Episode 6: Elizabeth Mavros @elizabethsydney - Neurodivergent Beauty

0:07 Welcome, beautiful. Humans. I'm so glad to be back for another episode of Role Models. My name is Jennifer Norman. I'm the founder of the human Beauty movement and your host today. My special guest is a warrior of a gal. Her name is Elizabeth mavros who goes by the handle at Elizabeth, Sydney, Elizabeth is 18 years old and she's already gone. Garnered hundreds of thousands of followers on Tick, Tock for her captivating makeup Artistry, but that's not the full story. Elizabeth was diagnosed with both ADHD and OCD and so makeup became a soothing outlet for her expressiveness. She also started designing fashion.

0:47 Her goal is to help break the stigma surrounding mental disorders and create a more accepting Society. Welcome Elizabeth. Thank you so much for having me. Tell us a little bit about yourself. When did she? You fall in love with makeup and with fashion. It's been throughout my life. I would watch Project Runway like five they did this duct-tape challenge. It was like an unconventional challenge. So then I went and made myself a duct tape stir. And I wore it to school. I just love making statements, and I always put her on with makeup ever since I was little to the probably sort of wearing it regularly at around like 12. I just love playing around a bit and then during quarantine. I got really into creative makeup and it became one of my hobbies.

1:29 So that was super For fun throughout my whole life. I've just been really into fashion and makeup and just all girly things. Yeah, we will, you're one of the lucky ones because I tell you, I grew up with a strict upbringing where I wasn't allowed to wear makeup until I was 16. I say it wasn't allowed to, but but it's amazing that you were able to find that passion early on. Now simultaneously, you've been diagnosed with specific ailments. Can you tell us about that? Yeah, so I actually got diagnosed pretty late.

2:09 So throughout my childhood. I definitely struggled with a lot of anxiety. I had symptoms of OCD. I did compulsions. Most of them were actually mental compulsions. It was like, rituals that I had to just like, think over and over again or like almost like talk myself out of an intrusive thought. And so I also have ADHD, so just growing up. It was really hard for me to pay. Attention in school. I was always a really good student. But my teachers, number one complaint, was her head is in the clouds. She's always daydreaming. She's not paying attention. As I kept getting in trouble, just because I wasn't paying attention and like, you know, as a little seven-year-old that could make you feel really bad about yourself said that did lead to social anxiety. I knew that there was something different about me when I was little, because I just felt different than other kids, even though I had plenty of friends.

2:53 I felt like I couldn't always relate to them, and that was just because my brain works differently, but I didn't know that I didn't How to vocalize it? And be like I need help. This is a problem. I kind of thought it was normal. Totally went over my head. When I got to middle school. I definitely struggled a lot with social anxiety. I mean, it's Middle School. We're all weird and middle school, but I just felt like I was like so much weirder than everyone. Everyone is looking at me and eighth grade. I was my trauma year. That was kind of when it just triggered. All of my symptoms of my mental illnesses, all my symptoms were headed to and they went to a 10 and I know what was wrong. I figured I'm recovering from trauma. I'm just recovering from trauma.

3:34 I'm going to be better. I was just dealing with OCD and stuff. And mentally. I was just so miserable and that kind of just continue throughout the year. I was on my dance team at School freshman year, and it was always my dream to be on this team and I auditioned the year before and I made it, and I was so happy, but it ended up being kind of toxic. It wasn't really a healthy environment for me. Definitely. I have like a few performances that just didn't go the greatest. I was really nervous. So it made me feel really sick while I was onstage. So I developed this year performing and that's where everything just went downhill. I was terrified of Performing. Even though I had been a dancer since I was 22 and I also did show choir and cheerleading and theater like all throughout middle school.

