What a life I have chosen for myself. To have the unmitigated freedom to redefine everything. I am free to redefine my work-life balance, my career and both the work I make and how I choose to present it, my hair, my style, my relationships, my home — or even the idea of how or where I define “home”. I am just now understanding how much of a gift this is, I used to find it burdensome. To be as adaptable as a chameleon. Constantly wondering if this is a trauma response or a personality trait? And then ruminating on what the difference between the two actually is.

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I have to come to appreciate that the most magnetizing thing about me is my mind. It is my mind that informs everything else about me: my style, my visual language, what I read, the way I speak, my hobbies, who I choose to spend time with…. It took sharing time with “normal” people for me to realize just how obscurely I view the world around me.

Life itself is incredibly monotonous, one must intentionally seek or create the extraordinary themselves. Like a game of eye spy, I am always seeking to find beauty in the mundane. Because of this, I no longer want to mostly make content and sometimes make art. I desire to mostly make art and sometimes make content.

As an attempt to hold myself accountable for fulfilling my own desires, I’m sharing some photographs from my archives….. an effort to share more of my work than I hoard of it.

all images taken on 35 mm Ilford PANF 50 with an Olympus LT Zoom 105

A gathering must occur…. of my sanity. There are days I want to be heard, and days where I need nothing more than to be left completely alone. This makes it difficult to live, or even be in relationship, with people.

I think I have been trying to build a home inside of other people, all the while abandoning myself. And, I’ve been doing it all uninvited. What life am I chasing, and is it even the one God is handing me?

I’ve been begging to be a writer, but I am paralyzed by the fear of being seen. No, my vanity craves the validation. Like an addict, a dose of someone else’s praises is enough to keep me writing more. It is not the visibility that I find frightening. I am actually afraid of being judged, misunderstood, and emotionally mishandled. How then, do we evict fear from the home it’s made deep within us? Like a parasite, just feeding on our insecurities. Perhaps, bit by bit. It’s an unrelenting process, that much I know. Painstaking. A self imposed challenge I am willing to accept because I know the fruits of this emotional labor will be plenty, and sweet as fuck.

Dress: Araks

Scarf: Free People

Shoes: Dolce Vita

Bag: Thrifted

Jewelry: Vintage

The other day I had the wild realization that I’ve been a creative entrepreneur for 16 years. WOW.

When I really sat with that, I couldn’t believe how many different lives I’ve lived within one career.

Over the years I’ve been a wardrobe stylist for nearly a decade, produced and acted in web series, blogged, worked as an influencer, hosted a podcast, written articles, become a photographer, studied herbalism, built a cannabis community, founded a cannabis company, lectured at universities, spoken on countless panels, collaborated with dozens of brands, and created work that has taken me all over the world.

I’ve experienced incredible highs. I’ve won awards, landed dream opportunities, been featured in some of the most notable publications, and built communities I never imagined possible. I’ve also lost money, made painful mistakes, watched ideas fail, and had to start over more than once.

But, the one thing I didn’t have throughout those sixteen years was guidance. I was following my heart and my intuition. Sometimes that led me exactly where I needed to go. Other times it led me straight into lessons I could have avoided had someone simply shared what they had learned before me.

A few lessons I learned the hard way:

• not every opportunity should be judged solely by the paycheck. Sometimes saying yes to a smaller project can open the door to a relationship that changes the trajectory of your career.

• I learned how difficult it can be to budget as a freelance artist when invoices are paid Net 30—or later—and your rent is due now. This is why multiple streams of income are not just nice to have, they are a dire necessity.

• it is essential to manage your time, your energy, and your creative resources, because as artists, our imagination is often our greatest asset. If we constantly pour from an empty cup, eventually the work begins to suffer too.

These are things that almost no one is going to teach you how to navigate as a creative entrepreneur. Which is why, about ten years ago, I created The Blueprint to bridge that gap. It was born from a simple desire: to give emerging creative entrepreneurs the guidance I wish someone had given me.

Over six weeks, we’ll gather live each week to talk about storytelling, visibility, creative confidence, audience building, pricing, pitching yourself, building sustainable creative systems, cultivating meaningful relationships, navigating brand partnerships with integrity, and creating work that doesn’t just exist in the internet ether…. but that actually captivates people.

More than anything, we’ll talk honestly about what it actually takes to build a creative life over the long term. Not just how to make beautiful work, but how to sustain yourself while making it.

If you’ve been sitting on an idea, a dream, a project, a business, a body of work, or a creative calling that refuses to leave you alone, consider this your final invitation.

