10 Creatives That Will Give You International Women’s Day Goals
8 March 2016, 15:12 | Updated: 8 May 2017, 17:09
Slaying in 2016.
To celebrate International Women's Day, we thought we'd like to shine a light on the young, talented women breaking through in 2016.
Some of these you will have definitely heard of before, some not. The most important thing is that all the creatives on this list are doing something important and/or exciting in 2016. They are an inspiration to everybody, not just girls.
We'd LOVE to hear which inspirational women you'll be repping today, too. Make sure you let us know on Facebook or in the comments.
1) Amandla Stenberg
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You probably know Amandla by now. But if you don't, she's a 17-year-old actress, activist and rising superstar of the blogging world who's been dropping truth bombs on cultural appropriation and taking swipes at major media organisations like it's an Olympic sport. We LOVE her and so should you (oh, and she was in the Hunger Games, which kinda feels irrelevant now?)
2) Christina Halladay
We've been obsessed with Sheer Mag recently, particularly their latest track "Nobody's Baby" which has some serious punky/glam rock vibes. The band from Philadelphia are fronted by Christina Halladay, who looks and sounds like she takes no prisoners. We can't wait to hear more from Christina in 2016.
3) Grace Miceli
After finishing college, artist and curator Grace Miceli, aka Art Baby, set up the Art Baby Gallery to exhibit work by young artists. She's built up a huge online following and has even released a clothing line. But her main passion is still getting young artists off Tumblr and showcasing them IRL.
4) Hannah Pixie Sykes
While many might know Hannah's husband, Hannah has been carving out a successful career for herself as a tattoo artist and fashion designer. Recently she's been involved with mental health charities, raising awareness through her zine The Key which she produced last year in aid of mental health charity Be Mindful. She has a huge influence (over 830k Insta followers) and that is only set to increase with the success of her various artistic endeavours. You can find out more over here.
5) Jorja Smith
Eager readers of PopBuzz will know we first featured Jorja in our monthly tracks round up back in January. The 18-year-old Londoner has earned huge endorsements from Skrillex and Stormzy since for her first track "Blue Lights", which has racked up over 500,000 plays on Soundcloud. We said she's got the potential to be the UK's answer to Alessia Cara. We stand by it.
6) Kat Blaque
You know what we like to do on Sundays? We cook a HUGE dinner and endlessly watch Kat Blaque videos on everything from racism, feminism, dysphoria, trans-issues, whiteness and so much more. Kat is a transgender, African American feminist vlogger with a real talent for explaining issues without being condescending or shying away from her true opinion. She's one of the most important YouTubers out there. Go subscribe!
7) Kehlani
While hardly an unknown entity, Kehlani's seemingly unstoppable march toward global domination will definitely be hotting up in 2016. After the success of last year's critically-acclaimed debut You Should Be Here, this month will see the R'n'B singer team up with Zayn, the artist formally known as Zayn Malik, on his debut Mind of Mine. That's approximately a billion more people just about to learn your name. We hope you're ready, Kehlani.
8) LDShadowLady
One of the rising stars of the (huge) Youtube gaming community, LDShadowLady, or Lizzy as she's known to her family, is clocking up the subscribers thanks to her quirky humour and colourful personality (quite literally, thanks to her purple hair). In a community that is overrun with ~dudes~, LDShadowLady is a vital, female voice for gamers. Also, she was on Blue Peter the other day which makes her instantly cooler than you.
9) Lora Arellano
How would you like to be the 27-year-old owner of your own makeup company and Rihanna's personal makeup artist? Yeah, us too. Well that's exactly who Lora Arellano is. As a young kid she was obsessed with makeup and the entrepreneur has turned that passion into a global brand, Melt Cosmetics. You should defo check out their awe-inspiring Instagram feeds. Lora is a great example of how following your passion and creativity can get you to amazing places.
10) Tavi Gevinson
If you've got the drive to start a fashion blog at the age of 12, it's likely that you're probably going to go places in life. Tavi went on to set up Rookie Magazine (she's the editor-in-chief) and is now pursuing an acting career. Now 19, she's been dubbed 'the world's most influential teenager' and, tbh, she probably is. No list of young creatives would be complete without her.