4:18 So it was very unusual for me that now I was having panic attacks, even at the thought of like doing a presentation in front of my class. I didn't want to go to therapy. I have some pretty bad experiences with people who were struggling with mental illness. I knew actually quite a few people that would use it as an excuse, almost to be mean, to their friends and be not so great people. And in middle school, there was a couple people that there were rumors that they were faking it. I'm not sure if that was true. But that anyone else who was struggling, they were automatically accused of Faking to. So I was definitely affected by the stigma. So it's like, at that point. I knew I needed help and I didn't want it until I had to quit. The dance team that I had dreamed of being on for all of middle school. At that point. I was like I married and my mom kind of The to.

5:00 And so I started therapy and it was really nice to be validated by a professional because they understood what I was feeling and why at the point I was misdiagnosed with generalized, anxiety disorder. I was anxious about everything. So bam, generalized anxiety disorder. It was OCD all the symptoms. I've been feeling even like with my phobia of performing. It was all very OCD related symptoms because I was doing, like, mental rituals and like almost like replaying the hypothetical performance in my head like Like over and over again until I fell about her sophomore year. Yeah, I think things definitely did get better and then covid happened. Eventually I was able to dance again. I'm doing ballet right now. I'm currently on point which I thought I wouldn't have the opportunity to do.

5:43 So, I'm really happy, but I definitely learned to put dance in its place because there can be some very mean girls, it Studios. And you don't want to let them to find that your worth, because that happens to a lot of dancers, with by why a lot of us have anxiety during quarantine, my OCD was Just on a whole other level, my intrusive thoughts weren't very great. I didn't know what intrusive thoughts were. I didn't realize that it was something that you did not want. I thought this was like the secret desire within that I learned. But intrusive thoughts were I kept everybody except for myself because I was very self-conscious like OCD is like obsessions and compulsions, but the compulsions aren't physical. So say like for example, you have a germ phobia.

6:23 So you have a hand washing compulsion, instead of like washing your hands over and over again. You will just be thinking like, what did I touch? And what did I do? But just The point where it's very repetitive just like it would be if you're washing your hands over and over again. Still didn't tell my therapist because I was way too scared to tell her about my intrusive thoughts. The next year I did. She was like, oh, yeah, you have a seating. So that's when we realized that generalized anxiety was a misdiagnosis. So that was summer of 2021. In January. I got diagnosed with ADHD. I actually saw a bunch of tech talks about ADHD and women and how it's not as frequently diagnosed. Because, usually, when you think ADHD, you think of hyperactive little boys, that wasn't me. I Have the inattentive type. So I wasn't super hyper active as a kid.

7:03 After I seen those tick-tocks. I went and did a bunch of research and then I showed the information to my therapist. And again, we went through the criteria and she just looked at me and she was like, you hit every single Mark. That was how I got diagnosed with ADHD and OCD. I don't advocate for self-diagnosing, just by doing a Google Search and being like, I have this. I think that every professional diagnosis can't start with a self diagnosis, because you're the one who has to go to Therapy and say, hey, I'm experiencing these symptoms, you might have an idea of what it is. But when you go to the diagnostic criteria in therapy, it's a lot more than just a list of symptoms. It's how they affect you day-to-day, how they affected you in the past, how they affected you and all these different ways.

7:46 So don't self-diagnose based on Google or Tick Tock do a lot of research and then talk to a professional. I want to go back and address the fact that you were young and you knew that there was something happening inside and it is hard when you're young to articulate or even for Parents and and I know a lot of parents beat themselves up by being a parent, myself of a disabled child. There is a lot of my should have seen this, or what's going on, or is it my fault? And there's a lot of that, that happens within families. What you're doing. Now, number one. It's extremely Brave. So, thank you for sharing your story with so many people because it will help to normalize. The fact that there is no such thing as normal, everybody has their thing and part of that makes us our own personalities part of that is true, you know. Weakness.

8:30 Sometimes, when it gets to a place where it is starting to impact your everyday life and it is becoming somewhat debilitating or at you, feel that it's really not contributing to your Wellness. It is great to go get the help of somebody else that might be able to shed some light on the situation and may be able to provide some tips or Tools. In some case medicine, in order to make you more comfortable, to make you happier to help you get through the day. And so there is nothing wrong. Wrong with any of that. And frankly, I hear more and more about people who have ADHD and OCD and my opinion has ultimately become. That is awesome because this world is boring and your mind and your energy is going way too fast for this world.

