks like 60,00 thoughts per day and 70% of those thoughts are negative and that comes from a place of survival because we have to think in worst case scenarios. Often times people think negatively about other people not because they’re shitty bad people, but just because that’s how our brains are hardwired. I try to take it with a grain of salt. Sometimes it definitely bothers me because some of the comments are like “who do you think you’re talking to bro?” More than anything else. Just like, “who do you think you’re talking to. You’ll never say that to my face. So, what makes you so brave.”
And then it’s just like the audacity because for example, the reason why I don’t do DM or email counseling is because there’s no possible way that I could assess somebody’s situation or give really deep, personal advice based on an email or 140 characters. I need at least an hour to talk to you, to get to know you, to understand you before I would ever feel like I have a place to have an opinion on your life. And so, I think it just bothers me when other people get these like snapshots of who I am because most of the time it’s people who don’t know me well. Who just click on one or two videos and who just wants to say something negative.
My people like you and the people who show up for me are usually the people that I’m like even if we don’t agree with each other, we still have respect for each other and that bothers me when people don’t at least have that.
A lot of people don’t have that and I feel it’s really crucial just to like have that there even if you don’t understand it quit yet.
Yeah, it’s just knowing. It’s the same way I couldn’t stand up here and tell you everybody should be circus performers. The most beautiful, amazing job. And people be like, “I’m not flexible. I don’t enjoy performing.” You have to give to nuances to like the variation of people. And the same when it comes to anything else. People try to push one ideal or one style of relationship or way of thinking as being the gospel. It’s like, “nowhere else in life does this works, so why do you think it’s ok for you.” But it’s a gen. You can’t take it personal. It’s not anything against me and I have to get better at managing. I’m still working on management don’t get me wrong. I’m definitely not telling right now that I’m above it all.
With you announcing your open relationship, it spurred my curiosity of the relationship. So, do you or your partner ever get jealous when see each other with other people. Like how does it work if you don’t mind me asking?
I think that jealousy is a natural… don’t get me wrong, I get jealous sometimes when my partner is with his friends, you know. I get jealous sometimes when my partner is with his family members. I’m like, “oh, why you don’t treat me that way or you didn’t get me this or you don’t laugh that much when you’re around me?” I get jealous when my friends are hanging out with other friends.
I had a situation once where I introduced two friends together and then now they’re like super close friends. Like they go out, they don’t invite me. I’m jealous of that. Jealousy is a very natural human emotion and in everywhere else in life we manage it, but when it comes to relationships we feel like we don’t have to — and jealousy would destroy your work life, it would destroy your friendships, it would destroy your family if you let yourself run wild with that, but in relationships that doesn’t apply. I’m allowed to be jealous. I don’t think it’s any different. I manage it the same way. Obviously, it’s harder because there’s an emotional attachment you know in a different way.
I had this conversation — I have this video coming out [which is out already on YouTube] about women who like casual sex and I had a group of six different women just talk about their experiences and asked them this question, “do you ever feel that soul tie?” Because a lot of people say that like “oh, when you have sex with someone, you have a soul tied to them.” I’m like, “does that feel true to you guys?” And they’re like, “No. I get it. There are times that after sex or after experience I may feel a connection, but if I just sit on something for 72 hours and wait for that feeling to subside when I can make a logical decision, I usually you know feel the way I originally felt.” And I’m like that’s so true. Like a lot of things, we may have a human reaction or a natural reaction or an emotional response to something, but if you just gave yourself 48 hours you can see things from a more balance perspective.
So, you have to be a victim to your emotions. You don’t have to be a victim to your jealousy in your relationship. I love that our relationship style challenges us in that way and I think it’s really healthy.
I know that you stated you were known as the “sex girl” when you released your book “Laid.” Are people now seeing you as the “open relationship girl” or the person to go to about this?