Whether you’re just beginning or you’re ready to evolve into your next chapter, my hope is that The Blueprint helps you avoid some of the mistakes I made, build on the lessons that took me years to learn, and move forward with greater clarity, confidence, and intention.

Today is the final day to enroll in this year’s cohort. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE AND TO SECURE YOUR SPOT.

I’d love to spend the next six weeks with you. Here's what a few members of past cohorts had to say after our time together

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The world is uncertain, the economy is changing, algorithms have made creating content feel disheartening, and people are searching for authentic ways to express themselves without ai. Most of us are trying to build something sustainable, and to approach our creativity with more structure and intention.

The Blueprint is a program I designed years ago to give creative people the foundational framework to fully embrace creative entrepreneurship. In the decade I’ve been teaching it, I’ve had over 100 students transform their relationships to their creative practices.

What The Blueprint Is:

A 5.5-week program designed for creatives, freelancers, and entrepreneurs who are ready to stop hesitating and start doing. Whether you need clarity, strategy, or just someone to hold you accountable, this program is about taking action.

What You’ll Get:

- How to establish your creative business & the importance of a solid foundation
- How to find your voice and niche in a crowded space
- How to build a creative process that optimizes your workflow & helps you work smarter
- The importance of investing in yourself & your creative career
- Time management strategies to help you stay consistent & disciplined
- How to understand your audience & show up authentically for them
- Community-building techniques to keep your audience engaged & growing
- How to cultivate trust with your audience & turn them into lifelong supporters

This year, The Blueprint will run ONCE.

This will be the only cohort I host this year.

please use code GRATITUDE until 06/10/26 for 30% off

CLICK HERE to learn more about the program and/or to reserve your spot.

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Last November, Georgia Hilmer came to hang out with me in Naponach, NY. I was spending the month alone in a friend’s upstate retreat, in desperate need of the type of healing that could only be accessed through solitude.

Georgia was there to photograph me on behalf of HARA, who wanted to feature me in their Hara Earth Woman series. The whole thing felt…. serendipitous.

For starters, I’ve been part of the Hara ecosystem for years: through gifting, campaigns, and hanging out with Ali (HARA’s founder) when she visited NYC a few years ago, I’ve been able to cultivate a real relationship with the brand. Not to mention, I’m honestly just a fan of the world they’ve built. Ethical, sustainable, and naturally made/dyed, HARA creates clothing that is in partnership with Mother Earth, which directly supports my own views on fashion and sustainability.

Secondly, I’ve been a pretty big fan of Georgia’s for a few years. I discovered her work on Instagram, and immediately added her to a list of photographers that I’d like to work with. You can imagine the joy that shot through me when I found out she would be the photographer for the feature.

I’ve spent a good amount of time in front of the camera over the span of my career, but this would be my first time being photographed by anyone other than my own self in almost a year. I was rusty, nervous, and felt extremely awkward. Candidly, I think there’s something deeply unnatural about being photographed. There is an intuitive hyper awareness that activates when the lens is pointed at you that I don’t think I will ever overcome. I am in awe of the people who do it effortlessly.

Nonetheless, we moved through the shoot with relative ease, and when I saw the final photos I felt nothing but confidence.

Although HARA is the latest interview I’ve done, I’m no strangers to being featured in publications (Forbes, Rolling Stone, Essence, Huffington Post, Paper Magazine, and many more) I am often asked: how do you get the opportunity to be interviewed or featured by brands and publications, and while I do not have a one-size-fits-all formula, I’ll share my thoughts on how I think I may be maintaining visibility.

1. Be interesting. And I don’t mean in a gimmicky way. People are magnetized by uniqueness. It breaks up the monotony we are so constantly inundated with. When you live a life full of interesting ideas, thoughts, people, places, and things… people genuinely want to know more.

2. Meet people. Again, not in a manipulative way, but be genuine in how you interact with others. Build relationships and actively be part of communities. The more visible you are, the more likely someone who knows you may want to feature you.

3. Put yourself out there. Don’t be afraid to pitch yourself to the publications or brands that you want to feature you. Shoot your shot, you literally don’t know what may come from it.

Anytime I am interviewed or featured I feel a rush of gratitude. Grateful that the work I do is revered by like minds. Grateful to be seen, heard, and understood. And grateful to be celebrated for who and what I am.

If you’re interested in reading the full interview as well as seeing the rest of the images, they can be found HERE.

I was recently asked: How do you reconcile the fierce and soft parts of yourself when they clash? Or do you tend to let them coexist?

