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I’ve been focusing on the topic of college this week because so many teens are struggling with deciding whether college is the right move for them. How important is a gap year in between high school and college? If you want to run your own company is college worth the money?

I got to talk to one young adult from Springfield, MA for episode 48 on his opinion on college and whether it’s worth the money. Since I didn’t go to college I listen and try and understand every persons individual viewpoint because some people walk away from college with a ton of experience and some people walk away feeling like they wasted a ton of money. I’m on a mission to find the answer everyone is looking for!

Listen to episode 48 on iTunes, SoundCloud & Spotify!

 

I knowwww you’re seeing so much online today about voting, but I couldn’t help put up a post to encourage all of you to VOTE! I’m not sure why there is so much interest in voting this year opposed to other years: perhaps it’s because of the current wacko in office or because of Taylor Swift, but either way voting is and always will be important. I’ve been voting since I was 18 years old and I usually head to the polls but since I’m based in LA now I had to mail my vote in last week. I was a little late to getting my ballot in the mail this year since I’ve never mailed it in before (it’s a very official process) but it got to Mansfield, CT just in time!

Most young adults don’t vote for a few reasons: the most common being that people don’t know what to vote for or who to vote for. Voting is better than not voting: you don’t need to be the most informed human on the planet to vote and use your voice. You just need to know what core values you believe in (like are you a Republican or a Democrat?) and from there, you can evaluate who to vote for. If you don’t know who to vote for: ask your parents, your friends, or your teachers for some advice and then make your own decision! There’s no harm in asking questions.

Please vote. Young people have the power to change and do so much. Yes ONE VOTE COUNTS. Use your voice!

Over the next few weeks I want to bring attention to a topic that many young people are struggling with: college. You may be thinking: how can I give you advice when I didn’t go to college? There’s a few reasons, the first being that I’m around so many young adults all of the time that I have a strong sense of what teens are struggling with. College seems to be a major factor in creating stress after/during high school. The second reason being I have a unique perspective on the topic of college because I’ve been in both positions: feeling confused and unsure of whether to go, and now having decided not to go but feeling like I’m still missing out on something. I find that most young adults struggle with either 1) being in college and not wanting to pursue what they’ve spent a ton of money getting a degree on 2) not being able to afford college/ having a passion outside of college that is making them not want to go.

So what’s the answer? I don’t have one for you yet. But I’m on a mission to make the transition between high school & college easier.

The main reason I didn’t go to college is because I didn’t feel like it would fit in with the life plan I wanted to create for myself. I applied to a few colleges: NYU and Marymount University being my top choices. I didn’t get into NYU but I did get into Marymount. I was making a little money from my blog and side social media business I was working on while applying to colleges, and my parents really thought I should go to college so I’d have a plan B if my blog didn’t work out. I planned on studying at the Tisch School at NYU if I got in because I wanted to create my own program on entrepreneurship, which would’ve been a waste of time looking back. I would’ve left NYU knowing everything I already knew. Is that experience worth $60,000? Not in my opinion. I only applied to 3 colleges because I couldn’t afford the fees to apply to more. I knew kids who were applying to 10-15 colleges and I didn’t have that kind of money. After getting denied from NYU (I felt really shitty when I got that rejection email) and touring Marymount with my mom (I hated it and was angry NYU said no to me) I told myself I’d give myself 1 year to figure my stuff out. I could always go back to college if I wanted to.

From a young age I always knew I was “different” and just didn’t fit into that traditional mold. Nothing against wanting to work a 9-5, I just couldn’t face the thought of being told what to do. After many failed internships and opportunities trying to work for people and deal with teachers telling me what to do in high school I knew I’d struggle with going to college. Plus my heart laid in my company, not in college courses. It took me a solid period of time to learn what my true calling is (entrepreneurship/mental health)  and what I where I want to be when I’m 30- I didn’t learn about myself in college like most people do- but that doesn’t mean I didn’t struggle with finding myself and my passion.

I asked these young adults between the ages of 21-25 what their opinion on college is below. I’d love to hear your feedback: comment on this post or email me!

Alix Lipson: “I think college can be an amazing place for individuals to learn more about themselves, and to further explore what they’re passionate about. At the same time, I know it’s not for everybody. For me personally, I truly enjoyed my time, and feel as though I learned a lot. That said, I have many friends who never graduated and are out there pursuing their dreams.”

Devin Bushey: “College teaches us many things but most importantly it teaches us who we are but above all, who we strive to become.”

