TIB x ANGIE. Founder of The Real Women Movement and Photographer with Intention.
In this exhilarating and vulnerable interview with TIB Angie shares her personal struggles with beauty and body acceptance that she has faced throughout her life. She talks about the inspiring changes she has made to transform her personal narrative around the term beauty and how that lead her onto her path to become a conscious creator. So, grab your beverage, and read on below:
What has been your personal journey with ‘beauty’?
OMG, the word BEAUTY, such a trigger throughout 99% of my life! Now? The word beauty defines the kind of art I create. Let me explain...
Most of my life I would think that beauty was a certain look in which I did not fit in (face, body, ethnical features, weight, skin imperfections), but now I know this wasn't really the definition of beauty, it was the projected beauty standards.
Here's a definition I found recently: Beauty is a concept that refers to the quality or combination of qualities in a person, place, or thing that pleases the senses, especially the sight. It can be characterized by attributes such as attractiveness, elegance, symmetry, harmony, and proportion, among others. Beauty is subjective and can vary from one individual to another, depending on their culture, values, and personal preferences.
This definition is important to share since it aligns better with my current definition, specially the part of: "Beauty is subjective and can vary from one individual to another, depending on their culture, values, and personal preferences".
Most of my life I truly believed that if I did not look like the beauty standards I constantly saw in magazines, I would never be seen as beautiful. And yes, perhaps due to the fact that we've been marketed AN SPECIFIC kind of beauty, perhaps till this day, the majority of humanity still sees beauty through that lens. But guess what? I've discovered that I don't need the MASS MAJORITY of humanity to see me through the lens of beauty, I desire to attract the most aligned human beings, humans that now see life through my same lens of values. And perhaps these are not the most appealing words we want to read when we are "searching for beauty", but if I was to give ONE IMPORTANT message through these words, is this, - when you embrace your unique beauty, choose to focus on health(body, mind, soul), and practice empowerment, you WILL see/experience a shift of attraction by others and will witness sparks and sparks of self-love blossom day by day.
What is your journey with self-love? Self-compassion? Self-acceptance?
What a question! It deserves a REAL and soulful answer.
So let me start with my shadows. Since I was about 9yo up until about 1-2 years ago(it's been a gradual process), I suffered from "body hatred", yes, I HATED MY BODY, therefore, I would unconsciously not take care of it, in the contrary, I would hurt it. How? Binge eating, hiding it, literally, "dimming the lights" when necessary. I blamed most of my disadvantages in life to my "looks", so not only did I suffer in front of the mirror, but also would dive into a toxic rabbit hole in my head EVERY day telling myself how unworthy I was due to my appearance.
I felt the need to express the above for you to see the drastic change the following practices have done to me. I have lived 99% of my life with this, and now, I so proud and grateful to say, I've been genuinely healing from inside out and here is how...
If I look back, and divide my healing into stages, I would start about 6 years ago in the stage of my life where I took a drastic change, I stopped consuming drugs, stopped drinking and started shifting my diet into a cleaner one. But the real self love came in when I started practicing vulnerability, mindfulness, meditation, and took a conscious DECISION to work on my personal struggle with body hatred.
I started to face my biggest fears, eg - wear bathing suits on the beach with a sexy energy, no longer hiding my acne imperfections by creating a mental bubble in my head that says, "the ones that see it and still love you, are the ones that deserve your energy, your imperfections bbygirl, are curating the most aligned loving humans for you", I whisper/play this mantra in my mind every time I need it, specially during sexual intimacy, and or public settings where my body is exposed. And to add to this practice, I once listened to Stefani (Lady Gaga) in a podcast episode talk about "radical acceptance", this transformed me, I was now able to ACCEPT it all, from my ethnical features that I always wanted to change and look like someone else, to the most sexy and empowered sides of me.
