For a while I was hesitant about my first blog post. I thought, "It should be HUGE"..."It should be tear-jerking"... "It should be award-winning". But then I decided, eh. Why not make it mediocre? Do I even have a following (other than my mom's friends from work)? Who's Olivia Wilson? Oh, that one model who face-swaps with her own face on that one extremely small poster at Lane Bryant? Yeah, let's read her blog.
No but seriously, if for some strange reason you DO care about my life/career/blog posts, I wanted this first one to be inviting to say the least. So I've decided to make the subject of my very first blog post one of the proudest things I have ever done, #OhhDoubleDareYou. If you don't know what that is, it's a hashtag, welcome to the Internet! If you don't know what it means or why it holds any form of reverence to me, here's what you need to know (in the format that I first introduced it on my Instagram page):
When I was younger, I had this tank top. It was white and in the center had two little monkeys and a tree. I remember never wearing shirts that hung tight to my body without that tank top underneath. I realize in retrospect that this special tank top boosted my confidence daily.
Lately I’ve been getting a lot of messages saying things like, “you’re so confident" and “I wish I could be like you." While I am humbled by these messages, I want those people to know that although I am confident in who I am and how I look, that’s not me 24/7. I too struggle with issues of confidence and self-love.
I recently spoke to a close friend about the kinds of battles that we, as young girls and also as women, grapple with (usually while getting dressed) and it inspired me.
I've come to realize that, regardless of whether our battles are internal, external, subconscious, or conscious, we can all benefit from a daily reminder to love whoever and whatever we are. The comfort that my tank top provided me was empowering every time I looked into the mirror. For this reason, I’m starting my own campaign called #OhhDoubleDareYou. My reminder is "#OhhDoubleDareYou: To Be Confident."
(Yes I OhhDoubleDared myself).
When this photograph was taken, I felt beautiful, happy, and confident in my crop top. For this reason it was chosen. The photograph represents my battle, my story, and the confident person I want to always be.
So I ask you, what will your daily reminder be? Ask yourself, what's a phrase that you can benefit from on a daily basis. What's your story?
When you know what it is, post a picture using the hashtag #OhhDoubleDareYou, tag me, and tell me about your reminder! I just might use your photograph and story for the merchandise on my shop!
I #OhhDoubleDareYou !!!
To my surprise I received many submissions to this campaign via Instagram. My goal was and still is to design merchandise in collaboration with those entries that I received. I'm working at each design every day, but there's A LOT so it's taking me a great deal of time. I really do want to release these body-positive/self-loving designs and messages to the public, but I want them to be perfect! I want them to be just as perfect and special as each submission was to the campaign. Men and women shared with me and with social media so much of their personal thoughts, emotions, and struggles, and I want my designs to be a representation that! Here are what a few submissions looked like:
If you were looking for a tear-jerking opportunity, that was definitely it.
So yes, that's #OhhDoubleDareYou, an in-progress collaboration with the people of the world and me, Olivia Wilson. I think I chose to share this campaign with you as my first blog post because not only do I pride myself in it's ability to spread such happiness and positivity, but also because this campaign embodies all of who I am. When fully executed, my intentions are that you'll be able to understand Olivia Wilson as a model, artist, and voice. I hope to use this platform as a place of encouragement, creativity, and expression. I want it to be a blog that will collaborate with the people of the world and me. Sometimes I'll use my words and other times I'll use pictures and/or video. Whatever I do post, I just hope that it can benefit you in some way, even if that means just making you smile!