Jennie R.: “There is SO much unnecessary stress involved in applying and hearing back from colleges…the fact that people judge you for what college you go to or if you go to college at all is BS. I got waitlisted at the college I wanted to go to and was absolutely crushed. I was embarrassed to tell people. The college ended up letting me in the next semester, but it was a crushing feeling not being “good enough” to get in.”

Deanna Gomez: “I don’t think that college is for everyone. I think that college is a great tool that we have access to if we want. But, putting yourself into debt without being sure what you want to do is pointless. So if you at least have a rough idea of what you wanna go to college for then do it for sure! But don’t feel like you have to just for the sake of it.”

Alexis Lopez: “College is the true definition of finding yourself. While it can be hard and stressful at times, I believe that once you’ve gotten to the success you are at in the future, it’ll make a great story for how you got there.”

Ryley Skog: “As a pre-med student, college is essential to my career. However whether it’s worth it or not depends on the individuals career path. College is so expensive. Those who go to college and receive a degree where they aren’t making a decent amount right off the bat end up in $100k+ in debt. Take some time off to decide what you want out of high school instead of rushing into going to college just because it’s “normal”. There’s no harm in taking a gap year to figure out what career you want to pursue.”

Gyovanna Monreal: “Going to college allowed me to push myself beyond my comfort zone- making friends with strangers, studying challenging but fascinating subjects, and going abroad to a country I never thought I’d visit. It was an entirely new world that changed my mentality on life and empowered me to reach for the stars.”

My parents finally came to LA and visited me this weekend!!! If you follow me on Instagram you know my mom is the cutest little English woman ever. She used to live in South Africa, New York, Houston, England…she’s lived all over the globe. When she was 23 she moved to America from England and became a nurse. My mom is older than most parents my age, she’s in her mid-60s and it makes for a very interesting dynamic between us. She’s so out of touch with social media and the whole entrepreneur thing: both of my parents don’t understand my life or job. It’s taken me so long to prove myself to them (my mom was always very against me working in the entertainment industry and being an entrepreneur because I don’t and won’t ever have a “security net” like most people who work a 9-5 have) but we’ve finally reached a place where they understand me and my life mission. My parents have been together for over 21 years and have seen me through so many ups and downs: I love them both so dearly. I had a talk during the day on Saturday they both came to, and during the afternoon on Saturday we ventured to downtown LA where I dropped my mom off at a museum she’s been wanting to go to and my dad and I went to lunch before hitting up a record shop. Then I went home and took a nap for 30 minutes before meeting them for dinner at Fleming’s, which is a steakhouse in DTLA that very kindly treated us to dinner!

Here are some additional ways to spend quality time at home with your fam if you’re not wanting to leave the house!

All of my friends say I’m a legit grandma because I don’t ever like to go to bed past 9 PM, so we had an early dinner at 6 PM (my mom also goes to bed SO EARLY so I know where I get my grandma mindset from) and then I dropped them off at their hotel before forcing myself to go out with my girlfriends. We had fun. But I got so tired and went home. Oh well.

On Sunday (my day off of social media) my parents and I hit up Malibu, where I took them to Malibu Cafe: a really neat ranch in the middle of Malibu. We got lunch before driving around Pepperdine University and ultimately stopping by one of my favorite spots, Malibu Farm for dessert. We watched the sun go down over a really yummy chocolate cake and a delicious almond milk chai tea latte before I dropped them off at their hotel. They left early this morning and this weekend has made me realize the importance of family. I don’t get to see my parents as often as I used to when I lived in Boston, and my sister and nephew live in Turkey so I never see them. Therefore spending as much time as I can with my parents is important to me and has become so much more important to me as I get older. Life is so short and speeds by. You have to live every moment to the fullest and surround yourself with people who believe in you and always lift you up. I used to get so embarrassed hanging out with my mom when I was in middle and high school because no kid wants to hang out with their parents (oooh boring) but you’ll realize hanging out with your parents becomes fun as you get older. You can laugh about all of the silly things you did when you were a kid!

Never forget that!

     

On Saturday I had the honor of speaking at the Teen Summit for the LA County Alliance at UCLA! I’ve been spending such a crazy amount of time on college campuses lately I’m beginning to want to spend all of my time there! WeWork, when are you planning to open a location on a college campus!? I totally get if you’re in college that you probably get bored spending the majority of your time on campus, but I honestly really enjoy it. I feel like you’d meet so many cool people all the time on a college campus. Is that true?