After reflecting, this is what I wrote in my journal: Reconciliation would imply that they are in opposition, but in order to me to live harmoniously all parts of me must work together. Fierceness and softness are not oil and water, just as I am not fragmented. These polarities must coexist, ebb & flow, to ensure that I remain a whole, embodied, and sovereign woman.

What an exciting time to be an artist. We are entering an atmosphere where renaissance can unfold. We are witnessing ai create art, content, music, and films alongside those very same things created by human eyes, hands, ears, mouths, and minds. Art is losing the one thing I never imagined it could: humanity.

I believe that now is the time when human error, flaw, and mistake can infuse soul back into art. I want to believe that there are pieces of the human experience that are uniquely ours, and cannot be replicated by machine.

Real life is too sweet. Too bittersweet, simply to fabricate it for the small screen. We must continue to live fully in our own lives. To savor them. To never forget that we once had time to make and do beautiful things slowly, with skill, and with intention.

Life is not meant to be perfect or redundant. Life should be messy, impertinent, and full of love, sweetness, and joy.

If you are looking for guidance on how to bring your stories to life in this digital space, I am teaching my Art of Digital Storytelling workshop online tomorrow (March 2, 2026) and would love to have you. You can register or learn more about the workshop HERE

Be well. And be real.

And if you’ve seen the films or happen to watch one (or all) at my suggestion, let’s have some community discourse in the comments about it.

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Daughters of the Dust

Sinners

Eve’s Bayou

She’s Gotta Have It

I am tired of filtering through AI to find real, authentic, imperfect voices, content, and stories. Truthfully, it’s become an exhausting task. Where has all of our creativity gone? Swept away in the incessant demand to create more, we have surely lost the plot.

Creativity and art are our God given gifts. They are the source of healing, expression, and preservation…. and we are just willingly handing it all over to machine. The instant gratification of it all really is not that gratifying for any of us. The artist is no longer healing through the process of making or doing. And the audience, well, we are all getting the nutrient deprived fast food version of art. No one is satiated.

I have been doing this internet thing as a career for a long time, a little over 16 years at this point. I have witnessed apps, trends, and personalities come and go. But the one thing that has kept me afloat has been an authentic pov, and the willingness to create on my own accord. And while it may not always be trendy or garner virality, my work is resonate. Emotion provoking. Satiating. And honestly, that’s what I want for more of us. To create meaningful, timeless things that people will return to again and again.

In 2024 I taught The Art of Digital Storytelling for the first time at Birmingham Southern University, and have since taught it a few times online. What I have learned is that we are all becoming tired of stale, redundant, viral content that lacks depth. We are craving something more meaningful, something that feels personal, intentional, and authentic, and while this workshop can’t promise this for everyone….I can say with confidence that it will give you the foundation and the tools to make work that stands out.

With this said, I will be teaching this workshop twice virtually this year. The first time being March 2 at 7:30pm est. This may be aligned with your creative journey if you’re:

• aspiring content creators looking to craft compelling visual stories

• Creatives and entrepreneurs wanting to strengthen their digital presence

• Influencers seeking to add depth and authenticity to their content

• Anyone looking to refine their storytelling voice and improve their creative process

You can find out more about the workshop and secure your seat at the table HERE

and if you’re a paid subscriber there’s a 50% off code below the paywall. A little gift of gratitude for your support.

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This morning I came across Otissia Lynette’s essay: Fear of Being Seen: The Witch Wound and How to Heal it. The essay is incredible, and deserves a read. What caused me pause was the question she posed: What does visibility feel like in your body? Immediately, I reached for my pen and scribbled my hurried thoughts onto paper. In an attempt to salvage my own relationship with visibility, I’m sharing said thoughts here. Unplanned. Unedited. Unfazed by their imperfections.

What does visibility feel like in your body?

Like shallow breath being swallowed down pipes too small to hold it. Anxiety. Fear. Wretchedness. I feel like a lamb being served on a platter for ravenous wolves to devour, limb by limb. There is startling fear in what others will think of me or say about me, and in my reflection I realize that these feelings are new. There was a time when I was fearless ….and free.

The liberation I once felt has eroded after being confronted with insidious surveillance time and time again. I felt free until people started trodding my name and my work through the mud. I allowed them to create discomfort. Shame. Mistrust. They planted seeds of insecurity, and I watered them with self doubt until the seeds grew and planted roots large enough to shrink me. Reduce me to the nothingness they had hoped it would. I let them win. And, I’ve based my existence on proving those people wrong. In fighting tooth and nail for them to open their eyes just enough so they see my worth. Wasted time. People that blind will never know what true fortune is, and I’ve been a fool for trying.

This introspection has been a gateway to repairing the relationship I have to visibility. I intend to restructure it, and then revive myself through it. I am almost certain there is medicine to be found in this journey.

