Conversations with the Fan Club President, Part II: Celebrating Yourself & Owning Your Growth

How do you feel about your changing body? As we age things change. We can freak out about it or we can celebrate ourselves.

Last week, we chatted with our Unofficial Fan Club President, Missie, about her first Jezebel VonZephyr sessions. Today we dive deeper into how she’s changed, grown and prioritizes celebrating herself.

Krissy: When you were first starting to talk about your Jezebel sessions, what did those conversations look like?

Missie: When I was a Model Rep? When I did those photos I was so stoked about them! I was like, “I look so good!” There was no hesitation at all. There was no hesitation, and I had such great responses from everybody. So then later on when I got some negative responses to later shoots I was like, “Wait–what just happened?!?”

Krissy: Yeah.

Missie: But I kept sharing my photos and story! I didn’t have any fear.

Krissy: I love it!

Missie: I thought “Dang I look good! You don’t think I look good? Then you’re nuts!”

I was really super proud of every single last one of them. I love them–they were great.

I want to say it was like the next session after I got that criticism where I thought I should cover up more. Then I thought  “yeah, no, I still look good!”

It’s just a different good.

I’m just a little bit older and bodies change.

Krissy: The fun thing about my job is that I get to see the growth of clients through their photo shoots, which is something I’ve seen with you. The ones that stick out are that third shoot where you did the Buddhist ones, because you look so at peace and comfortable. I could tell you are just very much in your body and accepting it. 

Missie: At that third session Sara was like “you’re doing what?!”  I went, “yes, I just brought my blanket, and this is what we’re doing.” I think I’d come to accept that whatever happens happens.

Also at that point, I’d discovered that I was cancer-free and in remission. So that was also nice.

It was like, “you did it. You did this”  So there I was: baring it all.

Krissy: That’s such an amazing place to be able to get to.

Missie: Yeah. I’ve done two sessions since then…I think?  I don’t even know how many sessions I’ve done anymore. That’s how bad it is, right?

Krissy: No! It’s awesome! I’m in the same boat, Missie!

Missie: My youngest son came home and saw a new picture. And I said “yeah, all your pictures are coming off the wall, and I’m going up!” 

Krissy: That’s amazing, this new chapter in your life. Your children are leaving the house so you’re like, “I get to celebrate me now!”

I want everybody to just have photos celebrating themselves around their houses. 

Missie: We always had family photos up, but we (as women) never really have photos of ourselves up unless it’s wedding pictures or something.

We should totally celebrate ourselves. We should be in all the pictures.

Krissy: We should be in all the pictures. I agree.

I think that’s one of the hard things for people who haven’t done a shoot: they’re not used to being in front of the camera. They’re behind it or having their kids in front of them. They’re not used to being the subject.

Missie: Right. And I think as women, oftentimes we are those caregivers for friends and family and especially if we have children or pets–we are the last people that we take care of. 

Missie: Sometimes we just need that awareness that we matter and we should be doing things because we matter.

If nothing else, just do a shoot to realize just how important and special you are.

I think it’s pretty astounding in itself, too. 

Krissy: One of the things that I struggled with when I did my shoot was being just that center of attention because I wasn’t used to it. It felt really uncomfortable and it felt weird being seen in that way.

A lot of my processing centered around the question: what do I do with this? I have this amazing feeling, I’m on this high from my shoot now because I feel very seen and heard and very validated. I don’t get this very often. Why not? What is going on? And then I worked back from that: what do I do with this now that I’ve had this feeling?

Missie: Exactly! Because we don’t experience it often enough. Most women I know don’t get to be the center of attention. 

We can oftentimes feel like we are not seen or heard, and we don’t push to do that. 

Missie: And I feel like that’s one of the things that I have gained from Jezebel: I’m not keeping quiet. 

Maybe that’s age, too. As we get a little bit older, we’re more okay with being heard and giving our opinions.

There’s also a part of society where we’re told that little girls should be seen and not heard. Don’t have opinions, just look cute and pretty. Don’t express your feelings.

Missie: But why not, right? I was lucky enough to have been raised by my dad and I had a lot of influence from strong men in my family, so I was never treated like I couldn’t do anything because I was a girl.

And I remember the first time hearing that: “you can’t do that because you’re a girl.” I was stunned.  I didn’t know that, because of how I was raised.

I think we get a lot of our behaviors from our societal norms and expectations.

And one of the things that I love about Jezebel is that you get to be whoever you want, even if it’s just for a day in that photo shoot. 

Krissy: Well said. One of the really powerful things about the studio is that you get to express yourself safely in whatever way feels authentic to you, whether it’s wrapping up in a blanket and really feeling at peace with yourself or any of the 15 million other ways that women can authentically portray themselves in the studio: smoke, masks, costumes, sets, knives, swords…

Missie: The creativity that I see is just outrageous. I’m flabbergasted about how creative these women are–Tiffany and Sara’s creativity.

It’s just a whole process that I don’t think that any other place ever can even match.

There’s so many nuances to the whole fabric of what Jezebel is.

Krissy: It’s a really collaborative thing. You’re not just coming in and putting on an outfit and they’re telling you how to pose and that’s it. They want to know what you want.

They want to make sure that they’re honoring you. If you really want to be seen and you want your authenticity to shine through and you want to be your weird self and still feel sexy–or find your sexy–then Jezebel is the place for you.

Missie: Exactly. Jezebel is about being seen.

Krissy: Are there any final words of wisdom you’d like to share?

Missie: I think that women in general need to embrace who we are. And by doing that you’ll find more peace, more comfort in who you are. 

And it’s important to realize that beauty is more than skin deep. I think that we often forget that in society. There’s beauty in all shapes and sizes and colors.

So just embrace that.

True beauty is when you’re comfortable in your own skin. And that’s something that Jezebel really helps with.

Are you comfortable in your skin? Are you looking for a way to authentically express yourself? A Jezebel session may just be what you need!

Why not celebrate yourself? Why not start the next chapter of your life? We’ll be here waiting when you’re ready. We can’t wait to see you in the studio!