This summit has been in the works for the majority of this year, even before my new show launched. It just happened to pan out that Radio Disney is always a part of this event every year so I got to speak on behalf of my new show now that it’s premiered! I’ve been speaking out about college recently because there’s so many of you who are struggling in college or struggling with deciding whether or not to attend. We geared the majority of the two panels towards college because the students in the audience were between 15-18, which is the age that I find many young adults start getting super anxious and stressed. There seems to be so much pressure to leave high school and immediately know what you want to do when you’re older, and that’s so far from reality that I believe more people need to start speaking out about this topic.

I’m working on some content for Life Unfiltered & This is Life Unfiltered over the next few weeks that revolves around this topic and gets feedback from kids out there who are struggling with this decision. I get common feedback from everyone when it comes to what makes them want to go to college (the experience) and why they don’t want to go (financial responsibility) and I’m determined to find a solution for everyone struggling with the decision, so stay tuned.

Sophie Gray is a force to be reckoned with. Back when I had an eating disorder (called orthorexia) during my modeling days, I got involved in fitness. I was obsessed with working out for hours a day, and spent the majority of my time after school at the gym in my hometown working out on the treadmill for 40-60 minutes, the elliptical for 40-60 minutes, and the bike for 40-60 minutes. It was crazy and I felt like my body was about to be the death of me every time I set foot into that gym. Then came Sophie Gray’s “Way of Gray” workout book that I found online during my desperate attempt to stop working out for hours a day but see results (I wanted a tinier waist and tinier hips, I’d come to find out the hard way you can exactly move your bones by exercise). This was way before the days of Kayla Itsine’s BBG Guide. Sophie’s guide was simple: 10 pages of full-body workouts that are now coined as HIIT workouts: high intensity interval training.

When Sophie reached out to me on social media, I almost freaked out because I attribute much of her method of fitness and self-love to helping me recover from my eating disorder when I was younger. I religiously used her booklet when I had my eating disorder, and when I recovered from it. HIIT workouts are what got me interested in workouts I do now like crossfit & reformer pilates. I learned the difference between forcing yourself to exercise and loving exercise because it makes your MIND feel GOOD.

Sophie now has an app called DiveThru, that’s a mental health based app, and along with her major social media following she’s continuing to change the world with her positive outlook on body image and mental health.

Listen to Episode 47 on iTunes, SoundCloud & Spotify!

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #INDIdifference #CollectiveBias #WhatMakesYouINDI #KPFragrances #KatyCats

You can hover over the photo above and be directed right to buy this incredible fragrance!

 

You can get your own set of Katy Perry’s INDI Fragrance (1 oz.) and Katy Perry’s INDI Body Mist at Walgreens.com here.

In an interview last month someone asked me about who I look up to. I felt honestly bad because I didn’t say anyone: I couldn’t think of one person I admired when she asked me. After the interview, I sat down and thought about who truly does inspire me. My dad does. Ellen does. Michelle Obama does.

One other person who came to mind? Katy Perry.

I’ve always been so fascinated by people who didn’t come from anything and made themselves into something that’s bigger than life. People like Katy Perry worked for years to get people to believe in them, and their struggles and intense years of hard work paid off.

Katy Perry’s INDI Fragrance & Body Mist available at Walgreens are a major confidence booster for me and a product I totally suggest young people have in their dorm or apartment. I never skipped out on body mist after the gym and I love smelling good when I’m working- who doesn’t?

Some information about her fragrance & Body Mist (I have the 1 oz. version),

The fragrance is artfully crafted with eleven different smells that blend beautifully with top notes of oriental plum and Italian bergamot. Unlike other fragrances, the INDI is so unique and really brings out my inner confidence. I’ve worn it around my girlfriends and guy friends and they all say how good I smell, so I’d totally say this fragrance brings people together!

Katy Perry’s INDI Body Mist is a lighter version of the fragrance and really easy to use throughout the day, depending on what you’re doing. To apply, hold the bottle six inches from your body and spray on your neck and wrists, then mist the air above your head and walk through it for a lasting impression.

My everyday beauty tutorial: 

Wake up and make yourself some coffee!

Hit the gym or meditate! This is my favorite hour of every day.

Spray Katy Perry’s INDI Body Mist after the gym, or skip right to the INDI Fragrance after you decide your outfit for the day!

Get ready to be the most confident version of yourself all day long!

