Hello? Hello. Hello. Welcome back to Y a mental health. My name is ale floes and we're gonna be talking about beauty, fashion, concentrating mental health. So I am 25. My name is Alejandra, but I go by ale . Um, and I am living in Milwaukee. I am a content creator on Instagram, where I talk about all things, beauty fashion , uh, specifically midsize to plus size style.
And I do talk a lot about positivity , um, mainly self love , um, some affirmations , um, and where I talk a lot about where I'm open about depression as well with my depression
On your official page, it says that you talk a lot about midsize and plus size . What does that mean to you?
So midsize and plus size is like a very difficult topic to talk about just because a lot of people don't know what is considered midsize because midsize plus size is very hard to fashion size . Um, because wherever, wherever you go , um, if you're looking for specific size, go with that size at another shop, it's like a completely different size. Like if you're looking for a 14, you're looking for a 14, but at that place you're in 18. Like it is , it does bring down a lot.
I just, I just wanna share my style. You know , if somebody can resonate with my size, my style, then they could be like, okay, well, if she's, if she could wear that, I could wear that
In today's world. It seems like we really need positivity. And so you spread a lot of that in your post. So could you tell me more about how you spread that positivity and how it kind of came to be?
Um, I spread it because , um, I was dealing with a lot of depression and so I never got to see on social media about depression and it just brought down and I felt literally alone just recently just after COVID happened. Um, is where I feel like a lot of people opened up because I mean, during that time everybody was home and nobody was going out. Right.
Um , of course your depression's gonna go down when I saw that people were more opening up, I'm like, dang, like I'm feeling kind of the same way, so I'm not alone. Like, you know, let me, let me talk to somebody who can I talk to about it? Like, that's where too, like who can I talk to about it? I mean, I never talked to my parents about it. I never even talked about with my partner. Mm-hmm um, just because I felt like, like, oh, what are gonna , what are they gonna think about me now? Yeah,
Of course. You know ? Yeah. It's
Difficult. Um, so after opening up on social media, that's when everybody's like, oh my God, like, I'm the same way. I'm like, you know, that to me is amazing to think like, you know, we could somehow resonate and like, share, like, you know, this is what I'm going through. Like, you know , just opening up about it . And , um, that is when I was like, you know what, this is what I'm gonna be doing. I wanna make people feel like literally they're not alone.
Exactly. Yeah . Is it really difficult to stay positive in those moments? Because I feel as if, when, when we were going through that COVID pandemic and kind of still are, it seemed like a lot of people just kind of fell into a spiral and it kind of, it kind of forced people to not talk about what they were dealing with. And so we became into this kind of world where depression, anxiety, and mental health needed to be talked more.
And now that we're kind of coming out of it, it seems like people are opening up more about it. Do you feel as if we are moving in that kind of direction or do you feel as if we're still taking that step back and mental health isn't going where it is?
Um, a hundred percent. I feel like it's been opening up a lot more. I've been seeing a lot on , um, Instagram now. It just makes me feel so , so good that it's been opening up a lot in the beauty industry. Like I've been seeing a lot of like makeup brands who like, who are talking about mental health. Mm-hmm , specifically rare beauty. That is actually one of my favorite brands that I actually use, but also Selena's story about mental health.
Um, I think that's really amazing and I'm really proud how far social media has come to where everybody can now open up. Right . And not feel bad about it.
Right. And I feel like a part of that plays , um, a really important role because the more that people open up about their mental health, the more that people become comfortable talking about it. And then we can go into a society where we can talk about depression. We can talk about our anxiety and we can honestly help people become not only better selves, but we can also stop , uh, suicide rates because it feels like we're stuck in this society where we can't talk about things like that.
And I believe in beauty, it becomes kind of difficult, right? Because it feels like there's this face that everybody puts on that there's nothing going on behind it, that we all don't have a story, or we all don't have something that we're dealing with. And I think one thing I've learned especially is that you never know what someone's going through.
