Lauren Galley, Teen Mentor, Actress, Model and President of Girls Above Society transitioned from her high school AP program to college at age 16 embarking on a journey driven to create an anchor of empowerment for teen girls. Launching (at age 17) Girls Above Society gives Lauren the platform of teen to teen mentor-ship combined with film visuals creating a social media movement.

As a voice to young teen girls, Lauren has been heard on Fox News, Best Ever You Radio, and as a Co-Host on the UK Radio Show “Tabloid Talk”. Her writing has appeared in International Talent Magazine, Babble, Talented Teens, Living Intentionally, and THINK covering issues of the many pressures young teens are facing in today’s society.

Lauren has recently been named Chief Teen Mentor for Best Ever Teens Website, a development of the Best Ever You Network. As an actress Lauren has also been seen on ABC Family’s “The Lying Game” and National Commercials such as FOX Sports and Jarritos. To book Lauren for a speaking engagement or a “Girl Talk” contact: girlsabovesociety@att.net

Belinda: This afternoon I finished watching the documentary Bully. It focused on the failure of ‘the system’ when it comes to bullying, teen violence and verbal abuse. It barely touched upon the damage that exclusion can have on a person. Girls in particular use exclusion as a way to show dominance and status in the school yard. What message would you have for anyone being excluded, and to someone who witnesses someone else being excluded from a social situation?

Lauren: Being excluded can leave girls with many negative feelings.  A Clique of girls will exclude others to show dominance, importance, and the desire to be exclusive psychologically makes one think it must be an amazing group, there’s only a few, so I want to be a part of it.  Girls being excluded are left with the feeling “I’m not good enough”.  They feel they don’t measure up due to the fact they aren’t pretty enough, popular enough, etc…  Girls who put themselves in cliques are full of insecurities and feel the need to “create” a world in which they are special. I remind girls to surround themselves with friends who have the same interests, morals, and values. That clique of popular girls might seem like the best thing ever, but if you really watch and observe, they have closed themselves to so many great, talented, smart girls they will never have the chance to get to know because they are basing their group on popularity and looks.  Those Popular girls won’t be popular after that school term and everyone moves on…. Observing someone being excluded would be my cue to go meet that person. Chances are they are the type of person I would want to be friends with!! My friends don’t judge me for my looks, or popularity and I’m very grateful for that ~ I’m not the popular girl and I feel like I have so much more than any girl in a clique!!

Belinda: Cameron Russell made fantastic points in her October 2012 TED talk called Looks aren’t everything. Believe me I’m a model. Do you think the message would have had as much impact if it were presented by a ‘nobody’ in society, and why do you think society is less tolerant of people who are physically ‘different’?

Lauren: The message Cameron gave was received with great impact because of who she is and how she looks. A “nobody” wouldn’t have a chance to drive home this message. We live in a super-driven media society 24/7, that has the power of trending what is “perfect”. Branding a product is now driven by women and men who exemplify the look of perfection. Sex sells … A perfectly normal size 10 girl will never sell a swimsuit because she is not considered sexy enough. Magazine covers, commercials, billboards, and Celebrity News all scream “This is Beautiful!” People are more and more defined by what they look like, not who they are and what they represent. Being physically different in today’s society means you aren’t good enough. My message to teen girls is similar to Cameron’s ~ BU. There’s No One Else Like It”.

Belinda: There is a trend on YouTube of young girls (and boys) asking the global community via their videos to tell them if they’re beautiful or dateable. What do you think are the biggest dangers with a trend such as this?

Lauren: This trend is an attention getting monster! After the girls (and boys) put up the video, they will then obsess over how many likes, comments, etc … they get. Receiving no comments will then cause further low self esteem (that’s why they put it up in the first place, right? They are wondering if they really do look good) which can lead to depression, self-harm, and many times suicide. This simple video has such a negative impact that comes full circle. The girls who get many likes and comments will then feel being sexy is a way to get boys attention, which can lead to being pressured to engage in activities they normally wouldn’t. They put up the video. The guys like it. Now what? This attention-getting idea is defining who they are by what they look like on the outside, not who they are on the inside.

Belinda: How can people get on board with your organization Girls above Society?

Lauren: My ultimate goal for Girls Above Society is to have girls all over the world giving “Girl Talks”. I have a blog and would love for teen girls to send me their stories and/or thoughts on how today’s media-driven society affects them. My monthly Magazine “Girl Power” features a Girl of the Month. I’m always looking for that great role model to feature. Sending in your stories could get you featured in the magazine. I really love communicating with teens today so follow me on Twitter @LaurenMGalley and connect with me through www.girlsabovesociety.org You can purchase a Girls Above Society bracelet for $1.00 with all proceeds going towards “Girl Talks”.

Autumn is upon us in Australia. Which means it’s almost time for the butterflies to head to warmer places. Not that we’ve seen too many in the last 6 weeks due to rain, rain and more freaking rain.

As for the Northern hemisphere people, Spring is gearing up to bloom soon. So I figure we should have a bit of a celebration of all things butterfly.