9:19 Sometimes I think that the world and Society is stuck in a pattern and younger kids kids with autism Asperger's OCTA teaching. I almost say it. You as these evolved angels that have come down to earth to teach us lessons about how more tolerance, how to coexist, how not to be mean to each other. And so, yeah, there's going to be this friction and this tension is we're getting along and we're figuring things out. And the interesting thing is the power of a label, sometimes. It's helpful to say, oh my gosh, now I get it now, I, you know, I recognize that. I have OCD or I recognize that I have ADHD, but sometimes it can also be Confining like you said, it's like they're using it as an excuse to be me. Yeah, sorry or perhaps they're using it as an option to not participate or to not make friends or to lash out. I think that the idea of being able to label, it is on. Now.

10:16 I know what to do with it. I would love for people to think that life and the world. It's an abundance of wellness. It's really like, everything is pure positive energy and a lot of those intrusive thoughts are working. Against you in your wellness and you recognize that you were like, this isn't right. This isn't going to lead me to a life of longevity and prosperity. I need to ultimately be okay with telling somebody about it. And first, you were afraid to tell your therapist, but you told her now you're telling the world. And so, it's kind of we're here, taking these steps of Bravery, these little bites of bravery, and these little movements of Courage, which I do believe puts you in a place where you are going to be an inspiration to so many, so, thank you for that.

11:00 Thank you. Let's move on. So, did you have any role models growing up or did you have any now? Yeah, so growing up. I definitely looked up to my grandma because she sews she actually sold like all my mom's clothes and my mom was growing up. So my grandma. I guess she tried to teach me how to sew but she would kind of take over but she was always really into fashion. She had like three closets full of clothes and then like all this other stuff in storage and she had all this jewelry. So I remember like me and my cousins were just like go to House and look through all her clothes was a time. I would sketch out what I wanted and she would so it for me. I always looked up to her, and I, honestly, I looked up to both of my parents to my family. We've always been very into Arts. We would go to like art museums and both my parents have always been the creative type.

11:45 Just looking up to them. That sort of helped me become a very artistic person to and they always just encouraged me, you know, you can do anything, you put your mind to, you might not be perfect at first, but it takes practice. They've always been super encouraging even if They like to share about it in the beginning. I remember they were like a little bit unsure about social media. Now, they love it. I've always appreciated that some of my current Role Models. I definitely still look up to my parents and my grandma. Actually, my best friend is a role model for me as well. I met her through Tick-Tock and she is 25 and my her when I was 17 and she was 24 and we just bonded on this whole other level of, we're like age wasn't even a thing. Then it was honestly really cool to talk to somebody who is older than me.

12:30 How do you say baby? I love you. How about makeup artists? Are there any makeup artist that you would consider Role Models or that inspired you? Oh my God. So I love makeup by Ruthie. I'm Tick-Tock. She is so talented. I love Abby, Roberts and her sister Charlotte, but they're both so talented. Honestly, there's so many. Let's talk about the makeup. Look that you've created on Tick Tock, because, I mean, you've been pretty original and you've used that as an outlet for your OCD, depression anxiety, and How that makes you feel and then you interpret that into a look. So what gave you the idea to use makeup to bring awareness to these conditions? I started created my job during quarantine. So I was kind of just doing all sorts of looks. I remember I saw people doing portfolios for their art or school and they were actually posting them on Tick Tock and they would chill drawings inspired by mental illnesses or paintings.

