My 6-year-old cousin came up to me the other day and said, “I want to travel around the world like you someday”. My heart melted. I have never actually been outside the country besides the U.S and Mexico (and Hawaii which is kind of its own) but my little cousin already thinks that I have seen the world! That is the first time that I have ever really felt like a role model, like I have changed someone’s life. And I am grateful to have that impact on at least one person. Kids need to know that there is more to life than their tablets and Miley Cyrus twerking. Especially girls! Women have a choice now. They can be who they want to be. They can say what they want to say. They can wear what they want to wear. And they can do whatever they want to do!

I understand that women are still oversexualized and underpaid. But that doesn’t mean “the man” won and there is nothing we can do about it. Society said I would be a teenage mother and high school dropout because I am Mexican and grew up in a home with a single mother of three kids. But I defied that stereotype. I finished high school, got a full-ride scholarship to Arizona State University and I am going to study environmental journalism in Africa in a month! Society said that I couldn’t be girly and a tree-hugger and a travel enthusiast, BUT I AM.

Empower yourself through school, work and travel! You have the power to change the idea society has about women:

Read a book. Don’t just watch Teenage Mom.
Dress how you want to dress for yourself. Don’t just dress to attract a man’s attention.
Finish school. Don’t just settle for minimum wage.
Aspire to be someone! Don’t just settle for what society wants you to be.
Travel. Don’t twerk.

Being a tree-hugger doesn’t make me any less of a woman. I still wear pink on Wednesdays. :)