Steph Claire Smith is one of our country’s most prominent models and social influencers.
The 24-year-old Melburnian boasts a whopping 1.3 million Instagram followers on Instagram. She’s the founder of fitness community Keep It Cleaner. For the past six years, she’s been traversing the globe shooting countless bikini campaigns in dreamy, exotic locations.
She’s the picture of modern health and wellness, leading a life many of us can only dream of (as we sit and scroll through Instagram on dreary lunch breaks).
She began to gain fame online in 2013, when workout pics she posted to her ‘gram started getting reposted by ‘fitness inspo’ Tumblrs and blogs around the world. At 18, she was signed with Chadwick, one of the country’s largest and most prestigious modelling agencies.
But despite projecting an image of health and wellness, Smith is no stranger to disordered eating.
A few months ago she posted an emotional 24-minute YouTube video revealing her battle with binge eating disorder.
In the clip, which has now been viewed over 100,000 times, Smith doesn’t mince words – she goes into detail on the destructive forces of the modelling industry, as well as Instagram – the app that has been so integral to her success.
PEDESTRIAN.TV interviewed Smith for the debut episode of our new podcast, No Chill – a series which aims to shed light on the mental health struggles that so many young people face in this new digital age.
Smith goes into detail about how she no longer allows weight to define her and how, in relieving that pressure, she has more time to devote to getting shit done. Have a listen:
She’s not the only big player calling bullshit on the modelling industry and instead aiming to share a positive message around health and wellness.
More and more young women who have cultivated huge audiences through Instagram are getting real about what healthy and happy actually looks like. Kath Ebbs is one of them.
The Sydney-based fitness blogger and smoothie shack queen will be hosting an intimate health workshop at Egg Of The Universe this Saturday which promises to be a deep dive into the true meaning of health. Like Smith, Ebbs hopes to shed light on the fact that the way you look on the outside isn’t always the greatest indicator of how you’re doing on the inside. You can read more about it, and get your ticcies, here.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmrZi6pg7hc/?hl=en&taken-by=kathebbss
The final guest on the debut episode of No Chill is Erika Geraerts.
Geraerts was one of the original co-founders of Frank Bod, the Aussie company that made millions outta selling coffee grinds as a scrub and setting off a worldwide phenomenon of dirty, naked shower selfies.
She’s now changed tracks and launched a fresh new “casual cosmetics” company that’s all about dismantling the stale and boring beauty industry.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bm_HF1CD35i/?hl=en&taken-by=itsall.fluff
With just one product on the market (a bronzer), Fluff is more interested in changing the conversation around beauty with a ‘less is more’ approach. They’re as much a content destination as they are a brand – they use Instagram to profile sick young women, as opposed to pushing product.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bmr8jhvDG-Q/?hl=en&taken-by=itsall.fluff
Because at the end of the day, in Geraerts words, it’s all fluff.
To stay up to date with No Chill, you can subscribe via iTunes or Spotify. For real-time episode updates, follow us on the twits.
