Are you tired of everyone on Instagram looking so damn perfect? Same. From influencers to wannabe-celebrities, Instagram is a battlefield for your self-esteem.
One influencer is fighting for change, however. Mikalya Zazon (also known as Mik) has chosen to use her platform to show off what a normal person looks like, and she’s affecting real change on the app. Let’s meet her!
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Meet Mik.
She’s an innovator, a leader, and a big voice in the body positivity community. From helping others accept their bodies to showing off her acne, Mik is determined to make Instagram a more realistic place.
She initially spearheaded the social media movement #NormalizeNormalBodies.
Mik chose to use her large platform to start teaching others to love themselves through her Instagram, where she shows her 800,000+ followers what her body really looks like.
However, she didn’t stop at her body — her skin is a big part of her self-love journey, too.
Welcome to #NormalizeNormalSkin.
It’s a hashtag Mik started that serves to embrace skin as it is — flawed, bumpy, and beautiful. She made it to help others with acne feel better about how “imperfect” others say their skin is.
Mik has acne that she chooses not to hide.
“Acne does not define you.”
She chooses to be open and honest with her followers about her body, her acne, and even her mental health. Her comments are full of people reaching out and receiving support from her and each other!
She is ruthlessly bullied for it, however.
Despite her trying her best to help others embrace their skin, Mik has some harsh critics. She uses their words as teachable moments for her followers, even if they hurt her.
Even media outlets have bullied her for her skin.
Mik rightly called out The Daily Mail for describing her skin as “horrific.”
“[…] the only horrific thing i see is your pathetic attempt to gather views by bullying me. And i won’t accept it.”
But she perseveres.
In one post, she opened up about the pressure to have “perfect skin” that we see in the media.
“We never see main characters in media have less than perfect skin. Watching movies and tv shows, the kid with acne is always ‘gross’, and out of place.
So naturally, I thought of myself that way.
Not anymore. Not ever again.
I am the main character. “
The products she stands by actually work.
Mik only represents brands that actually work on your skin, since she knows first hand how hard it is to try and get acne scars and pitting to fade.
She celebrates her skin for what it is.
“I believe in pores, birthmarks, imperfections, acne, peach fuzz, and all of the things that make skin REAL.
Screw photoshopped skincare ads.”
I gotta say, I personally am SUPER tired of photoshopped ads.
And she’s beautiful for it!
“Do you see it?
My wrinkles, acne, scars, pores, peach fuzz, & nose hairs?
That’s what I call normal. beautiful, healthy, and human,” she wrote in one post.
I think we may have no choice but to stan.
This is really what it’s all about.
The content we consume definitely has an impact on how we perceive the world. Following more accepting, open people will help you become the same, and embrace your “imperfections” as what they are: part of you, and not something to be ashamed of.