I mean I hope so! It’ll be nice. I think it’s definitely one of those things too, where myself and my partner because it’s like… to be like super honest, I think he and I are not high novelty seekers. It’s not like the open relationship element was created because both of us have super high sex drives for new people, so we needed to find a way to do that without cheating. It’s more like I don’t want the additional rules and I’d rather just make my own decisions. At the end of the day, neither person is needing to go out and find a new person every week. It may happen once every ten years. It may happen once every year. It’s not like I’m dealing with that element constantly in my relationship style. I think what I definitely want to be a voice for is people who say like “hey, you don’t have to control someone to prove that you love somebody.” And there’s a lot more freedom that can come from this style of relationship of letting people be their authentic selves and then judging them based off their decision rather than trying to skew or force or manage their decisions, so you don’t have to feel or judge or manage your own emotion.
So, I mean, I like it. I like when people ask questions about it. I think it sparks a different interest, a different thought process in people’s minds. So, I would definitely be proud to be someone that people thought of as a go-to to talk about it.
What advice would you give to those who feel discouraged or afraid to pursue something that is often looked down upon such as your line of work?
It’s a very competitive world and it gets harder and harder — especially in a global market, to find a space for yourself and sometimes you have to look at the spaces that aren’t occupied, you know. Yes, a part of me would love to be known. Like Lilly Singh has an amazing career. She’s just like everyone’s sweetheart, her parents must be so proud, she never swears, she never talks about sex. She’s such like a pure, funny, good hearted pro woman and that’s a great space to be. Are there a lot spaces for people like that? Probably not. Ideally, would we all somewhat like to be that? Maybe. Maybe not though, because I’m kind of a shit disturber in my natural life and this kind of field of work really suits me. But I think you have to look at it like, “ok, what am I good at and where are people not doing this thing I’m good at? And how can I do this thing in a way that people haven’t seen before?” So, that just increases your chance at success.
And I always describe myself as I’m definitely not a big YouTuber — like I’m probably very small. A lot of the time when I’m in a room with other people or other opportunities, I’m definitely the smallest YouTuber. Like I have a show on this platform called Fullscreen and they signed I think like 10 or 15 influencers to do their own show and by far everybody else is in the millions, right and I have 250,000 [followers], but I think because my topic is niche and speaking from a place that’s not saturated — people see a need for my voice and so I get invited into rooms, where people whose topics are a bit more common have to have achieved a lot more than I did. So, I look at it like oh, there’s definitely benefits to taking the road less traveled. Even though it can feel dark or it can feel it’s very judgmental or less supported. The benefits to me greatly outweigh that.
So, I was wondering about your show on Fullscreen, “Shan Boody Is Your Perfect Date.” Are you putting it on the back burner for now or is that just it?
So, we finished season one and that in itself has been a dream come true for me because I come from traditional media and I’ve done a lot of pilots and auditioning to get a season — greenlit is a massive deal, so I’m proud of that. And the show performed really, really well — better than they expected and I give that 100% credit to my supporters and people who showed up for me and watched it. That just like again, going back to the comment I made about me being one of the smaller influencers that they had. They said that I drastically outperformed what they thought I would in terms of ratings, and so that only puts me in a better position for season two. I don’t know a 100% about that yet, but nonetheless, it was successful and I got to do something amazing, I was really proud of the product, and people really enjoyed it. Hopefully, I get to do it again!
I love it! I don’t know, I always felt like you should go into acting because on your YouTube, you’re acting sort of in some of your videos and I feel like you’re a good actress. I don’t know if that’s anything you want to do maybe?
You know actually, I’m going to take my YouTube channel in a different direction and I want to start hiring actors. I want to start hiring people to act out stuff, but it’s just not my passion. It’s funny because my management company — it’s a great testament to why I don’t want to do acting — it’s just like type casting. Did you see on Twitter today Kal Penn put out a bunch of scripts that he has gotten over his career and they were all like super racist Indian snake charmer roles? And a woman who looks like me gets put into the like dumb, bimbo and uneducated — just like that stupid video girl role.
So, my management company was like “oh, this NBA player is doing a pilot and they identify you as someone they want to audition for this role.” And then I was like, “Listen, if it’s going to be any kind of basic bitch situation, I don’t want it. He was like “I don’t really know what it is.” Mind you, the casting producer emailed me and literally girl, the role said “camel toe girl.” And I had to write her and say, “Is your intention for me to audition for the camel toe girl part?” Just so you can hear yourself out loud, you what I mean? My manager was like “I’m so sorry. They told me you declined. I don’t know why they still wrote you.” But that’s like why I’m not attracted to that field. I’m really happy with what I’m doing and the way I get to do it. I have a lot respect for people who take the classes and take the craft seriously. So, I’d rather hire them then trying to be them. But who knows, I never say never.