Wearing a Sandro skirt, Madewell boots, and a J.Crew top with Ray-Ban sunglasses

A I went into brunch on Sunday with one of my close girlfriends on a serious mission: I needed one more successful person in my life to convince me to hire a publicist. Over the past 6 years I’ve very un-strategically ended up where I am today. I constantly wonder how I’m percieved and where I am exactly today: I have a very different viewpoint of myself compared to what (I think) most of the public views me as. It’s an honor to be considered a successful businesswoman but I am not going to deny I battle questioning myself and my decisions frequently. Being 21-years-old, completely financially independent and on my own in my business and personal life is fantastic and stressful! The pressure of knowing I have to pay my manager commission, my assistant, and all of my expenses has become second nature. However if you decide to ever create any company you’ll still question yourself until you’re at the top of your field, in my opinion.

Entrepreneurs are wired to think of themselves differently than other people think of them. Like when I bring up the definition of successful or self-made wealth to any of the successful entrepreneurs I’ve had on This is Life Unfiltered, none of them ever look me in the eye and say “F** yes, I am successful! I’m great!” whether they’re 40 or 25. We’re so obsessed with the idea of working and seeing results that we frequently overlook things like milestones and goals that we hit- even though we should understand and appreciate the goals that we do hit more often.

I have been my own publicist for a really long time. I won’t expose all of my secrets but I will say that I realized I wasn’t totally bonkers during a car ride I took when I put on old G-Eazy music. Everyone knows I’m slightly obsessed with him, and not because he’s super cute. I’m obsessed with the story of going from so little to so much and not having anyone to fall back on besides yourself. That’s why when I tell people I love rap music more than any other music people look at me crazy until I give them some of my favorite songs to walk away with and listen to, and then get back to me. In one of his songs he says how he made a fake email to get himself into bars to perform when he first started out and had no money, and since I’m not exposing my secrets I won’t say that I’ve done just that…but you know, I really related to that song.

At brunch my friend who runs her own business and is very successful told me that if I wanted to grow as a businesswoman it was time for me to give some of the responsibility away. You just can’t do everything. You can’t negotiate every deal. You can’t write every email. You can’t comment back to everyone. You can’t edit every podcast episode (though I do) because by doing so many things at once you take away from the true beauty of being an entrepreneur: being the brains behind certain parts of the mission.

So I walked away from that brunch with a new perspective: money is just money. But growing as a person in your business and your personal life is something completely different that money can’t interfere with. Sometimes I have a lot of money for a 21-year-old to have in her bank account. Sometimes I wake up so anxious and overwhelmed I want to cry because I think what in the heck am I doing try to do all of this on my own AND if it all crashes I have NO PLAN B! Because I don’t want a PLAN B when I have a PLAN A++++!

Sometimes I have so much money I put all of it into my savings and am super content for 5 hours, and then something comes up and I have to withdraw all of it into my back account and I’m back to square one.

Long story short, my Fearless Friday of this week was deciding to take the leap and hire a publicist. I now have Alexis, whose my assistant and pretty much my mom, I have an incredible management team, and two publicists. I’m also incredibly blessed because of the network I’ve managed to make for myself in the entertainment industry that makes taking major leaps like this just a little less scary.

The next time you’re anxious about something, maybe it’s time you realize that to grow you have to feel anxious and scared. That period of time won’t last for forever and you’ll come out on the other side. Stronger. More successful. More driven. Happier.

Tonight on Fearless Everyday I have Disney Channel star Lilan Bowden who stars in the hit Disney Channel show Andi Mack! She stopped by to talk to me about social media, bullying and rejection. As an actress Lilan deals with rejection quite often, and rejection is something I talk about openly on all of my platforms because everyone should understand that working in this industry isn’t easy! It takes confidence, strength and a strong support system.

Listen to Fearless Everyday tonight at 9 PM PST on the Radio Disney / iHeartRadio app or on the Radio Disney website. #FEARLESSEVERYDAY

Share how you’re fearless on social media with me using the hashtag #fearlesseveryday too! You may just make it into an upcoming episode! Fearless Everyday will air Fridays at 9 PM PST, Saturdays at 7 AM PST & Sundays at 5 PM PST!

I’ve been getting a lot of questions on how to listen and where to find Radio Disney. Here’s where to find Radio Disney:

Listen on the Radio Disney app on your phone/iPad/Kindle

Listen on iHeartRadio on their website

TONIGHT I’ll be in the studio taking calls from you guys from 9 PM PST- 10 PM, so call in and tell me how you were fearless for a chance to make it into an upcoming Fearless Everyday episode! The phone number is 1-877-870-5678!