Photographed by Raiza Irizarry in Paris, France (2015). 

Confidence has never been my strongest suit. As evidence, I had been putting off projects for years because I never felt prepared or even talented. Those are harsh words to say about oneself, surely. But, if there is anything 21 years have taught me, is that the relationship you have with yourself is one of the most challenging and cruel endeavors you will face.

Badass Files is not about me. It was never intended to be so. I had the idea one morning while brushing my teeth in my apartment in Madrid, Spain. For three months, I had been struggling with keeping my life shit together while playing a balancing act between a long-distance relationship, travel and stepping out of my comfort zone. Moving to the other side of the world proved more difficult than I ever thought and I found myself drifting away from who I had been for the last few years. I was not being badass.

If I was having troubles, surely there were other women like me, who needed inspiration in times of misery, an icon to relate to, a story to make them say ‘I can do that too!’. I had been following the Instagram accounts of women I admired like Emily Weiss, Leandra Medine, Eva Chen and Sophia Amoruso for years, but I wished I could talk to them, hear how they got there, ask them if they cried as often as I did or if they also felt like failures 80% of the time.

That is how Badass Files came to be. I needed an online project to save me from the mess I was in, while helping others along the way. It is not my story, of course, but it has served as a real-life Pinterest board of inspiration that never wears off. Just today, I was trying to gather the energy to get dressed for an interview while struggling with the worst PMS of the last few months. I met with the founders of Yo Viajo Sola, a platform for women who are not afraid of traveling alone. Two hours later, I was trying to find the strength to leave the company of such badass women. Those are the gratifying moments I never envisioned when brushing my teeth that cold morning in Madrid.  

Women are awesome, not only cis-gender women, but all women under the human umbrella. Through meeting these badass females, I have been able to gather enough confidence to finally see a project through, to reach out to people I admire and find the motivation to keep going. I hope it does the same for all of you, too.
To much more badassness to come!