This is the second entry in an ongoing series on sensuality and the radical study of self. The first essay, which serves as a prologue, can be found HERE.

Self-portraiture is my chosen medium, a mirror through which I explore the many layers of myself as a muse, artist, and subject. This practice is not one of vanity but a conscious journey into the depths of my sensuality, femininity, and emotional landscape. Through the act of documenting my body, emotions, and reflections, I weave together fragments of my identity, reclaiming power and intimacy in my relationship with myself.

In an age of external validation and constant noise, I choose to turn inward. Diary entries, self-portraits, and film become tools for deep introspection, radical self-examination, and healing. I aim to unweave the threads of insecurity that have been tethered to my sense of self for too long, replacing them with a tender intimacy. This is a profound artistic and emotional excavation of who I am and who I am becoming.

In this work, I am both creator and creation, at once the artist and the canvas. I use my body as a form of expression, capturing moments of vulnerability and strength, imperfection and beauty. The study of my own form and psyche allows me to develop a deep intimacy with myself. It is a doorway into healing the wounds of sensuality and femininity that have been shaped by the external gaze and societal expectations.

This is a practice of self-empowerment, a celebration of the muse that exists within all of us. Through my lens, I seek to redefine what it means to be seen, not by others but by myself, in all my complexity and contradictions. The act of self-portraiture and diary-keeping is, for me, a form of liberation and an opportunity to connect with my often neglected feminine energy that is both delicate and fierce, vulnerable and resilient.

By studying myself in this way, I hope to inspire others to embark on their own journeys of self-discovery and healing, to embrace their authentic selves, and to use their own bodies and experiences as muse, artist, and canvas. This is the art of becoming whole, of turning inward to find the raw beauty that lies beneath the surface.

Manifesto: The Intimacy of Self-Portraiture

• I am my own muse. Through my art, I reclaim my body and soul as sacred, sensual, and worthy of exploration.

• I am my own subject. The camera becomes my mirror, reflecting not just my form, but the truths hidden in my emotions and vulnerabilities.

• I am my own artist. With every word and photograph, I document the unfolding of my true self: an unfiltered, unguarded expression of my femininity.

• I am my own canvas. My body is my art form, my soul the palette. Through it, I tell stories of healing, intimacy, and the reclamation of self.

• The study of self is radical. To explore oneself deeply, without the influence of the external gaze, is to dismantle the walls of insecurity and self-doubt.

• This is a journey, not a destination. Intimacy with self, sensuality, and emotional healing are lifelong practices. Through self-portraiture and diary, I honor the process.

• My art is not selfish. It is an offering. A declaration of the power and beauty of introspection, a call to others to look inward and find their own muse.

If this resonates, I’d love to see the self-portraits you make in response to this work. I invite you to sit with how it feels to be both witness and subject. I’d love to see your images and read your reflections.

This post serves as the prologue for a series I’ll be sharing here over the coming weeks.

As we welcome 2026, I know we will also welcome an influx of ideas around personal goals, upgrades, routines, and rebrands. There will be no shortage of rules, systems, and prescriptions for how we are meant to improve ourselves.

But I can’t subscribe to anything rigid anymore.

This year, I’m choosing sensuality over discipline.

Life is already hard and structured enough. 2025 was a tough pill to swallow for many of us, and honestly, I could use a little ease in 2026. For me, that ease begins with redefining my relationship to ritual and routine.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the parameters, numbers, and analytics we self-impose and how often they actually hinder our intuition. I don’t know that I need to walk 10,000 steps every single day, or eat X grams of protein every meal. What about the days my body calls for more? Or for less? When we commit ourselves to rigid ways of living, we miss the opportunity to be in harmony with our own unique bodies and their natural rhythms.

And to me, this is the very premise of sensuality: to be in intimate communication and partnership with your body.

Sensuality is the pursuit and embodiment of pleasure, and that pleasure extends far beyond the container of sex. When we position ourselves to seek and experience pleasure in all areas of our lives, we invite sensuality in. We allow sensation, desire, and responsiveness to guide us.

Discipline, as it’s often taught, feels deeply masculine. And too often, as feminine beings, we are asked to embody masculine traits in order to survive within a patriarchal culture. Control. Force. Endurance. Productivity at all costs.

But choosing sensuality offers us the gift of sovereignty.

It reminds us that softness can also be a sword, and that there is power in the feminine approach to things. Sensuality becomes a gateway to the reclamation of our feminine energy. Instead of forcing, controlling, or chasing anything this year, I am choosing to flow, to call in, and to receive.