Here is KlairedelysArt with a Butterfly Queen eye shadow tutorial that is just precious.

cutenails will send our hearts a flutter with this nail art tutorial

MyCupcakeaddiction helps us out with an extremely simple butterfly cupcake decorating tutorial

Leyla Torres got me in a flap looking for pink origami paper after watching how to fold a Swallowtail Butterfly… So pretty.

I hope you like the tutorials but I thought I’d leave you with a small clip of a Queens Alexandra Birdwing. Thanks to EarthRangersBBtW for this lovely piece of footage.

Oh and because the boy threw it out the window.

Hello! And welcome to Life with Lisa!

What is “Blogger of the Week” you may ask! Well as you might know, I don’t just blog and write reviews for Burn Bright, but I also have my own book blog called Turning Pages! And “Blogger of the Week” is a meme I’ve been trying to start up at Turning Pages and spread the word about.

“Blogger of the Week” is a meme where I host interviews (usually on Mondays) with other book bloggers. Interviews almost like those with authors and their books, but in this case with bloggers and their blogs.

As long as your a book blogger you qualify to take part, no matter which genre review, if your blog is brand new, or really old. Any book bloggers are welcome to join!

So if you interested in becoming the “Blogger of the Week” at Turning Pages, make sure to read the information tab, and follow the directions given there!

Thank you so much for stopping by, and checking out “Blogger of the Week”!

http://turningpages94.blogspot.com/p/blogger-of-week.html

My search for feeding my insatiable appetite for pop music, some may find a little questionable, has continued. I’m loving the vast array of variables that can make a musical hit (in my eyes anyway).

Today we’re heading to Japan!

Do you consider fan dancing to be a rock ‘n’ roll thing? Passpo has definitely got the hard rock sound in their song Natsuzora Hanabi. What could be more rockstar than jumping in a pool fully clothed, throwing suitcases and wearing studded collars, and the fan dancing, don’t forget the fan dancing.

For fans (not the dancing sort) of Anime, you may recognise this slightly older song by ON/OFF called Futatsu no Kodou to Akai Tsumi, as it was the theme song from season one of Vampire Knight

I can’t say I’ve sat down to watch an episode of the show, but I am assuming the red wool and the chains mean something? I sometimes like a little grungy metal in my playlist and Reason for Treason by Diaura

fits the bill. Two tone mullets, and growling. Not to mention a very Garbage-esk (Shirley Manson etc not refuse) distorted effects to the clip add to the rebellious feel. Now if only I could understand what was being said…

Spending all my Time by Perfume

is an ear worm of the worst sort. It comes with hand dancing. See how long it takes you to get the moves down. This makes my dag dance look dated. I do love the little corset things on the dresses when they’re in front of the door. As for the socks with the high heels… that’s up to you to decide.

This one is called Candy Candy

by Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. She began her career as a model for Harajuku fashion magazines such as Kera! The interesting fashion sense of the culture comes through in this clip, and can anyone tell me the significance of the onion?

Pop corny! #1

I’m a child of the 80’s which means my musical tastes run heavily from the 1990’s. The latest stuff from the music industry hasn’t really had me bolting to the radio. If anything the majority of new music has been making me long for some Hanson, of all things (My Friday Ketchup co host tells me constantly I need help for my lack of musical taste!). I have been starved for a good pop group, since nobody does pop music like Savage Garden.

Until… I stumbled upon a music program on SBS which reminded me of RAGE (a program that is no longer the place to get all your musical needs in one hit). However, in my then migraine-addled state, I thought I was missing something; I couldn’t understand a thing anyone was singing about.

Checking the TV guide once said migraine had passed I discovered the reason for the confusion. The program was called Pop Asia and let me tell you, my musical tastes and I are happy as pigs in mud.

I’ve only had time to catch a few episodes and I want to share some of the best clips I’ve seen so far.

Today we head to Korea

I am in love with the cinematography, concepts and costuming for the Seoul based band, Big Bang and their clip Fantastic Baby. Guys on thrones with looooong red hair… yes please!

How about a little dance and Adam Labert-ish vocals… TVXQ, a duo from South Korea, covered almost all the bases with an industrial type soundtrack, an almost identical vocal style as Adam Lambert (who I LOOOOVE) and topped of with an awesomely choreographed dance sequence… Can you see the snake?

Got a hankering for Duffy, but don’t know the words? (Don’t worry neither do I) How about trying a cover version of Mercy called Dancing Queen by Girls Generation. You get the retro sound and a bit of weird dancing with cute fashions. Best of all you get that great tune, and new lyrics.

And last but certainly not least is Mine by Kim Jaejoong. This clip gives me goosebumps. Again with the Adam Lambert glam rock sound, but the production value of slow motion vision and a set of fangs never fails to send me to my happy place. It would not surprise me if this song ends up on the soundtrack to one of the many book to movie adaptations in the near future. It can almost tell a story all by itself. This clip has the English translations.

I’d love to hear what bands from the Asian region have hit your radar.