Do you have anything new happening — upcoming projects or collabs that you can tell me about?
Yeah, definitely. There’s a video on my channel called “I’m Obsessed with Him — Help” and it is exactly what I’m talking about. It’s a scripted beginning of a story and then it goes into a scientific explanation. And this is basically the idea of the book “Laid.” That’s what “Laid” is. So that’s me going back, like my original purpose. I really wanted to do it and I was trying to pitch it around. And I was talking about it to Jared (partner) recently and he was like “why don’t you do it for yourself? Why don’t you take the funding from some of the things you’re doing that are for other people’s platform, for ads, or promos that you’re doing and like take that and reinvest and do the kind of content you want?” And I was like “lightbulb!” Why aren’t I making my YouTube channel my best content. So, that’s what I’m really excited about refocusing on.
Hopefully, starting season two of my other show. I’m doing a pilot presentation with MTV— pilot presentations mean nothing. I’ve done seven pilots in my life, so who knows if that goes anywhere, which is cool. I’m always in great conversations. Like tomorrow, I’m going to this health care foundation and doing something with the gala they’re having. Then next week, I’m going to DC to talk on a panel about teenage pregnancy. And then I have like the whole Vitcom, Playlist Live, and all the YouTube conventions I have coming up at the end of the year. Then I’m going to Toronto to go speak.
Ah my life is amazing! I’m really grateful. I talk about sex wherever I possibly can. I very rarely say no and I’ve been really happy with that formula.
When we think about detoxing we tend to think about a horrible diet, but this time we’re going to detox our LIVES.
One thing I feel I’ve mastered is starting fresh! I’ve recently turned my entire life upside down in every aspect thinkable, just to feel brand new again. You may not want to be as extreme as I am about it, so I’ll give you some tips to help get you started. From getting rid of clothes that haven’t been worn in months, to deleting all the old music off your phone. It all needs to go!
It’s about that time of year when we need to purge our lives and do some much needed spring cleaning.
Go through your bathroom cabinets and trash everything you thought you’d use and never did. Now that there’s room, you can try a new shampoo, face mask, perfume and it’s time you try a new nail color too.
Get rid of all your old socks and underwear. If they don’t even look semi fresh, then it’s time to retire them. Don’t be gross. It’s little changes like this that will make you feel so much better and a lot more CLEAN. If you’re really feeling ambitious – get rid of the clothes you haven’t worn in the past 6 months. Better yet, donate it and help someone else.
Sometimes I get into the habit of eating the same thing over and over! If you’ve eaten a type of food more than 3 times in the last week SWITCH IT UP. Try new foods, new restaurants, or even venture to another city for dinner one night. Be open minded!
SOCIAL MEDIA DETOX:
When’s the last time you detoxed your social media? Do you still follow that one friend you haven’t talked to in years or that person who loves posting about every single negative detail in their daily life? Go through and unfollow anyone that you feel has a negative impact on you and your energy. Delete them. BYE! You shouldn’t feel forced to view someone’s life if you don’t want to.
While you’re deleting people, let’s start deleting pictures. The ice-cream cone from last summer doesn’t need to be remembered, does it?
Now that everything is out, PUT YOUR PHONE DOWN and detox from your social media altogether. Give your brain a break and your life some privacy. Try and limit your distractions and come back down to earth and away from the wifi towers for a minute.
Again, if someone isn’t having a positive impact on your life then you shouldn’t have them in it at all. No matter what type of relationship it is (whether it be family, friend, or a lover), say goodbye if it’s toxic. How can we thrive if we’re being held down by destructive energy? Make all the room you can for positivity!
Take a break from going out. Treat yourself, teach yourself something new, or (whoa) read a book! Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing or think you’ll be missing out. The party will always be there. So will your friends, and good ones will understand. It’s time you take care of your mental and physical health with some solid one-on-one time with YOU.
I’m a bit more extreme with my spring cleaning and I got rid of my car, my place, and all my old clothes because— out with the old, and in with the new!