Right.
And so I think that plays also an important part where perfectionism comes where makeup and beauty is something that needs to be perfect . Do you feel as if perfectionism plays a part in your life, or is this something that you don't regularly deal with?
Of course when I apply the makeup , like obviously I want it to be perfect. Right. Um, I know I would always get a lot of compliments about like, oh my God, your makeup looks good, blah, blah, blah. You know, there's people out there that are like, oh , I can't do makeup like that. And things like that. And I mean, it, it takes practice for sure. I mean, to this day, I still don't know what I'm doing. I feel like that's how everybody is right with makeup .
Cause I try to do it one way and it comes out completely different, which is okay. um, but when it comes to content, creating mm-hmm any for anything, whether you're all influencer or whatever, it does strain a lot in you. But it does like, because I feel like there's like so much you have to do behind camera. Right. A lot of people don't think about it. I know for me, when I first started creating, I'm like, like, dang, you have to do a lot.
um , and a lot of people don't know, like for those that just like looking at post, you know? Exactly. And yeah.
So you talked a lot about rare beauty and how Selena has this incredible story and as a brand ambassador, what is important to you? Is it the story? Is it the product? What really sticks out to you when a company reaches out to you?
I like looking for like, when it comes to makeup , I like that it has to be pro to free mm-hmm um , um, and if I could resonate with their story behind the brand, that's a huge plus , um, whatever I share it's mainly because I truly love it. I truly believe in it. It's not just because, oh, they're gonna offer me free products. Yeah, exactly. Let me take 'em . No, it's because I really like their product or I really like their story.
Nice. And Celina's story sticks out to you the most, the most? Is there any reason why? Well,
I liked her as an artist before. Okay. Um , I like watching her and her Disney movies show . Yeah , of course. Um, and you know, when she became a singer, I'm like, oh my God. Like, you know , I love her songs. And then when she opened this beauty brand, I'm like, oh my God. And when she talked about mental health, like I never knew about her story. Of course.
Like, no one's gonna know about like, especially someone famous or like her, you know, I think she connected so many people , um, like act like, how do I say it ? Like, like everybody loved her. Right. I loved her mm-hmm but it was like a , a better connection knowing that she also was going through something kind of like, like us or, you know? Yeah. So that's, that's a big plus for me
In your posts, you are, you emphasize a lot of things and that's awesome that you can , uh, figure out what your niche is, but what do you really want to get behind when you connect with the people that watch your posts? Do you want to get behind a certain message? Is there a certain thing that you want to say to them or is it kind of just, you're very open about how you're feeling?
I mean, I am very open about what I'm feeling. Um, I , like I said, I share a lot more on my stories than I do on my post. Um, however, I am , um, starting to talk more on my post , um, that way for those that are not looking at my stories yeah . That can relate to posts mainly. I mean, I want people to come on my page and just feel better and feel good. Yeah . No matter what they're going through at that moment.
And if you could resonate with me, if you could be like, oh my God, like, she's just like me for whatever. Um, you know, that's then I did my, my job, like, you know, I want them to feel good. Um, so
Yeah. So what do you enjoy most about making content ?
When we drive around mm-hmm I do actually look around to see like, oh, I could take pictures here. I mean, I love being creative about it. Right. Of course. Um , and I do have ideas, whether it's from like Pinterest or just from Instagram itself, mm-hmm . Um , but I just love being creative my own way. Um , that's awesome. And speaking it through my posts.
So I have a really big issue with overthinking and it's something that I've been trying to deal with. And it seems like with skin beauty and fashion overthinking can play a really important part. How do you overcome that and how do you get out of your own
Head? So when I edit my real , so like my video footage , um, I mean, I love that's like one of my favorite things to do is like edit my videos. I do get frustrated at times mm-hmm . Um, but I just, if it it's not perfect, I just post it anyway, because I know in the end I'm gonna go back and be like, wow, like, look how far I've come.
