A Welcome from the Founder

Imagine: the year is 2013. You've just discovered the wonderful world of YouTube vloggers, and now you will do whatever it takes to BE Zoella, from recreating all her hairstyles and makeup looks to trying even to write your own blog. So you set up a WordPress, probably give yourself a cringey username that you thought was quirky and cool, and start writing about whatever it is that 12 year olds find important - for me, that was probably school, friends, boys etc. Obviously, yet still heart-breakingly, the blog does not in fact become famous and internet-breaking like you imagined it would in your Zoella-esque fantasy, and although the mysteriously anonymous 21 views to your first post excites you a little bit, you give up on your blog because you didn't get famous overnight and so now you're bored.

(If you can't relate to any of that - I'm sorry. And also, I envy you for not being a 13 year old girl overly influenced by a social media presence to the point that you will buy any product she even so much as touches.)

Understandably, after my initial failure at age 12, I did not imagine that 7 years later I would be venturing back into the blogging world (in a very different way this time) with a positive mindset, prepared for either failure or success, and whatever may happen along the way.

And may I emphasise - this blog is VERY different from the one I started as a pre-teen.

'The Girlish Collective is not about boys.'

The Girlish Collective is an online blog and social media campaign which aims to inspire young women and girls through the stories, experiences, thoughts and art of other women from around the globe. This blog is about empowering, uplifting, and educating women in every conceivable way, through the words and experiences of other real-life women. It is about discussing subjects that are not given enough airtime, and topics which are still seen as inappropriate or taboo. The Girlish Collective is not about boys. It is not, for the most part, about autumnal makeup looks and Primark hauls (although there is absolutely no shame in enjoying those things. I do!) It is about women, girls, and anyone who identifies as or with this particular gender, expressing themselves, and being heard.

We are always open for submissions to our blog, whether it be poetry, memoir, blog post, or art - we don't care. If you feel passionately about it, then both you and your work belong here. Please feel free to join this little community which I am hoping will grow with us all.

Thank you so much. And I hope to hear all your stories very soon. :)

Love,

Hannah x