It started with a beat – No, for real!

Dancing around in my room, feeling good while jamming out, is somewhat cathartic, and ups my self-confidence tremendously. Maybe, it’s the rise in endorphin’s, or just a really good song, but I truly delved into where I stood with body positivity at the end of 2016. One minute I was scarfing down my favorite pizza, watching The IT Crowd and lamenting my high school bod subconsciously; and the next moment I decided to plug in some tunes and jam out…and suddenly I was just feeling like this is thee best thing for my body and soul.

So then a shoot happened last year, because Puma South Africa has some of the best gear a curvy plus-sizer could ever wear; and there I am on an kick-ass location in the Cape Town CBD, snapping pictures with my friend. I was feeling a bit nervous – I don’t like people looking at me sometimes, so my self-confidence fluctuates – and I thought back to the tunes I danced to in my room, and I started having so much fun with my body and the camera.

See. the greatest gift I gave myself in 2016, was starting to truly embrace that I might be okay-looking, and not just the crusty ghoul I oftentimes used to think I walk around as. 😱

I am in the throes of building lasting and healthy self-esteem, and a love of my body in any size. 💃

I am doing my best not to compare myself to anything or anybody at any time; to not fracture my confidence trying to come to terms with the daily trials of living, and to believe that I don’t need to validate my fierceness by attracting the male gaze – that I can affirm my hotness with self-love 🙌

So the festive season came and went. Its 2017 and I kicked it off with a sand dune shoot in the outskirts of Cape Town, called Atlantic Dunes.

My friend Aretha said we’re having a beach day, so I was like “cool!” and like a normal person packed a beach bag full of books, food and chill items…but noooooo, Aretha takes us to the dunes, where the ocean is atleast 4km away, and decided to have a shoot. Luckily, I m always dressed to kill…even to the beach (because I’m low-key a self-titled Bond Babe!)

Rocking a swimsuit I had yet to dip into any water, save for my own sweat, and the Afrigarde choker that became my December staple, I think I did reasonably well for this shoot. The images are entirely for me, and every time I glance at them, I’m reminded that I live that reality; that each curve is what I should own, and I should never be uncomfortable in this melanin skin.

#SlayForSelf right?

2017 – The year of further pushing the strides of body positivity, and me trying to validate my existence beholden to my own gaze, and none other!