Right, exactly.
Um , and that is actually one of my favorite things, because I also look back from like a year ago and I'm like, right , dang. I changed so much. like, it's really awesome.
Especially from like your first reel to where you are now. Like I've learned so much
From there. So cringe sometimes like, oh , I made it like that. yeah .
Sometimes you've gotta be CR right? Yeah. Yeah . What are some negative moments that you've realized being in the industry?
Um, so I guess like whenever I see somebody post or even a beauty brand , when they post something with like perfect skin.
Right.
And I don't, I mean, I have acne scars, mm-hmm , um, acne, whatever. Um, and I'm like, it , it brings me down cuz I don't see a person just like me and I wanna see that. Yeah. The only way I see it is from actually other creators, you know, mm-hmm and I mean, I hope to see in the Fu I mean, I don't really see it that much, but I hope to see like with bigger brands that can use P um , people that have like acne so that way they could reach to those type of people. Right.
Um , and it would make me feel better about my, about me, about myself, about my skin.
I feel like this plays such an important role, a part in social media too, because in social media, you don't see the acne scars. You don't see what people deal with. The scars, whether, I mean, I have acne scars too, and I don't, I've never seen like male, like influencers have acne scars and it feels as if that's the
Thing .
Yeah . We're stuck as , um, we , males would love to have perfect skin or I would personally would love no acting or anything. But I went through a really difficult time where I was popping it and not realizing what kind of issues that it comes with it. Do you believe in with the male side of beauty and everything that goes on, do you believe that's not talked about enough as well? Or
Yeah. You know what? I don't see it off . I do not see it at all at all , to be honest. Um , I mean, yeah. There's like those famous YouTubers who are makeup artists of course. Um , and you know, I see them, but I , I have not seen, like, I've never seen it on my page, you know , sometimes on explore page, you would see it. I mean, yeah, I see it, but I feel like there needs to be more.
Yeah, I totally agree. Yeah . Especially with male, we are not sure like what skin, what's the skincare routine, I think just splash water and soap on your face and that's all that it takes. Yeah . But that's something that I really hope we , uh, get to push forward too , so that it's not stigmatized as, oh, he takes care of his skin. Oh, he's just some pretty boy or something like that, but I totally get where you're coming from.
So again, Y a is really, we really focused on the mental health side of it. Uh, if you could talk a little bit more about your mental health and what you've dealt with and how far it you've pushed yourself, not only to maybe overcome your depression and anxiety, but if it's something that you feel comfortable now talking about.
Yeah. So it didn't really push my, it didn't really come in until it was like, of course during COVID. Um, but I think too, during the time that I was in where I was at, I just was unhappy of where I was. Mm-hmm um, I moved to Texas, okay . To live with my mom. I mean, I missed her, so of course I wanted to see her, but I decided to go back to school. Um , but even school let's school. I hated school. I didn't know what I wanted to do for me.
I didn't know what I wanted to do in my life, to be honest, but I just went to school because my family said I had to go to school. Right . So that's what I did. I did get a degree. It did take longer than it should, but at least I have one. Um, but you know, my family was like, well, you gotta decide what you need to do. Right . You know? So I'm like, okay, I'll go back to school, but I'll go live with my mom. So that's when I went to Texas. Yes. I loved the weather. I loved the environment.
Like I loved being at the beach, but for whatever reason, I was just not happy. Yeah . Um , and I was there for a year and a half mm-hmm almost two. Um, but it really broke me down because I was like in my head, like, like, do I wanna finish school? I don't even wanna do this anymore. You know, I , I miss my boyfriend. Yeah. Um, I miss my friends, I missed my other family. Right . Like, you know, and yeah. I had my brother, I had my mom who I'm like , who I'm like super close with.
Um, but for whatever reason, it just didn't, it didn't feel well for me. Right. So that's when I didn't open up to anybody until somebody opened up to me. Wow. So when they opened it up to me, that's when I'm like, I was kind of talking to them and that's when I realized like, okay, I could actually talk to this person about it. Yeah. So that's when I talked to that person and that person said, Hey, you need to talk, you need to do whatever you need to do.
