How Everyday Stories Ignited A Global Discussion on Body Image
Brand Overview
In 2019, I founded The Unplug Collective, a digital platform and Instagram community dedicated to body inclusivity and mental health awareness. The inspiration for this platform emerged during my first year at Barnard College of Columbia University, where I noticed a significant disconnect between the curated images on social media and the real struggles my peers were facing with mental health and wellness. The Unplug Collective began as a small Instagram page with around 500 followers, but quickly grew into a leading voice in the mental health and wellness space, now with over 60,000 community members.
The Power of the Personal Narrative:
In my first semester of undergrad at Barnard College, I learned about the transformative power of memoirs and self-written stories. I realized that personal narratives could have a different impact than traditional journalism methods, such as interviews or op-eds for a few reasons:
Authenticity: Self-written stories offer a raw, unfiltered perspective that resonates deeply and doesn’t ask you to self-edit or censor depending on who you’re speaking to or what platform.
Relatability: People connect more profoundly with firsthand accounts that have a conversational feel.
Reciprocity: Sharing personal experiences can be healing for both the writer and the audience - they are not prescriptive, telling you what to do or saying they know more than you - and in doing that, they create a leveled playing field between the writer and the reader.
This is why I wanted to bring a more traditional form of writing like memoirs to social media, and created a platform for everyone to share their personal stories, in an environment where raw self-expression was encouraged and protected.
While Unplug began as a platform for people to share their mental health struggles, it quickly evolved as we recognized a powerful throughline in the stories being shared. We discovered that body image was intrinsically linked to common mental health issues like depression and anxiety, and that people's experiences in their bodies were central to their overall well-being and opportunities in life.
As we delved deeper, we realized there wasn't a movement addressing how one's physical appearance—not just race, but body size, ability, gender, and more—significantly impacts access to resources and opportunities in life. This revelation shaped our focus, transforming The Unplug Collective into a platform dedicated to exploring the intersection of body image, mental health, and size inclusivity. We wanted to create a space that reflected the diverse ways people express themselves on social media. To achieve this, we diversified our storytelling formats:
Personal Narratives As Captions: Allowing for quick, impactful sharing of experiences.
Editorial Photoshoots: Using visual storytelling to challenge beauty standards and showcase diverse bodies.
Video Campaigns: Bringing personal stories to life through engaging content.
Long-form Blog Posts: Maintaining longer-form, in-depth personal narratives.
Infographics: Sharing academic research and resources in a free & accessible way to support mental health personal narratives.
Facilitating Connection Over Comparison on Social Media
Much of Unplug’s success stemmed from our intentional design choices and unique content formats:
High-Fashion Aesthetic: We applied a clean, editorial, and minimal look to our feed and content - typically reserved for mainstream fashion and sample size body types to diverse range of people, challenging industry norms.
Visual Storytelling: We shared raw, honest narratives in easily shareable formats that set us apart from curated social media content.
Multi-Format Content Approach: We diversified our content through written pieces, editorial photoshoots with personal narratives in the captions, and storytelling video campaigns & series, creating new ways to share personal stories.
Expert Engagement: We became a trusted resource for professionals in psychiatry, nutrition, and therapy, as well as contributors to the book Eating Disorders Don’t Discriminate.
Mainstream Engagement: Influential figures in major industries like beauty and fashion (Kylie Jenner, Bella Hadid, and more) amplified our content and messaging to mainstream audiences and industry heads.
Designing a Movement
The Legacy of The Unplug Collective
The platform began as an idea in my college dorm room and grew into something I’m really proud of. Myself and 10 other students came together to create a precedent that social media could be a place for connection instead of comparison. I’ve seen how a consistent digital strategy and strong mission can build lasting community and a network of people with shared values. This experience made me want to continue this type of work, across as many sectors and industries as possible. Great content leads to meaningful shifts in people’s lives.