Love from, Florence Grace

Since 2012, we have been marking the 11 th October as the International Day of the Girl . It makes sense, when we have an International Women’s Day, to have one for girls too, and the day aims to “focus on the needs and challenges girls face, while promoting girls’ empowerment and the fulfilment of human rights.”  Each International Day of the Girl comes with its own theme or focus, and this year it’s With Her: A Skilled GirlForce . There’s absolutely no denying that there is lack of equality in the workplace for women. Of course it varies from job to job, but generally speaking women are paid less, pitted against each other, have men selected over them time and time again and have frequently less opportunities to pursue their dream career or advance in their current career than men do. The United Nations said that “Of the 1 billion young people – including 600 million adolescent girls – that will enter the workforce in the next decade, more than 90% of those li...

Films and television shows really have a massive influence on our lives - although sadly, not always positive. With so many negative influences from some of the less sophisticated TV shows and films, such as Geordie Shore and 50 Shades of Grey, it's often hard to find strong, iconic female characters that stick with us long after we've finished watching. Watching iconic female characters being brought to life on HD Televisions, Panasonic ones in particular (given their high quality!), is a really special experience and one that I thoroughly enjoy. So, which female characters do I consider to be inspiring, iconic and just pretty damn incredible? For me, one of the strongest, most iconic female characters I have ever encountered on screen is Liz Gilbert in one of the most life changing films of all time, Eat, Pray, Love . (Warning - there are spoilers from here on in!) The film tells the story of journalist, Liz, packing up life as she knows it following an unexpected b...

Anyone who knows me well enough will know that I am allllll about that girl power. I would consider myself to be a strong, independent woman and I constantly encourage the other women in my life to be, too. Being strong, being independent, being bold and fighting for your place in a world that is dominated by male privilege and misogyny can be very challenging, but it's a lot easier when there are some fantastic female role models to look up to. Here are some of my favourite women to look to for girl power, inspiration and motivation in every aspect of my life. Maya Jama I have been looking up to Maya Jama since I first met her when I was working on a TV show for 4Music two years ago. She was bubbly, friendly and even invited herself to sit on my lap at one point! Since then I have been looking up to her on social media, following her as she grows from strength to strength in terms of her career. Some of the moves she's made in 2017 have been absolutely incredible, from...

I was always the girl who said she got on better with boys than girls . And back then, it was true. My friendship with girls was always very fickle - I had a new best friend almost every six months or so! But my friendships with boys always lasted years, I was always friends with the same boys throughout my entire school life pretty much. There’s even some boys from primary school I’m friends with now! I can’t say the same for girls. When I went to an all girls secondary school, I decided now, more than ever, that I got on better with boys . I just didn’t fit in with girls the way I did with boys. I didn’t know how to do my hair or makeup, I didn’t wear the right clothes, I wasn’t pretty or skinny, rich or popular - all things that girls seem to care about in a friend and boys don’t. While I did have female friends, all of my closest friends, including my very best friend, were boys from the all boys school across the road. Now that I’m older, things have changed slightly. ...

Anyone who knows me knows how down for female empowerment I am. I'm a fierce feminist, I support women doing brilliant things, donate monthly to women's charities, speak about about women's rights and support women running their own businesses in a world that constantly tries to suppress women and all they want to do.  One of my new favourite companies that focus on female empowerment is Heiress London, a brand new clothing company that promotes the idea of women creating their own streams of wealth through their inherited creativity, ability, self-belief and self-worth. I stumbled across the brand one night on Instagram and fell in love with their brand ethos and the designs of their clothes. To my surprise, Heiress London reached out to me and offered to send me a sweatshirt of theirs in a design of my choice! Of course I accepted, and I went for a design that I feel just screams  'Flo'!  Obviously I opted for a black sweatshirt (all black, ...

Today I published a post on my magazine's website by one of my writers, all about women who are criticised for not wanting to have children and get married. It was a really good article and is definitely something I've seen happen to people I know- although not me personally because I'm all about having an OTT wedding and having babies because I love 'em, but that's beside the point. The point was, women shouldn't be criticised for not doing what society tells them they should  be doing.   It's basically the same as what I've been going through for the past eleven months, being single. While my best pals have been all for the new independent Flo smashing her career goals and being generally fab (look, they say it, not me), other people aren't so understanding. I'm almost continuously hit with things like  "You mean you're not dating yet?" "You want to get out there whilst you're still young!" ...

For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you'll know I have a "theme", posting inspiring quotes relating to careers and running a business complete with the hashtag '#girlboss'. I follow a few accounts who dedicate their feeds to inspiring 'girlboss' quotes such as hustlherhoney, fabulousgirlsrock and bossyrichgirl as a source for my own inspiration, but recently I have found these accounts to be a little...well. Problematic. Let's take a look at some of the quotes: "Some girls daydream about boys. Some girls daydream about business" "The goal is to be pretty and paid" "Made myself a boss because I wanted to work in a crop top and mini skirt" To me, these quotes are deeply problematic. These quotes imply that you can't be stereotypically 'feminine' and enjoy girly clothes and make up and boys whilst simultaneously being accepted as a serious business woman.  Now, I like to c...