Along side this practice, I started to re-design my environment, how? By hanging with authentic humans, unfollowing and following new social accounts (from influencers to brands), podcasts, books, that aligned with my values, beings/communities that choose to create and showcase what's REAL. Diversity, perfect-imperfections, loving awareness, kindness, and more. One that I always share with pride, is Hara the Label (@hara_thelabel), this account did WONDERS to my soul, it visually showed me that I COULD be "imperfect" and still be sexy, sensual, cool.
My/our art/craft also plays a huge role in my body-love journey. Because I'm exposed to many forms of bodies, I can see/feel with me own body, mind and soul all the forms of diversity, perfect-imperfections, and the mind blowing scenarios of women(and men) that have the most quintessential bodies but their souls are ripped apart, AND vice versa, other humans that embrace their own identity in a way that allows them to live with peace and ease, therefore attracting it all! One of my most important mantras: "I create the art I need the most for myself" and "my art heals me".
One other magical perspective on this. When you have the courage to be YOU, as imperfect OR perfect that that may be or look like, you GIFT that "green light" for others to do the same. And this loving awareness has gifted me THE BIGGEST form of momentum to not "dim my light" to match other humans frequencies.
Today, I focus on health. I don't ignore the sex appeal side of things, but I've been able to come to a soulful place in life, where my health(body, mind and soul) IS more important than looking a certain way. And the funny things is, when you are aligned(balance), YOU WILL LOOK SEXY, I promise you. Work on you, all the pillars that make us human, from nutrition, mental intelligence, a purposeful craft/career, aligned tribe/friends, and so, - when you start to combine in harmony many of these elements, you will see that you will automatically GLOW UP!
Again, I'm grateful and proud to say, today, I have the most amazing lovers, the most magical friends and the most epic life I could've ever imagined. I'm sitting in a front porch looking out at the waves where the surfers are competing, sipping on my ceremonial cacao while receiving the most romantic love messages from my lover and writing an article for an incredible movement that is so aligned with my values.
Life gets magical when we put in "the work", meaning: vulnerability, kindness, radical acceptance, play, flow, stillness, honor to your intuition, healing your ego, clarity and direction towards your dreams, - among many more.
How do you feel about self-expression? Do you feel like you’re able to be completely yourself?
Today, I'm proud to say: I do.
I say proud, because IT AIN'T EASY. We live in a society that really does make it hard for us to be US. So, I've been using TONS of my courage(specially in social/public settings) to BE ME! One of my biggest and most transformative practices is dancing in front of humans everywhere/anywhere. From an airport lobby to a packed beach. Aside from the fact that I adore this ritual, because I LOVE dancing, I also do this as a form of harvesting empowerment for myself(like going to the gym, but for my confidence). When I'm in it, I do feel scared to be judged at start, but when that happens, I GO INWARDS, I close my eyes and tap into a section of me that gifts me peace, assurance, and the feeling of safeness. And this practice I take with me in so many other settings of life.
And in regards to my/our art/craft, it's been a process of seeing the acceptance and positive impact it has been creating in myself and others, so in some form or the other, it's a combination of trial and error plus your own judgment of what feels right. Notice I used the word, feel.
It hasn't been easy to create the edgy disruptive art we do. Especially in contexts where it's not seen as "a good thing". This always challenges me but what always centers me is to go back to my loving intentions, the REASON/S I do what I do, which is to CONSUME, CREATE AND SHOWCASE what's real, raw and perfectly imperfect. Among more, like, creating safe spaces for humans to be animals again, to be wild and free without judgment, to be child-like, be playful, be ART!
What was the moment you decided to use your work as a force of good in the beauty industry?
Wow Lorna, I love your intentional questions, they make me feel seen.