Allie and Lexi Kaplan are NYU fine art graduates and they just so happen to be best known for painting pictures of celebs and themselves completely naked.
So obviously, Galore had to sit down with the twins to discuss their university backgrounds, their favorite artist, celebrity reactions to their paintings, and what working with a sibling is really like.
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What was the first piece of art you created?
Allie: We’ve been painting and drawing since we were babies! I can’t even remember the first piece of art I created because I was probably 3 years old. But I remember taking art lessons after school and I made this painting of a frog sitting on a Lilli pad, I was probably 7 or 8 at the time, I was so proud of it, I thought it was a masterpiece. I still have it laying around somewhere.
Lexi: We’ve been drawing and painting our entire lives. I would say the first piece of art that we created together though, when we decided we wanted to work together and paint together, was our self-portraits. We were dressed in fur coats with the orange and pink wigs.
A: Andy Warhol. It’s such a cliché answer, but he was a genius. He did everything. He was an artist, filmmaker, designer, he was a celebrity, he was just so inspirational. I feel like he was his own breed of artist that doesn’t exist anymore today. But I always say I’m inspired by all creative people. Anyone who is creative, whether they sing, act, design clothing, or write scripts for movies, is an ‘artist’ in my opinion.
L: I would also say Andy Warhol. He didn’t just create, but he was wildly recognized in a main stream context not just a fine art context.
What made you start creating images inspired by sex and pornography?
A: I think the shock value. We love to push boundaries and see the reactions we can get from people. Also, we are just fascinated with celebrities and celebrity culture so we wanted to play around with that as well. I think I’m just a super curious, free, DGAF type of person, so I just like to have fun with what I’m doing and stay authentic to myself.
L: Definitely shock value. We don’t find our work that shocking but we know it will get people talking. That’s sort of where we got the idea for the celebrity nudes and sex paintings. There is a large shock value there because we see celebrities all the time, we don’t even think of them as human beings but as objects for entertainment. We never see them stripped down in their most vulnerable moments. Kim Kardashian’s sex tape made her human but also very inhuman at the same time. It’s controversial and in your face.
If you had to create an art piece for any celebrity, what celebrity would it be and why?
A: Down the line we would love to do a series of celebrities laying nude on chaises like Kate Winslet from Titanic. We want to bring back the tradition of the artist and oil painting, but give it a modern context. Manet’s Olympia but with all the it girls, top models, and celebrities we look up to. It would be like a modern-day Annie Leibovitz photo shoot in the form of a nude figure drawing. Anyone can take a photo of what they see, but not everyone can paint what they see. So, this project would be the greatest thing ever.
L: I think Kim Kardashian is the Marilyn Monroe to our Andy Warhol. So, we would love to continue painting her and have her in our studio.
What does your family think of your risqué pieces?
A: One of our paintings called “Chocolate Covered Strawberries” is a painting of me and my sister spreading our butt cheeks with chocolate syrup and strawberries up our butts. My mom took the photo because she was around and we asked her for help. She must have been feeling inspired by the photo because midway through the shoot she said “Wait, stay right where you are! You need strawberries to go with the chocolate syrup” and she went in the fridge and got strawberries!
L: They are very supportive, and we’re lucky for that. We graduated college, and got ourselves a small studio, which was essentially a closet, and they are supportive of us working to achieve our dreams.
What’s the best part about having a twin?
A: Always having someone who is there for you, but that can also be the worst part haha. We always say we’re like a married couple. We probably spend more time together than most couples do actually. We love each other, we fight for sure, but we always have each other’s backs. We’re partners, best friends, and soul mates and I couldn’t be doing what I’m doing without her.
L: The best part about having a twin is having a built-in best friend. You always have someone by your side.
What is it like to work together?
A: It’s interesting. We both have extremely strong take charge personalities. So sometimes, I’ll be in control, and other times I need to sit back and let her take control. It can get frustrating at times, but I think anyone who goes into business with their sibling would say the same thing. I think our bond is just stronger because we’re twins.
L: We both think the other bosses the other around. And we definitely disagree all the time. But we also work really well together and it makes it more fun to have someone there working with you.
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You both have Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees from NYU. Do you believe schooling helped you become the artists you are today? If you had to go back and get your degrees all over again, would you?
