Over the course of one year, Laura Peña will travel to 6 continents and interview 111 girls. The interviews aim to allow girls all over the world a platform for their self-expression and confidence. The most important question Peña asks each girl is what they would do if they could do anything. This project is titled “She is the Universe.” Peña’s first video was posted on September 1, 2018 and has about 700 views. With this article, I hope to help the project reach more people.
“She is the Universe” is giving a platform to normal girls living their everyday lives. You won’t be hearing from a celebrities’ child or a teenage social media influencer. You will be watching girls aged 13 to 19 talk about their dreams and values, which Peña is then going to use as a method of helping them achieve their goals. This is done by creating a community of confident girls. Her website expresses the importance of confidence and how empowerment and motivation can spread like wildfire between girls who view these stories Towards the end of Peña’s introduction video, she said she would treat these girls stories as if the world depends on them- because it does.
Episode one features Ann Marie, she is 17-years-old hailing from Santiago de los Caballeros. Ann Marie first became interested in Korean Pop music when the “Gangnam Style” video went viral. After finding a love for the K-Pop community as a whole, Ann Marie’s interests extended to all of Korean culture. Ann Marie even self-teaches the Korean language. Her friends often mock her, she says, because they find it odd how much she adores Korean culture, but she doesn’t care since it's who she is. Ann Marie has a knack for fashion photography and wishes to make a career out of it. She says, “The normal jobs here are industrial engineer or medical doctor, and if they pay you a lot then that’s the job you want. Not because you like it.” Ann Marie has since started her own photography Instagram and website. She says that what she wants from the world is to be supported and not judged just because she’s different.
Peña’s videos have also included girls like Katiana, a 17-year-old from the Dominican Republic. Katiana has dreams of opening her own gym and being a world-renowned surfer. Katiana observed that girls in her village are getting married and having children younger and younger, while she, on the other hand, would rather acquire an education. Allison White is 16-years-old and was adopted from Russia. Her dreams are to be a photographer for musicians and travel the world with them. Allison has a rare disease called neurosarcoidosis, which caused her to lose her ability to chew and swallow food, which has severely affected her speech. Allison’s message to girls everywhere was that she’s just like everyone else, and her disability doesn’t mean she isn’t capable of accomplishing her dreams.
For more information on “She is the Universe,” follow their YouTube channel at “She is the Universe” or visit