Love Yourself Unapologetically: A Guest Post by Drew Afualo
From hosting celebrities like Chappell Roan, Rainn Wilson and Olympian Ilona Maher on her podcast, The Comment Section, Drew Afualo has made a name for herself in all aspects of today’s culture. Starting her career by calling out trolls online and sharing her views on intersectionality and self-confidence, Afualo is an influencer, podcaster and author for anyone to look up to. Read on for her exclusive essay on the creation of Loud and what she hopes readers take away from her book.
Hardcover $28.00
Loud: Accept Nothing Less Than the Life You Deserve
Loud: Accept Nothing Less Than the Life You Deserve
By Drew Afualo
In Stock Online
Hardcover $28.00
We’ve loved her on our #ForYou pages, her laugh-out-loud podcast The Comment Section, and now we get to love her on the page. Loud is a culmination of everything we admire about Drew: inspiring, commanding and downright hilarious.
We’ve loved her on our #ForYou pages, her laugh-out-loud podcast The Comment Section, and now we get to love her on the page. Loud is a culmination of everything we admire about Drew: inspiring, commanding and downright hilarious.
When the opportunity to write my first book LOUD came about, I was very excited—but quite nervous as well. Because my platform originated on social media, I wasn’t sure my words were important enough to put into print. However, after discussing at length what I would want to write about and share with my audience, I found my true inspiration for what I wanted LOUD to be about. Having grown up surrounded by independent and confident women, and having that confidence myself, I realized that THAT is what I want readers to take away from my book. I want to provide whatever tools I can to anyone with the desire to decenter men in every facet of their life. I want them to walk in the confidence that no one is ever going to love them as much as they love themselves. And I want those who read my book to know and believe that self love and letting go of male validation is the greatest gift in the world. It gives you the freedom and autonomy to live a life unburdened by the crushing weight of patriarchal standards and to truly start living for no one other than you. Once you’re able to let go of the opinions of men—whether they’re about your looks, interests, or anything at all—you give yourself permission to love yourself unapologetically. And I genuinely believe that is the root of my confidence. The bigoted critiques of men far beneath me hold no weight, because I know exactly who I am. Who I am and how much I love myself is rooted in no one’s opinion but my own, and that’s how it should be. In addition to that, being that I am many people’s first exposure to Samoan people with the help of my platform, I made sure to write a lot about my culture. Especially since I believe that it’s played a huge role in the conviction of my beliefs and helped mold me into the woman I am today. If nothing else, what I hope people take away from this book is that social currency with men is worthless. It gives you nothing, but it can cost everything. And if no one reminds you how important, valid and necessary you are in this world, I will. This book is a piece of my heart and my brain, and I hope it makes you feel brave. I hope it makes you feel confident. And I hope it makes you feel LOUD!
Photography Credit: Adam Simmons