A: I think getting an art degree from NYU was a great experience and I would do it all over again. I learned so much about myself and what I wanted to do and accomplish versus what I didn’t. I had a ton of internships within the art and fashion world throughout school, and if I didn’t have those opportunities during school I think I would have pursued a career in those fields after school, rather than already knowing a head of time that it wasn’t for me. I can’t imagine myself doing something other than art, and NYU is a huge part of that.
L: I think you can do anything you want if you put your mind to it and work for it. It played a part to shaping our career as artists. We loved NYU and the program there as well as living in NYC for those years. I wish I realized I wanted to be an artist a little bit sooner into school so we would be more ahead of the game at this point. But then again everything happens for a reason and I wouldn’t change anything about my past experiences. So yes, I would do it all over again.
What are you doing when you’re not creating art?
A&L: When we’re not physically creating, we’re planning and thinking of new ideas. I feel like we’re always working because we’re always together, even if we’re not physically putting a brush to a canvas. But we also love working out, we go every morning before we head to the studio, it just makes us feel so good and hyped for the day, and prepares us for standing on our feet for 7+ hours.
Have any of the celebrities you’ve painted responded to your work? If so, who? And what was the response?
A: I have heard from some friends that Emily Ratajkowski has seen the painting we made of her leaked naked selfie. I would absolutely love to get it to her. I think she would love it. I know she’s a fan of the arts and has an art background. She’s also super into women’s rights, the free the nipple movement, powerful women standing up for what they believe in and doing what they want, and challenging all of the haters. I think she’d see the painting as something that stands for that, something powerful. A selfie, especially a painting of a selfie is a new way to reclaim the gaze, like the modern version of a traditional renaissance painting.
L: We showed Ray J the painting of him and Kim a while ago at Snoop Dogg’s birthday party. I think that counts because his penis is in it. He laughed it off and said he liked it, but didn’t want to do business in the setting we were in. We ended up selling the painting to PornHub, but I would love to sell our work to the celebrities featured in our paintings.
What’s the message you hope to covey with your work?
A: I think art can be so much more powerful than just something that looks good above your sofa, which is sadly why a lot of contemporary art is relevant today.
L: We are trying to generate conversation, have some shock value to our work, make beautiful pieces, and do something different. There is not much more than the fact that celebrity constantly surrounds us. In the media, in politics, it’s literally everywhere. It is just very recognizable to everyone and people innately have opinions about celebrities, so by painting them we know that our work will resonate with people.
What are your future goals as artists?
A&L: Our goals are to be household names and become very mainstream. We want people to realize art and artists are cool and not unapproachable or unattainable. We want to be the Andy Warhol’s of our generation. We just want fine artists to merge into the same entertainment channels that musicians, DJs, actors, comedians, fashion designers, innovators, etc. are already a part of and to be more popular and recognized. Fine art lives in its own world in a sense, so we want to change that.
Once upon a time, two baby pop stars enjoying their first blushes of headline-making fame named Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez found each other and fell in love.
The world probably would have cared about both of them separately, but together, they became a force of nature.
Sadly, their relationship crashed and burned because Justin Bieber lost his damn mind, but the world still cares about their former courtship because Justin and Selena still care about each other enough to publicly comment on each other’s Instagram photos and dating choices.
Anyway, back in 2011, before any of the trouble started, they were just two babies in love at the MTV Video Music Awards and Justin thought it would be a fun idea to tell Selena he has a snake named Johnson on broadcast television.
“So uh,” Selena asks her boyfriend, whom for some reason she’s interviewing like she’s an MTV News correspondent, “Can you tell me what you’re wearing here, please?” “I’m -” Justin begins to say, before Selena interrupts him.
“Please talk about this,” Selena says, gesturing towards a small coiled object in Justin’s hand.
“I have a snake,” Justin says, holding out his hand to Selena.
“Stop, I know,” Selena shrieks, pushing his hand away before asking, “What’s your snake’s name?”
Sensing an opportunity to make an immature joke that would go over the heads of most of his pre-teen fans, Justin looks up at Selena and says, “My snake’s name is Johnson.”
