#BLPMUSE | VANIA ON BOUNCING BACK AND EMPOWERING THROUGH SHARING
On this Kartini Day, let’s get to know #BLPMuse Vania Theola, who has inspired us and many through her story!
“I’m just a regular person actually,” said Vania as she introduced herself to us. Vania Theola is just like anyone else – she loves coffee, prefers wearing sneakers and bold lipsticks on a daily basis, and has a 9-to-5 job she’s been doing these past few years. But her story goes beyond that. Vania is someone who has bounced back from tough times and spreads her wings even wider – and this is what makes her such an inspiration for us.
In 2016, Vania experienced an accident which caused her to lose her right leg. Since then, she wore a prosthetic leg and as time went by, she started to share about her life and things she loves like fashion and lifestyle on her social media platforms. On a fine day, Vania sat together with us and shared her story.
Hi Vania! What motivated you to create and share content about your life?
It kind of started as an awareness campaign for people like me – a person with a disability. I didn’t see a lot of people with disabilities creating fashion or lifestyle content, so I feel that it’s an opportunity for me to do it. I simply want to show people that there are people like me, and maybe, in some way, I can empower others to do more or to start doing things.
What do you love the most about creating and sharing content?
The sharing itself – I love telling stories through my videos, showing my confidence and my life to my audience. I love that I’ve also had a chance to experience a lot of memorable moments. One of them is when people started to come to my DMs and shared that they felt inspired by me, some asked for tips to be more confident or sought for motivation. Seeing that, I feel proud! I never thought I’d be in the place to be doing that before, so now that I’m doing it, it feels so empowering.
Going back a bit to the time when you had to let go of your leg, how did you bounce back from that situation?
At that time, I knew that I’d be using a prosthetic leg, but it turned out it took some time for me to be able to wear that. So, it was just hope – a hope that one day I’d walk again, a hope that I’d be able to be active again and do the things I used to do. Once I am able to be active again, I have this motivation to share my stories to the world, and so it began.
What’s makeup for you?
It's self expression, I think. It’s an art on its own, and wearing that is just enhancing the beauty in your own self, highlighting what you already have.