13:23 And I just saw people posting stuff like that and I was just wondering I was like, has anyone done it with Cup, so I looked it up and nobody really had, so I was like, oh, this is a really good original idea. I really want to try it. So I decided to try it with my own conditions first. It is something I thought about for a long time because I didn't want to offend anybody. I didn't want to make it seem like I was glamorizing mental illness. I wanted it to bring awareness, and also just to show visually how some of these conditions affect me because I'm personally a really visual Learners who sometimes if I It's like read a list of symptoms of Google. I really don't understand it. So I think seeing it, it's always helpful for me.

14:06 So I hope that that would be the case for others to give it a shot. I think the first one I did was depression, the first video. I honestly did not do very well. But I just wanted to keep going because it was fun and then eventually picked up and after I did my own conditions, I started with other ones. I started the series actually before I was diagnosed with ADHD. It was funny. I got diagnosed like a week after I posted the video it got a lot of positive attention and For the conditions, I don't have, I did a lot of research and then sometimes I would ask friends, who had them how to represent them in a way that wasn't stereotypical or offensive and just portrayed the symptoms accurately and they all told me I did really well. I did receive some backlash. There were people being like, you're romanticizing mental illness, and I did make a video clarifying that I wasn't and people were a lot more understanding, but there's gonna be haters everywhere. Honestly.

14:55 I didn't take it personally because I knew that that wasn't my intention. I honestly feel like I was getting those comments just because it was makeup and might think of makeup and beauty and that kind of stuff. And I never saw any of those comments on just a painting inspired by OCD, but if it's all makeup, look inspired by OCD. Oh, you're a romanticizing, which wasn't the case, but I didn't really care. I kind of just brushed it off. Well, that's good too. Because I was going to say that to your points. A lot of people will have opinions and those opinions are how they feel and what they're going through. It has really nothing to do with you. They're just reacting to Something that has triggering something inside themselves. And so it's better. If you are able to just understand that delineation and say you know what?

15:40 I am going to express my art because this is a part of me, irregardless. Some people are going to love it. Some people are going to hate it. But all in all, I'm going to be as me as I can be and put forth. What I believe is my creativity and my art C'est La Vie. Now, you mentioned on an Instagram post that you've never seen mental health disorders, expressed through makeup. So do you think that these conditions could be better represented in the beauty industry. I definitely think so. Mental illnesses are invisible. It can be kind of difficult to represent it. It's different than using disabled models models who use Mobility AIDS, or who are in wheelchairs, obviously, that's wonderful representation, but it's very different for mental illness.

16:20 So the way you need to represent, if you got to talk about it and that can be really scary. It would have been very helpful for me to see if any of the YouTubers. I was watching. Talk about experiencing anxiety. ID or even just like social anxiety that I was struggling with at the time I think that would have been really encouraging to me to just be like, I'm not alone. So it's my goal with my makeup is to help people feel like they're not alone and their struggles, especially growing up, especially in my early teens. I looked up to influencers and stuff and it did end up being a little toxic for me because of the beauty standard, that was promoted. But a lot of times I would look up to them just about the stuff they did in their lives. I wanted to be like them, but it would have been really Ali cool. If I saw some more, the real side of them and not the perfect side of them, they put on social media. So I definitely think that there needs to be better representation and mental health. Just needs to be talked about more openly in the beauty industry and everywhere else.

17:14 The sir profound words and those are really good suggestions for the beauty industry. Tell me about your creative process. So if you know that you want to do something a look about depression or what have you do, you sketch something out. What do you start with and how do you create a look on rare? Asians a look, we'll just pop into my head, and I'm like, I gotta go do this, but most the time I usually have to think about it for a few days. I don't really sketch it out. I actually used to, but then I like on myself worrying about making sketch, perfect. So I was like, yeah, whatever. I'm not going to sketch. It looks as though by mental illness, I thought. Alright. How does this make me feel ocg. The look was like a labyrinth on my face and it was kind of like closing in on me. So I was kind of just think about my OCD and how does it make me feel?