Sensuality is an act of rebalancing.

So many of our lives are built around structure and restraint, leaving little room for self-trust, authentic expression, or true regulation. Our bodies are tired of being managed. They want to be listened to.

Sensuality is a reconnection to desire.

Discipline asks: What should I do?
Sensuality asks: What do I want?

Discipline relies on rules.
Sensuality relies on sensation.

Sensuality restores trust in your own intuition. It doesn’t ask you to override it. It is a soft but boundaried refusal of grind culture, a gentle rebellion against living in constant opposition to your body.

To live a life rooted in sensuality requires that we reframe what structure means to us. I’m inviting myself to sit with the idea that structure can be body-led, intuitive, humane, feminine, and cyclical… rather than rigid, punitive, and linear.

This is the energy I’m choosing to move with this year. And I hope to maybe inspire you to do the same.

I consider myself a book connoisseur (is that even a thing). On any given day I can be found haunting used book stores. I cringe as I type this because I’d rather not admit that: I don’t need anymore books. I mean we could all use more books. but in reality, I’m running out of space. Pinterest has been a bit of a book vision board for me. I come across obscure titles there all the time, so much so that I created a board where I can save them all. This has been an ongoing practice of mine for years. But this year, this summer, I am actually going to start reading them.

My friend Veronica invited me to Central Library in Brooklyn (the perfect friend date for a girl like me). Of course I accepted, and immediately realized that I did not have a library card. I’ve been so busy hoarding books that I forgot about the lost art of borrowing them. Signing up for a library card was an incredibly easy process. Instantly I had access to view the Brooklyn Public library’s collection. I made a wishlist of some of my coveted pinterest titles, placed 3 on hold, and anxiously waited until friend date time when I would get to pick them up.

The Starting Line Up
Summer feels sensual, feminine. The heat causes us to wear less, and I become hyperaware of my body, my skin. I chose these titles because I was looking for something to satiate this blazing surge of feminine energy I have been feeling. Not knowing much about the books aside from their genres and what little evidence the titles gave away, I started.

Of course this title sold me. What scorned woman wouldn’t gravite towards this?! However, the book isn’t actually a man-hating manifesto. Nina’s writing is honest, sincere, and relatable. I don’t want to give anything away, but the third I’ve read thus far has been incredible.

In full transparency, I try to read any book I find on Hoodoo. There are so little texts written by Black folks on the subject, that the ones that do exist are coveted and sacred. This has been in my list for a while, but once I cracked it open I found it difficult to absorb. Chesnutt uses AAVE from times past, and while I appreciate his preservation of the language and dialect… it is a tedious read. I’ll likely revisit this text when I have the patience to translate it.

I read this book twice in one week. It is THAT good. Yesenia’s use of language is magical. She gives language to emotions and experiences that I could never name. I felt understood in these pages, seen…felt. This is the type of book I plan to gift all of my friends because I know they will find healing here as well. Some books are medicine, and this one undeniably is.

I’ve since dropped these books off, and picked up a few more. Which means that you should be expecting another Summer book roundup soon. I hope that maybe you’ll read these, and if so… please share your thoughts with me.

My phone finally reached that inevitable point—1TB overflowing with images, videos, emails, messages, notes… an archive of digital memory. The glitches and malfunctions were a signal that it was time to sift through and reconsider what deserved to be saved. The notes became my first target.

As I scrolled back by year, beginning with 2017, I was struck by the fragments of myself preserved there—ideas, fleeting thoughts, lists, and confessions I’d almost forgotten. Amid the clutter, I uncovered pieces of unexpected gold, reflections I once jotted down in the spaces between living.

In the spirit of Susan Sontag’s journals, where she wove herself as both subject and muse, I offer these entries as raw glimpses into that year. Below are unpublished thoughts, poems, anecdotes, and stories from a younger version of me circa 2018.

January 1, 2018

The pain always makes the writing better. Sometimes I wish love flowed from my pen just as easy.

May 26, 2018
~ Necessity is the mother of invention

June 27, 2018
~ Mediocracy will stunt your growth.

~ In the age of instant gratification we are flooded daily with praises. Everyone’s praises aren’t equal.

September 14, 2018
”The noblest art is that of making others happy.”
— PT Barnum

September 22, 2018
~ You can’t really appreciate a waterfall unless you’ve seen the desert.

~You can’t appreciate the love if you haven’t felt the pain.

~ I think we would be us forever.

~ You’re more beautiful than any of those places you’ve ever been.

~ I seem to find extraordinary beauty in people that a lot of people find ugly.

~ I like girls with imperfections— that’s what makes them perfect to me.