“Okay,” Selena quickly responds, before immediately changing the subject before her bf can do something else to embarrass them on television.
It’s not a new trend to hide your identity as a musician. DJs like DeadMau5 cover their faces when performing all the time, and pretty sure Daft Punk invented that shit — rumor has it they showed up to their own pop-up unmasked and no one even recognized them.
More recently, we’ve all been driven insane by the rumor of Miss Kylie Jenner supposedly moonlighting as the lead singer of Terror Jr. Though she has gone through great lengths to make us believe it’s not her, fans just can’t stop investigating and creating conspiracy theories of their own.
If you love following the breadcrumbs and trying to figure out who a musician might be, then look no further, just look up the band BRÅVES and try to figure that one out. These guys have killer pop-ish EDM tunes, but cover their faces to leave you guessing as to who they really are.
As you can see from these photos, the guys (or girls?!) of have some pretty high-end gothic fashion vibes with their fringe-y hats and Queen veils — it’s even more interesting to see them play live and wonder how they get oxygen and actually sing underneath those things…
What maybe sets BRÅVES apart from other mystery bands, are their interesting music videos and immersive live performances. They, of course, have not appeared in any of their music videos (at least thus far) and rumor has it, they’ve turned down multiple opportunities to perform live.
“We’ve played a lot of live shows and are generally bored with the state of live music,” they say. “We just want to give the viewer a unique experience.”
In fact, BRÅVES’ debut performance consisted of a mystery invitation-only event on a movie studio lot that mentioned a “special 360 degree performance.” The band performed — in costume, duh — in a giant dome that had projected 3D video imagery including vortex tunnels and colorful sunsets all around. Needless to say it was like Daft Punk’s infamous laser light pyramid comeback performance at Coachella 2006 on steroids.
“We definitely plan on doing things outside the box in all regards — live, video, or otherwise,” the mysterious trio says.
The band released a new video for their single, “Catch Me,” featuring actor Matthew Lillard of “Scooby Doo” and “Scream” movie fame alongside disability rights activist Dr. Victor S. Pineda.The video shows perhaps the ultimate juxtaposition and acceptance of differences as the two actors dance together. “The concept was very polarizing and we knew it would take two very brave people, totally comfortable in their own skin.”
BRÅVES are no strangers to creating weird videos that boggle the mind.
“We’re tired of seeing band performance music videos,” they say. “Our [videos] are simple and generally aim to make the viewer uncomfortable.” Their first video for “Me The Thief,” features actress Christa B. Allen and depicts the many types of love using either what might be multiple sets of twins, or else maybe computer generated clones of people — a secret that most people can’t figure out.
Their second video for “A Toast,” featuring Brooklyn Nine-Nine actress Stephanie Beatriz is even more mind-scrambling when you try to figure out if the innocent bystanders are moving in reverse, or if the actors are walking in reverse….
Of their mysteriousness, the band seemingly enjoys making us all wonder about them.
“Hopefully there will be more videos from this record and if there are, there is a slight possibility we will make an appearance,” they say.
Check out their videos, music, and their Instagram and then ask yourself, “who are they really? Is that actually Beyonce under that crown?”
There are manifold ways to use Tinder, the dating app that maintains curiously high user numbers despite the fact that everyone claims to hate it.
You might use it to find a friend with benefits or a significant other. Or maybe you’re in search of a fresh crop of guy friends to lead on after moving to a new city. We all have our reasons for swiping all the livelong day.
But there’s one thing you can’t deny: no matter why you’re on Tinder, each match that rolls in gives you ego boost after ego boost. And according to a new study by Lend.Edu, a whopping 44% of millennials admit they’re on Tinder just for the ego boost. Specifically, they said they’re using the app for “confidence-boosting procrastination.”
In reality, that number’s probably much higher. You can’t deny that, barring the harassment and dickish behavior that can also emerge from dating app conversations, getting a push notification that someone’s into you can be incredibly validating.
The study also had a few sketch findings. Apparently, Tinder is actually not your best bet if you want to actually find a bae:
Only 29.2% of Tinder users have ever met up with someone using the app, compared to a 66% success rate for online dating sites
Only 4.16% of Tinder users are actually looking for a relationship
But honestly, as someone who’s been going strong with a Tinder boyfriend for almost a year and a half now, take these findings with a grain of salt.