In summary-ish, hehe, I started working with humans bodies as a photographer when I moved to the Riviera Maya about 3 years ago during pandemic, in that moment, I started to realize many "problems" and or virtues within our culture. Because of this awareness, I chose to be a "conscious creator", meaning, a human that chooses to harvest goodness, kindness and/o realness through their craft. And in that time, I realized that I was not creating in alignment, that most of my photos were still showcasing only a quintessential version of women(sometimes men), and with this realization I decided to create a photo shoot that captured diversity. It's important to mention, I was also struggling to be seen professionally, as I was a new photographer in town, so a big part of that first ever collective photo shoot was also as a creative form of marketing/networking. Little did I know that this would turn into an art movement and a powerful expression of my values and a way to give service to my community, my Dharma(aka, your individual purpose).
When I created the very first Real Women photo shoot, I had no idea that people could actually find healing through such an experience. But as we came together for the shoot (which took place at sunrise on my birthday, July 17th, 2021), I witnessed a collective healing taking place. How did this happen? By immersing oneself in a practice or ritual that's created with a loving intention, one can experience the energy of that intention. While this concept may feel too spiritual for some, on a psychological and physical level, it can bring a sense of connection, belonging, kindness, oneness, and ALIVENESS. In the case of photo shoots meant to promote body love, practicing vulnerability and radical acceptance can be incredibly healing. Seeing for oneself the many different forms of bodies can also help to promote this healing. Feeling the hugs and touch of your sisters in a safe space CAN be a game changer to heal perhaps a trauma that you/we may have. Among many other examples.
What kind of impact do you want to leave?
One of my biggest goals with this movement is to make kindness and imperfections cool again. To combine aesthetics, play and rad experiences with therapy, vulnerability and service. And to be able to make this movement and/or state of mind viral, I desire to co-create with many brands and organizations around the world!
I would love if we can make natural beauty the new "Kardashian look" we've been glorifying!
What kind of future would you want to create for yourself, and for the world?
This question can be answered through my/our art. Let me explain...
For some time, I started to ask myself some questions like, WHY do I create this type of art? Why in nature? Why flowy? What is play? What is art therapy? Why nudity? Why movement?, the list goes on and on. What I found is that I was creating the HEAVEN ON EARTH that I desired to live in. The art I create is what I desire humanity to BECOME. Paradise, siblinghood, connection to nature, harmony with the flora and fauna, presence, flow, movement, dance, touch, intimacy, rituals, community, aesthetics, and more.
What one piece of advice would you give to our listeners about beauty, self-awareness or simply living a life as true to yourself as you possibly can?
One piece of advice: "the more courage you put in, the more magic you get back!"
Being US, IS HARD! Achieving to see ourselves as beautiful, can also be hard, it really is, but remember it gets easy and the more you are your loving self, the more you will attract and harvest magical humans, opportunities, soulful experiences, synchronicities, abundance and SELF LOVE (the OG beauty).
On beauty. It's a reality that humanity has a standard viewpoint of what beauty looks like, and until this changes in a global way, it's up to us to shift this illusion of beauty in our own personal level. In case you haven't tapped into this thought, remember, deep down, being physically beautiful is not REALLY what we desire. We confuse being seen as beautiful as a form of attraction and we trick ourselves to believe that looking a certain way, will bring us beauty. What we REALLY desire is to ATTRACT beauty, eg - loving relationships, wholesome social experiences, seeing ourselves as beautiful in the mirror, deep connection with ourselves and others. So when YOU allow the shift of perspective of what you REALLY desire, you will start to witness beauty in not only looks, not saying it doesn't matter, cause it does, but what you REALLY DESIRE IS REAL BEAUTY: love, abundance, joy, harmony, admiration, respect, peace, ease, inspiration, and so.
And finally, what does the word ‘beauty’ mean to you?
At this point I've written the word beauty and/or beautiful many times, but if I was to summarize my biggest definition of beauty, it word read like this:
“Beauty, is harmony, aesthetics, flow.
Harmony as a feeling
Aesthetics through my artistic sense
Flow as a verb”
You can follow Angie and her movement on instagram here: @realwomen_movement
WHATS UP NEXT …