October 4, 2018
~ Speak to me in your mother’s tongue.
Let me hear you roll your r’s like the ocean rolls waves.

~ Does love ever die? Or is it just energy repurposed?

~ Why is my soul tied in irreversible knots to yours? I’m getting rope burn trying to undo the mess we’ve made.

~ I found home in my bones. I’m never a stranger anywhere.

~ Your love means nothing without your loyalty.

October 5, 2018 **(trigger warning: sexual assault)**
My body is a temple. Or so I thought. But do temples get robbed by thieves in the night— because my body was desecrated by a demon posing as a man. And I was just wondering...still wondering... who’s going to tackle the daunting task of refurbishing this sanctuary now that this man has turned it to rubble.

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An audio diary is my go-to if I can’t reach my journal. These usually happen while I’m walking, driving, or moving through the world. These recordings have been a private practice, a way for me to archive my inner musings in real-time. so, this marks the first in a series of audio diaries. This entry was sparked by a drive home from the beach. Sensuality. What it has meant to me, how it has shaped me, and the ways I am reclaiming it.

Being a survivor of sexual assault has altered my relationship with sensuality in ways that I am only now fully unraveling. The impact is insidious, living in the body long after the mind has tried to move forward. But healing, for me, has looked like confronting those wounds through art, through embodiment, through a gentle and patient reintroduction to myself.

Most of these images have remained unseen, tucked away because they felt too vulnerable to share. But I’ve found a bit of newfound trust in my own gaze. And so, as I share this first audio diary, it feels only right to let these images by Alexandra Johnson breathe alongside it.

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Today, I celebrate 39 years of life—a number that feels layered with meaning. It’s the pause before a new decade, a liminal space between what was and what’s yet to unfold. There’s a quiet power in this moment, a reflection of all the lessons learned and the possibilities waiting to bloom.

It’s been five years since I released my last zine, and in that time, I’ve shed so many layers of who I thought I was. This new work is an offering unlike any before it: raw, intentional, and deeply personal. It’s a reflection of my evolution, a documentation of the in-between. Only 39 copies of this edition will exist, a deliberate nod to the intimacy of this offering.

As a small preview, I’m sharing the editor’s letter from this special edition. These words are a glimpse into the heart of this zine, a love letter to the in-between spaces of life. Thank you for witnessing this moment with me, and for holding space for the rawness and beauty of becoming.

Editor’s Letter:

This zine is an appreciation and celebration of the in-between—a reminder of the messy, miraculous process of shedding and becoming. We do not often have a looking glass into metamorphosis as it unfolds. A true taste of the rawness, the discomfort, and the unrelenting vulnerability it bears. Half caterpillar—not quite butterfly—the unrecognizable and grotesque in-between is worthy of love, if not fascination too. It is here, in this space of uncertainty, where lifelines are spun to tether what was to what will become.

Both release and embodiment inhabit us all. This is an invitation to reflect on your own transformations. How can you find comfort in your unfinished alchemization? What does it mean to hold space for yourself in the moments when you feel most unformed?

Far from the influencer many of you have grown to know me as, but not yet the artist I aspire to become, this zine is tangible proof that beauty and relevance can exist in the pitstop of unraveling. We must continue to share ourselves—unpolished, ignorant, and lost—for it is in this sharing that we give grace to ourselves and courage to those who dare to pivot in life. Nothing has ever been, nor will ever be, perfect. Thus, our task has never been to strive for perfection. It has simply, and always, been to find appreciation.

And so, I leave you with this: May you honor the in-between. May you marvel at the threads of who you were, who you are, and who you are becoming. May you hold space for the raw and tender beauty of your transformation—and never forget that the process itself is a work of art.

*you can purchase vol II of Butterfly Musings HERE*

But that’s exactly why digital storytelling matters now more than ever. This art form has the power to bring authenticity and vibrance back to these spaces, to transform the mundane into something meaningful. Earlier this year, I taught The Art of Digital Storytelling at Birmingham Southern University, diving deep into the craft of creating stories that resonate. Now, I’m opening the course to my Muse Manifesto community, offering 20% off with code MUSE. If you’re ready to make your mark in a way that feels fresh and true, register HERE by noon this Sunday, November 10.

Amid the noise, I’ve found a handful of creators who embody this art of storytelling, who add true flavor to the bland pot of social media. They’re shifting the narrative of what digital storytelling can be, crafting something vibrant, raw, and thought-provoking. These creators feed my need for genuine inspiration, and I believe you’ll find them just as alluring.