Tinder is a more casual experience than a “dating site” like Match or OkCupid. Match and OkCupid are specifically designed for people who are actively seeking a long-term partner. It takes time and effort to create an account on Match or OkCupid, so of course people on there are going to take it more seriously.
I’d argue that also means the people on there are kinnnnnda dorky, because who has the time to sit around and plan out a dating profile? The beauty of dating apps like Tinder and Bumble is the ease of use. That’s why some people on Tinder and Bumble might not take it as seriously, but it’s also why there’s so much less pressure to find your potential soul mate on Tinder and Bumble.
Also, if you’re in a major city, it’s not hard at all to get a Tinder or Bumble date to meet you in person. People meet up with dating app matches IRL all the time.
And, yes, no matter what app or site you’re using, you don’t need a study or survey to tell you a fringe benefit of swipe-based dating is the massive ego boost that comes with getting hit on by dozens of dudes per hour if you’re dedicated enough to the cause. We’re only human, after all.
I’ll admit it, Work, Controlla, and One Dance were the soundtrack to an amazing summer last year. Hearing that trifecta of dancehall-inspired bangers made me feel invincible. It reminded me of summers at my family’s home in Grenada and the clubs I’d gone to over there.
But Drake’s involvement in Work, and him releasing Controlla and One Dance, felt inauthentic. It’s dangerously close to cultural appropriation, despite the fact that Toronto culture is largely influenced by West Indian culture. It’s a lot like someone who says, “I grew up with a lot of Latinx friends so I started writing Bachata.”
Now, he’s dropped another album with Caribbean influenced tracks like Blem and Madiba Riddim, and I’m increasingly confused by his sudden proximity to Caribbean genres. Suddenly, it’s his thing. Which is probably why social media roasts him for it on the daily:
Jamaican artist Popcaan was featured on Controlla when it dropped and his influence on the track is apparent, but he was left off the actual album. And he didn’t get a feature on More Life, as many Popcaan fans expected.
In an interview for The Guardian, Sean Paul even admits that he was fighting to remain relevant for a while. Meanwhile, pop artists are capitalizing off of and receiving credit for music he inspired. It’s so annoying. Dancehall and other Caribbean genres have provided the foundation for so many hit songs but end up largely ignored.
I wish the shift in Drake’s music meant he’d be boosting more artists from the Caribbean, showing that there are other Caribbean genres besides Dancehall, something. But More Life feels like a costume he’s putting on (again), a diluted version of the people who actually created this music.
Some guys think the way to win on dating apps is a pic with a tiger, others think it’s a witty bio, but the lucky guys realize that it’s all a numbers game. And by numbers game I mean how tall you are.
It doesn’t matter if a girl is 4’11” or 6’0″, every girl would prefer a tall guy if given the choice. Sorry shorties, but you’ll be fine.
Depending on how important height is to you, you may be wary of dating apps due to the fact that sometimes you match with a guy who seems great, but is actually 5’5″ IRL. Not the worst thing in the world, but if you’re insecure about dating someone shorter than you, not great. If you don’t know ahead of time and you’re simply not DTF with a guy shorter than you, you’re just wasting both of your time, you know?
We talked to our fave tall girls to compile their secret tips for finding out a guy’s true height from his dating app pictures. Use them wisely.
1. The Door Handle Trick
Contextual clues are important, and our girlfriend who’s six feet tall told us that she always checks the door handle in a photo to see where a dude measures up, since in front of a door is for some reason a common place to take Tinder photos. Even if a door handle isn’t around, there are definitely other clues you can look out for, like a car’s height, and of course other people’s height in comparison. He might have asked his two shortest friends to take a pic with him to boost his chances, but hey, at least you tried.
Remember in American Pie where guys claim that every girl lies about her sex number and you can get the true number by multiplying by three? That’s BS, but we’ve found that guys like to use the “rule of two” when listing their height in their dating profiles. For example, if he says 6’0″ in his profile, he’s probs really 5’10.” Saying you’re 6’0″ is like getting a fake ID that says you’re 21. And guys who claim 6’2″ in their profile are really usually just 6’0.”
