What Inspires Me?

Today on LiveJournal, Disney asked the question

What inspires you in life? What makes you want to reach for the stars and do something truly extraordinary?

My Answer: It inspires me to see the people in my field (fashion) who have succeeded and, as a result, are making tons of people feel beautiful and confident. (Karl Lagerfeld, I exclude you. Chanel can stay.) I am inspired when I watch What Not To Wear, because people come out feeling so beautiful and confident and true to themselves! That show (along with Rachel Zoe, not gonna lie) inspired me to become a stylist. Then I started doing makeup artist work (inspired by Carmindy and her "you have such beautiful skin, don't you see? you're so pretty! let's bring that out!" approach) because I love to see people smiling and happy as they look in the mirror at their now emphasized best features. I was inspired by makeup as a means to high self-esteem by Naomi Wolf's book, The Beauty Myth, an amazing feminist diatribe condemning the diet and beauty industry for selling us products based on fear and self-hatred and also emphasizing beauty and fashion as an art, a means to express one's self, and a way to feel confident and happy. I am inspired by anyone who has ever put on the perfect pair of jeans, at any size, or the perfect dress, and finally realized how beautiful and sexy their body truly is. That is what inspires me.

Side note: today is my interview for the Disney College Internship program. I am applying for a job playing the part of the "Fairy Godmother" (or perhaps, her assistant, more likely) doing makeup on little girls to turn them into princesses! Anyone who has been to Disneyland has likely seen those girls joyously running around in tiny dresses, looking amazing and so, so happy. I hope I get to be the one to put those smiles on their faces! I love Disney!!