17:55 And sometimes my compulsions make it feel like they just like this maze that I'm stuck. Uh kin and it's like impossible to find a way out. That's why I came up with Labyrinth with ADHD. It was just like a very colorful but chaotic looks even though I wasn't formally diagnosed. I definitely have my suspicions. So I was like, all right. I had arrived feel in my brain and I feel like, I'm very creative person. And there's a lot of good. There's a lot of good stuff going on in my head, but it can just be very chaotic at times. I tried to express that through makeup. I think one of the things that was very hard for me is just sitting down and doing a look. If I don't know what I'm doing. I think that's what I end up. Not liking it so I need to Let it sit for a few days and think about it and then I usually have a pretty good idea. Do you have any words of wisdom for individuals?

18:37 Having a hard time coming to terms with their own mental health? I do, I want to say that I understand. It has been very hard for me to accept that. I have these conditions and that I am different from others, but especially just growing up in a world where everyone needs to be the same especially like in middle school and high school. It's like, everyone's got to conform and be the same address. The same and talk with same and act the same. So it is very hard to be different. Even if you just feel different and you're not showing it on the outside and I definitely struggled with that for a long time. Actually, when I started going to therapy, it helps me a lot. So even though that first step can be so scary.

19:19 It can be so helpful. I learn to love myself and accept myself for the person. I was despite my struggles because having a mental disorder, doesn't make you laugh. Of a person even if it affects you a lot. I know like my mental disorder is don't Define me and like yeah, that's true. But also for me they kind of do it does make up a lot of my personality. I'm neurodivergent. I was literally born with ADHD. So it does make up a lot of my personality, but that doesn't mean it makes me any less of a person. It's given me so many positive traits as well. My brain is physically wired differently. It's not a condition like depression or anxiety. That's like an added thing, but it's like your brain. Works with like a set of instructions. I have a completely different set of instructions, and that can bring a lot of good cheer.

20:04 I think it's definitely contributed to a lot of my, my creativity. It just my ability to do so many things at once and not totally lose my mind. So there's a lot of positive to it too. I know it's hard to accept any any condition when you're first getting diagnosed, especially one that's been so stigmatized over the years, but honestly, what I think to myself is that I can contribute to Breaking the stigma. And to me, I view that as taking my power back and showing people a hey, a mental disorder is just like a physical disorder just like you would, you know, get treatment, if you had cancer. Like, that's the same as going to therapy and there's nothing shameful about it. So that's the advice.

20:46 I would give very well. Said, there is absolutely nothing wrong with thinking differently. You're just thinking differently in a different way than other people do. And I actually think it is a gift in many respects, because it does lend itself to To that creativity, and that ability to see things from a different perspective than with a normal society would think, I'm just curious what it was like with maybe faculty or teachers at school, where they let in on your diagnosis or is that something that you don't necessarily need to share with your school? Now, my teachers are aware of my condition. So they've told me that if I ever need accommodations just to let them know if we had a presentation they would let me go first so I could get that out of the way or else I'd be having a panic attack for the whole class. Being on social media can be extremely difficult, but you always seem so upbeat in your Tick, Tock videos. How do you stay?

21:37 So positive? Do you do any routines or mindset practices that keep you optimistic? Personally, for me? I feel like social media has brought me both harm and good. I think I do tend to compare myself to other girls. One of the things that's helped me. Love myself and accept the way I look is doing creative makeup because then I see. My face is like a canvas. Send me as the artist. I can paint anything on there. So if I have flowers or stars like painted on my face, I'm not thinking oh, I don't like the way my nose looks. I'm thinking this looks really cool creative makeup has definitely helped me and just trying to practice self-love accepting that. I'm going to have some insecurities and that's okay self. Love doesn't mean getting rid of all your insecurities. It's okay to be insecure about things. I tried to focus on loving myself, as a whole person. Both Physically and mentally, but even just thinking about physical features.