Behind this list are artists who breathe life into otherwise suffocating spaces—think diaries woven in images, unexpected voices, unapologetic self-expression. Each one brings a distinctive spark, a reminder that originality still exists. This is a list worth savoring.

But… this savory list is too satiating to give away for free. To experience these creators who bring true flavor to the digital landscape, please subscribe—and let yourself be filled with inspiration.

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This Halloween, I’m bringing you a special edition of Cinema Aesthetica. The holiday feels different this year—a softer kind of celebration, more about staying in and finding warmth than costumes and crowds. There’s still a touch of seasonal magic, but it’s quieter, a little more introspective. If, like me, you’re planning to spend Halloween curled up on the couch, a spooky watchlist might be exactly what you need.

I’ll confess: horror has never been my genre. Typically, even the trailers are more than I can handle. But my growing fascination with film has nudged me to step beyond my comfort zone, into the darker, more sinister visuals I’d usually avoid. Of course, I do have my limits:

1. The film must be visually compelling—something worth watching for its artistry, not just its scares.

2. Anything with vampires is fair game.

So here’s a list of hauntingly beautiful films and shows that meet one or both of these criteria. If you’re searching for the perfect watch to capture the spirit of a Halloween night in, these are my picks.

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MOVIES

Midsommar
Directed by Ari Aster, Midsommar is perhaps the most beautifully disturbing movie I’ve ever seen. I watched it years ago with friends, none of us fully prepared for what we were about to experience. The film is visually stunning, with scenes so meticulously crafted that you can’t look away. It’s a bright, open nightmare with an idyllic setting that masks its sinister heart—Aster’s direction leads you through one unsuspecting moment after another, each as haunting as it is breathtaking. This is a horror film where daylight becomes as eerie as darkness, leaving you mesmerized by both the beauty and the terror.

The Substance
The Substance is a film that pulls you in with its stunning cinematography and doesn’t let go until the final, unexpected twist. Directed with a careful eye for detail, each frame is thoughtfully composed, balancing beauty with an underlying sense of unease. Demi Moore gives a remarkable performance, anchoring the story with a depth and intensity that bring the film’s social commentary to life. Just when you think you have a sense of where it’s headed, it pivots, leaving you completely caught off guard by its unexpected ending. It’s a film that lingers, both visually and thematically, long after the credits roll.

Longlegs
Longlegs, directed by Osgood Perkins, is a visual masterpiece that feels like a series of curated stills, each frame as hauntingly beautiful as the last. The film’s deep reds and dark tones create an atmosphere of polished, unsettling elegance, drawing you into a world where beauty and unease coexist. Perkins has an incredible way of making you feel both captivated and unnerved, as if every shot were designed to linger in your mind. Impeccably shot, Longlegs leaves a lasting impression that’s hard to shake, with each frame crafted to disturb and delight in equal measure.

I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House
After raving about Longlegs to my horror-aficionado friend, Shefon Taylor, she recommended another film by Osgood Perkins: I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House. It’s a quiet, slow-burn horror that seamlessly combines two of my favorite things: literature and film. The story is centered around women, and the atmosphere is minimalistic and deeply unsettling, like reading a ghost story that reveals itself one chilling page at a time. The shots are beautifully sparse and haunting, capturing a sense of creeping dread that makes the ordinary feel eerie. Perkins weaves literature and cinema seamlessly here, creating a chilling experience that’s as much about mood as it is about story.

SHOWS

Interview with the Vampire
Interview with the Vampire is one of those shows I could watch endlessly. There’s something magical about seeing a beloved book become a beautifully crafted series, and here, the adaptation absolutely shines. The writing and dialogue take on a poetic quality that pulls you in deeper with each line. The costumes are a visual feast, transporting you to the hauntingly beautiful streets of New Orleans—one of my favorite cities. I’m drawn to vampires in general, and this show does them justice, capturing their allure in a way that’s both romantic and morbid. Having Black main characters in such iconic roles adds a refreshing depth to the story, and the whole experience feels as visually enchanting as it is darkly poetic.

Penny Dreadful
I stumbled upon Penny Dreadful through a still I saw on Pinterest, and immediately, I knew it was something I needed to watch. It’s everything a gothic romance could and should be—dark, mysterious, and elegantly haunting. Vanessa Ives’s costumes are the epitome of Victorian perfection, each piece crafted to reflect her complex character. The show reimagines classic horror characters in a way that feels both modern and deeply human, adding layers to their stories that you wouldn’t expect. The cinematography is pure gothic beauty, with every shadow, every dimly lit frame, enhancing the atmosphere. It’s a world you can lose yourself in, where darkness is rendered with as much elegance as light.