If you need to leave, if you need to move. Yeah . Do it for you. You're, you're literally there because of , for somebody else, you know? Yeah . And it kind of made me like, but I don't wanna break my mom's heart, you know? And no , no one ever does. I love , but no, I was like, you know what? And that's when , um, I actually opened up to my, to my , uh, boyfriend at the time who is now my fiance .
But , um, that's when I finally opened up to him and said, Hey, you know, I've been feeling like this and, and actually told them in person he came to visit. Um, and he did say, he's like , you know what? I, I felt something, but I, I didn't know. I just never said anything. And , um, he's also the person, like he didn't understand, which you know is okay. Um, I opened up to whatever he could understand and he right .
And he does whatever he can even now, like he does whatever he needs to do, whether , you know, if he needs, if he wants, if he needs me or if he needs to let me sleep, like he'll do it. But he also tries to get me up. That's awesome. You know, and yeah, I need that. And he tries to go make me go outside. You know, sometimes I do. Sometimes I don't , I'm like, no, I don't want to, like, I'm gonna stay here. But you know, he does whatever he can to, you know, make me feel good, but
I totally
Get that. But yeah, when I opened up , um, that's where I'm like, wow, like, you know, I could actually talk to somebody and that's why I told my mom and she also felt bad. And I'm like, oh , I'm so sorry. You know , but this is how I've been feeling. I , I need to leave. I'm sorry that I have to. And she understood that. I mean, it was a very hard process, but , um, so yeah, that's when I moved to Milwaukee, lived with my boyfriend a year later here I am.
I'm still trying to figure out , um, a way to deal with my depression because yeah, every now and then I get depressed for whatever reason. Um, and I do little things either. I pick up my book that I'm reading, I read, watch my favorite movies, watch new shows. Um, but yeah, I just try to do different things to help me feel better about,
It sounds like you finally found like the things that really help your mental health. And again, that's something that like all of us have to go into this like deep journey to find what helps us.
And , and it does take a long time. Right? It does a lot people . It's a process . Think that it'll take like, oh, it'll take like a week. Oh, it'll take a month. No, it might even take a year. It may even take two. Yeah. You know, but you just have to figure out a way how you could deal it with it your own way.
Exactly. And so I think we're gonna wrap this up on our last question. And what you said is really important because when someone's just beginning their mental health journey, or just beginning whatever journey that they're starting to go on, what advice and tips would you give someone who's going on a beauty fashion and content creation, like , um, journey. What is some advice that you would give and maybe some tips that you personally have felt have really helped you ,
Uh, for content creating. I mean, if you wanna create content, I mean, just do it, you know? Yeah . I mean, even if it's not perfect post it anyways, because like I said, in the end, you're gonna look back and you're gonna see how far you've come. Right. I mean, till this day I look back, I'm like, dang, I post that like , is that how I did my makeup or whatever? Yeah . Um , that's how I dress, but just do it. Um, and I know I'm still learning too.
Like I'm still learning how to reach out to brands. I'm still learning how to like send emails, you know, things like that. Yeah . And the way how I learned is research YouTube. I even follow people. I follow people who are also going to the same or going through the same thing. Mm-hmm and already at that point where, you know, they're doing this full time . Yeah. And , um, so just do it and also just look for somebody who you analyze .
Um , because once you look at them and they could also like share their input, I mean, that's where I, you know, learned too.
YouTube university is one of the best places to go to get your true education. honestly. So we really appreciate you coming on again. Yeah . No problem . Talking about your mental health, expressing how you feel and giving people advice and tips on how they can become better. Uh, we just wanna remind , wanna remind our audience out there, please, please, please. Remember you are now alone and we are gonna catch you on the next episode. Thanks for again, for coming on.
Thank you.