HONEY AND SILK: Speak Beautiful

Your words have power.

Post sponsored by Mirum Shopper. Opinions and words are 100% my own.

The internet is a fickle playground, where corners of social media can be an uplifting, tight-knit community, while just a scroll or click away lies a negativity in the form of a comment or tweet. It's easier for the hateful souls to write awful things from behind their screen, but it's even easier for us to support one another through positive conversation in less than 140 characters.

I set forth to create a community behind Honey & Silk, when I moved back to my hometown without a single friend nearby. My high school friends stayed in their respective college towns and my best friends from college moved back to their homes in Bay Area or were starting exciting, prospective careers in New York and San Francisco. The Honey & Silk community was more so accidental, as I didn't expect anyone to visit the site where I love to write. Supportive comments poured in and as I was getting more into the LA blogging community, I made some lifelong friends, met my fiancé, and found a place I could belong to. Social media has become a huge part of my daily life and I call myself lucky to have rarely, if ever, encountered negativity directed at me. But, coming across forums bashing bloggers who are my friends or seeing disparaging tweets to others is just as unnerving at the sight of this kind of humanity.

52% of girls think that negativity they see online damages their confidence.* Words have power and it's not just the influencers who have "influence" - you have influence over your friends, family, community, your Facebook feed, etc, so use that power for positivity. I'm excited to partner with Mirum Shopper and Dove to spread this message for women and girls to change the conversation and make social media a more positive platform for beauty and body confidence, because ultimately, it's a place where our future daughters will explore. Dove's current #SpeakBeautiful mission supports building self-esteem in 20 millions girls by 2020 and you can participate by heading to Target and picking up three of your favorite Dove products to receive a free #SpeakBeautiful bracelet. Every time you type, it'll be a sweet reminder to spread a positive message on social media.