Mayfair Witches
Like Interview with the Vampire, Mayfair Witches is based on an Anne Rice novel, weaving her signature blend of supernatural allure and gothic atmosphere into a captivating series. Set in the ever-enchanting New Orleans, the show captures the city’s dark romance through rich, shadowed color grading, drawing viewers into a world where the supernatural feels like it’s just beneath the surface. There’s something deeply intriguing about watching a main character come into their powers later in life—it feels like a reminder that there’s still time for the unexpected, maybe even something magical, to unfold in our own lives. The aesthetic is moody and lush, with each frame embodying the haunted beauty of New Orleans, and the story invites you to revel in a world where mystery and magic are just a part of the landscape.

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I spend at least one evening a week cosplaying as a cinephile. In childhood, and for most of my adulthood, I preferred books to movies. However, lately, in a lust for art, I’ve sought out films that plant seeds of visual inspiration. This week’s film was A Tale of Summer, written and directed by Eric Rohmer.

The movie is both shot and written in a way that appeals to my diaristic style, and because of this, I’ve chosen it as the first film in the Cinema Aesthetica series. Less of a review series, this is more of a show-and-tell of the films I love—what captivated me, and what I find aesthetically attractive. It’s a sharing of my personal inspirations, with the hope that you’ll consider watching them or sharing your perspective on the ones you’ve seen. Either way, let’s dive in.

The first 10 minutes of the film are something from my vlogging dreams.

Short, cinematic clips with no music or voiceovers—just a pure focus on and appreciation for the aesthetics of real places, people, and spaces. These vignettes, in a way, give me permission to conceptualize vlogs as short films. I love the way even the mundane becomes beautiful, adding value to the overall aesthetic. I’m drawn to films that place importance on establishing setting in a poetic and photographic way.

The lust for a European summer has been activated.

Watching A Tale of Summer has awakened a familiar longing—a deep, almost nostalgic desire for a European summer. The film’s effortless portrayal of leisurely days, golden sunlight, and intimate moments spent by the sea feels like an invitation to escape into simplicity and beauty. Rohmer’s portrayal of summer in Europe feels real yet idyllic, where time seems to slow, and every moment is worth savoring. It’s the kind of summer I dream about: languid, filled with soft breezes, coastal wanderings, and quiet introspection.

The film serves as a reminder that having a classic style means one is effortlessly, and timelessly, cool.

Made in 1996, the characters’ wardrobes still translate as chic nearly 30 years later. Margot’s style, in particular, embodies what I imagine to be the quintessential French girl aesthetic: classic, minimal, effortless, feminine, and fun. There’s a quiet confidence to the way she dresses—understated but undeniably sexy. Most of the women in the film exude this understated allure, where their style feels like an extension of who they are, rather than something they’re trying to achieve. It’s a reminder that true style isn’t about following trends but about cultivating an identity that feels authentic and timeless.

The women in the film are fucking unapologetic.

The women in A Tale of Summer are unapologetically themselves. They are direct, bold, and unflinching in expressing what they want—and, perhaps more importantly, what they don’t want. There’s something magnetic about the way they carry themselves, exuding a quiet but unmistakable confidence. They move through the world with a self-assurance that feels almost radical, unapologetically claiming space without needing permission. Their boldness isn’t loud or aggressive; instead, it’s rooted in a deep understanding of who they are and what they deserve. They’re unafraid to say no, to walk away, or to stand firm in their desires, even when it makes others uncomfortable. In a world that often asks women to soften themselves, these characters remind us of the power in being direct, decisive, and unapologetically authentic.

I absolutely loved A Tale of Summer. It wasn’t just a film—it was a quiet exploration of style, mood, and character that spoke directly to my creative core. This film has inspired me to reimagine how I approach my own visual storytelling, whether it’s in my vlogs or my everyday style. There’s an understated beauty in capturing the mundane and turning it into something poetic, and A Tale of Summer did that so effortlessly. From the timeless fashion choices to the unapologetic way the women in the film move through the world, every detail felt like a lesson in creating art out of life.

This was my first Eric Rohmer film, but it certainly won’t be my last. I’m excited to tap into more of his work, to learn how he uses subtlety and simplicity to craft stories that feel so lived-in, so intimate. If this film is any indication, I have a lot of inspiration ahead of me.

How will you ever experience anything new if you don't dance with discomfort every now and then? That's exactly how I approach attachment... we Tango. It is release. This is where faith is mined: between clinging to what has passed and fully embracing whatever may come. I find depression creeping in when I fight the tide of life, refusing to let be. Everything natural around us flows through cycles. No day in nature is ever exactly the same.

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