Top Inspiring Women

I like to think I fall into the Beyonce-esque 'Independent Ladies' category of life *sings*. And I feel so fortunate that I'm living in an age where women can strive to be the very best versions of themselves. Not only that, but we are given the tools to help us, the resources to encourage us and the inspiration to motivate us to reach those goals, and make the very most of life as a woman in this modern age. I don't for one minute take for granted the fact that this isn't something that's always been the case, and fully appreciate the sacrifices that women in earlier days have made to fight for equality and equal opportunities.

I've been reflecting on the three women who've inspired me the most, who've made me proud to be a woman and have used their opportunities to do good, help, and try to make their part of the world a better place for others...something we should all do.

Angelina Jolie
I'ts taken me a long time to forgive Ange for the Brad and Jen split up. In fact, I'm not sure I've fully forgiven her. But she's a woman who has inspired me with her genuine desire to make the world a better place. As a humanitarian, she became aware of the refugee crisis when filming in Cambodia and since then has been on many aid missions to help change the course of action for refugees - including those affected by locational factors as well as factors like the Haiti earthquake. She also set up the Jolie-Pitt foundation which aims to eradicate extreme rural poverty - this is something I feel strongly about, as mentioned before, and I've followed her work in this area closely.

She also funds educational outreach programs for children affected by conflict which helps to give them the best chance possible for life. And thanks to her constant input into world humanitarian issues, she now tackles them on a more political level too - something I admire her for, because that's a level when she can really make an impact to changing the lives of those who need change the most.

Also, she's one celebrity who puts her money where her mouth is. She donates millions of her own money to the causes she works with, and is always quick to donate to aid efforts when a natural disaster occurs etc. She's not one of these celebrities to get a smiley picture taken with a background of poverty - she's in there, getting her hands dirty and getting down to the levels of those she's working to help. This is something that hugely sets her apart from other celebrities who claim to do similar. Kudos Mrs Jolie.

Reese Witherspoon
A woman who inspires me in many ways. Not only is she a mum, a businesswoman and an actress - she's also heavily involved in working for women and children's advocacy organisations. Personally speaking I find the way Reese conducts her life to be one of elegance and class. She's not one of these celebrities who's seen falling out of nightclubs, or having one too many. She's seen doing her food shopping, at the park with her children and doing the normal everyday things. I like that she's not too big for her boots and she knows the importance of family before everything else. Her southern belle, family orientated attitude is something I admire a lot, and I love that she's so vocal about how parents worry if they are good enough. She's a woman who says what we all think and uses her platform to tell others that it's okay to get things wrong.

She's also the Honorary Chairperson  for the Avon Foundation, a foundation that aims to improve the lives of women everywhere. The Avon Foundation strives to empower woman and has a large emphasis on finding a cure for breast cancer. And another huge focus is finding ways to end domestic violence and help those affected by it.

She also speaks at women empowerment conferences to help teach and encourage the next generation of female entrepreneurs. Go girls!

Audrey Hepburn
A style icon of classic proportions, Audrey Hepburn is someone who's inspired me more than many other people. In her younger years she was only 14 when she risked execution to perform dance shows to raise money for the Dutch resistance during World War II. She also ran messages for the resistance, and again, had she been found out she would have been killed, but so strong was her desire to make a difference that she did it any way.

In 1989 she was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF having experienced the need for food donations herself during the second World War. Because she experienced this need herself, she spoke openly about it motivating her to deliver aid to children who needed it. She got so heavily involved with promoting the awful conditions of third world countries, that she would give up to 15 interviews a day with the aim to raise awareness and funds.

She worked with projects that delivered training programs for women, worked directly with street children, worked for projects to deliver drinking water to places that didn't have it and many more. She never stopped striving to help, and make a difference, and she never stopped working to educate the world about the things we usually turn our heads away from. She even continued her work when ill herself with cancer.

An icon of elegance, and an amazing example of heart for people.

We live in an age where women can and do make a difference, and I for one, am proud to call myself a woman because of ladies like these.

Barbie Goals

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

Did you want to step into the shoes of the rich and famous and grace TV screens? Did you want to teach the next generation, or travel the world and the universe as a pilot or astronaut?

Whatever it is, we all wanted to be something when we grew up. No doubt it changed frequently, but there was always something that attracted us. Something that captured our imagination and made us want to leave our mark on the world. Something that made us dream BIG dreams, set goals with our hearts and made us dwell in a happy and simple place of aspiration and desire.

Some of us had big scale dreams and aspirations, and some were on a smaller scale - but we all had them, no matter what shape they took. And what's more we truly believed we would achieve those goals. We wanted to reach for the stars and life was fresh enough, and new enough that it didn't even cross our minds that we may not reach quite that far.

Somewhere along the line, something happens and we start to reign in those aspirations. We start to put a ceiling on our dreams. We realise that life isn't quite as carefree as we expected and bills need to be paid, regardless of whether that goal aligns with our bank account, our relationship or our status. Somewhere in our lives, between being little girls and big girls, we lose that belief that we can be anything we want, we can do anything we chose.

I played with Barbie's growing up. They were my absolute favourite thing. I had so many I lost count, they had their own cars, houses, families, clothes and so many accessories that a Khardasian would be proud. I would spend hours arranging their houses (with VHS videos acting as walls in their houses!), dressing them up, setting up their relationships etc. and then acting out how their lives would go. Ultimately my Barbie's had different names, different clothes but each time, they ended up walking the same road, making the same (dramatic) choices - and I only realised that today when I thought about it. I realised I was acting out the path that I wanted to take.


But as I got older, I lost the belief I could reach those amazing dreams. I wasn't good enough at Science to be a doctor (so I thought), my hand wasn't steady enough to be an artist (or so I thought) and I certainly wasn't cool enough to be a TV presenter! So I somehow adopted the mentality that I needed to take what I could and settle for the rest.

I passed up opportunities that could have taken me in the polar opposite direction. I made choices and decisions that others hugely disagreed with...But that's life, right?

You may have big dreams that you feel you've missed the opportunity to reach for. You may feel it's too late to re-start, but it's not. We need to find that little girl mentality once again, and really start impressing on our little girls that they CAN be what they want, there is NO ceiling and life may try to convince them otherwise, but life CAN be exactly what they want it to be.

Barbie, after 59 years of relying on Ken to be the Doctor, the Astronaut, the alpha...and finally she has found her voice, she's found herself. And she's helping little girls of the next generation to find theirs, and to reach for them even more.

Barbie, you did good. Once again, you encourage me to dream big dreams.

Check out Barbie's new, embracing feminism and inspiring video here. It will bring out the little girl in all of us...