3. Watch Out For Guys Who Make Snarky Height Jokes in Their Bio
Listing your height in your dating profile is kind of douchey. But what’s even douchier is having something like “I’m not telling you my height unless you tell me your weight.” If a guy seems butthurt that height is an issue for some people, it’s not because he’s woke af and above listing his height. It’s because he’s short. Better hop on the kitten heel trend!
No celebrity ever wants to go to court, but sometimes shit happens.
Maybe they get busted for a DUI, maybe they have to testify against a stalker, or maybe they just show up to their jury duty summons even though they’re famous and low key above the law like that.
While you’ll probably never see any celebrity release a blog post detailing their styling tips on how to come up with the perfect outfit to wear to get out of jail time, there are a handful of tips celebs are keeping all to themselves so they can look fab in court and you’ll just look tragic.
But honestly, isn’t there enough inequality in the world as is?
So we’re blowing up their spot and dishing on all the styling secrets.
Generally speaking, when you show up in court, you want to look like an upstanding, put-together, law-abiding citizen who just got caught up in a bad situation, which is probably why Lindsay Lohan wore so many blazers back in the 2000s when going to court was an everyday activity for her.
Here she is wearing a sky-blue blazer and flashing a tentative smile.
And here she is looking like she almost got her look together, but then she realized that she was Lindsay Lohan and fucked either way, so she left her blouse unbuttoned and didn’t even try to look interested in what was going on.
Obviously we don’t need to tell you which of these two looks was the most successful.
Cardigans
Cardigans are the casual older sister of blazers, most commonly worn by grandmothers and middle-aged mothers who want something to throw on just in case they get cold at church.
Here’s Lindsay rocking a neutral-colored cardigan with just a pop of wholesome springtime yellow, rolled up to expose her trackless, tanned skin.
Trench Coats
Whether you’re having an affair to remember or spying on the boyfriend you suspect might be cheating on you, trench coats are the classy way to go.
The same goes with court.
Here’s Lindsay Lohan – I know, her again – wearing a muted green trench coat paired with her best Bridget Bardot hair.
And here’s Kim Kardashian wearing a trench coat a few moths ago, on her way from testifying in court against the shitheads that robbed her at gunpoint.
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Chic black dresses
Back in the 2000s when celebrities didn’t realize they could just pay people to drive them around, they were getting DUIs right and left.
So to set herself apart from the rest of her celebutante friends, Nicole Richie didn’t just slap a cardigan on over a black shift dress, she waltzed in court looking like she just had breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Shapeless black dresses
Taylor Swift allegedly skipped the VMAs last year because she had to go to jury duty, even though jury duty is something celebrities normally can get out of because they’re celebrities and that’s the way life works.
But instead Taylor put on her best shapeless black dress that looks like something somebody in a hospital would wear to work, presumably so she wouldn’t look too distracting.
Except she’s Taylor Swift so just by existing she looks too distracting to be in a court room with a bunch of normals.
Occasionally, you’ll find a celebrity who doesn’t think they need to dress up to go to court like Khloe Kardashian, who was like, whatever, I’ll just slap on some skinny jeans and call it a day.
Let the record show that Khloe didn’t have to go to jail, but she did have to take a DUI class, where she went to the hospital and visited victims of drunk drivers so she could learn how her actions have consequences.
Of course, she failed that class and then actually had to spend some time in jail, but hey, at least you know it wasn’t because of the skinny jeans.
Police-issued clothing
And sometimes celebrities make their first jail appearances while they’re currently being held on bond and then they just have to wear whatever jumpsuit the cops hand to them.
Sorry Justin, but maybe you shouldn’t have been drag-racing down the streets of Miami while you were hopped up on booze, pot and prescription drugs.
Just a thought.
Polka Dots
Honestly, once you’ve been to court more times that you can count on both hands, why not have a little fun with fashion?
Polka dots are one of the few prints acceptable to wear in court, seeing as it’s a print primarily worn by children under the age of 12 whose parents still buy all their clothes. When you’re in court, the projection of innocence is everything.
It didn’t really help Lindsay in the long run, but fake it til you make it, you feel?
#allmymemesarestolen #edgymemes #cancermemes #stolenmemes #dreezy #drakememes 