22:33 Yeah, there are some features that I have that I don't like but when I look at my whole face instead of seeing all the features, I don't like I try to see a person and that's definitely helped me. I think also I try to stay positive in my tick-tocks. I was going to make positive content. I do really love making content and I love social media. So even if I'm having a bad day, like when I started doing makeup and filming it's just a very different mindset. I just get into this whole new mindset where I'm like, okay, I'm ready to do my Up in film and make content. And I don't necessarily feel like I'm baking and, you know, putting on a smile that's not real. I think, just once I get into that mindset, that I'm really happy to be doing what I'm doing. And I can distract myself from whatever else is bothering me for this couple hours.

23:15 I was reading a book recently where it was talking about our tendency to compare ourselves to other people. It's human nature. Why do we do it? We feel miserable. We're never going to be happy if we continue to compare ourselves to each other and one of the tips. That I thought was quite fascinating was if you get to a place where you're comparing yourself to somebody else and you're feeling a little bit down on yourself. Remember what your body can do. Remember its functionality, rather than thinking, just about the external and what you look like, think about. Thank you body for the ability to run. Thank you body for the ability to create this Art. Thank you so much body for the ability to grow this hair that I have. Thank you.

23:55 But, you know, and the thinking of all the things that you're grateful that your body can do. That's gifting for you helps you to remember all of the magic that you have rather than thinking like I'm here and somebody else. And that has really helped me actually, especially when I started doing point and dance. I'm like, this is so cool. I'm balancing all my weight on my toes. That's amazing. Yeah, I definitely 100% agree with you on that. Let's talk about your clothes. We noticed you have a clothing brand, Elizabeth, Sydney designs where your and making custom orders on Etsy. What prompted you to begin making clothing? This is kind of a story in itself.

24:37 So it was my junior year of high school. I was still on Zoom because it covid. I was basically only doing social media. I didn't really have any other Hobbies at that point and I was getting a little bored. Not gonna lie. I learned a lot about fast fashion and about how mostly every Big Brand use, child labor, and how on the way these clothes are made in very bad for the environment. I got really Drifting and that was awesome, but I still couldn't find like everything I wanted because drifting was kind of a hit or miss. So I decided to start sewing. First thing I made it was a corset which is kind of a hard first project. I literally just had like this white scrap Fabric and I made a corset and then I painted it and it was so pretty. I think it was a pretty successful first project by may I was making my prom dress.

25:24 I just wanted to prove to myself that I can do it and now it looks like you're wearing one of your pieces as Well, can you tell us what that is? Yes. So this is a corset in the front. I used grommets to do the laces. And now I have this gold cord as the laces and I made it out of this green brocade with these blue and pink flowers. And then in the back, I also put a zipper so it can be easier to take off and on instead of having to replace it. Well, you've created this vintage Vibe, but it's almost like an updated modern youthful type of a vintage approach. Then pairing it with your bright hot pink earrings as well. Gives it definitely a unique look. Yeah, actually, the earrings want to give a little shout-out. I actually got these from these super sweet old ladies, that have nursing home and then, last but not least, you've got something there on your mannequin behind, you know, yeah.

26:16 So this one, I actually made it for school. It was for a club that I'm in called FCCLA and you could compete like with a bunch of different things for it. You could do like, baking one of the Degrees is fashion design. So I was like, oh, yeah, course I'm doing this. So this dress actually, I'll point this downwards and get little. Oh my goodness. Well, I believe is fired by the Greek goddess Persephone. So, if you don't know that much about Greek mythology, basically, she was the goddess of spring and she married Hades. Who was the god of the underworld? So she became the queen of the underworld. So this dress over here is supposed to symbolize spring, and then the dress underneath. Wow, that is really inventive.

27:06 Congratulations on both of those. How long does that take you to do something like that? This one took me months. I did take breaks in between though, but it took me quite a while and then I competed with this one. I model it myself and I did the local competition Regional. So, that's what we call it went to Regionals here, and then I made it to state. So I went to State and Springfield and that was Awesome. I won a gold medal. I wasn't the overall winner in my category, but I'm still pretty proud of myself. I still think it was awesome. I did a pretty good job and it was a great experience. I never really thought I'd have the opportunity to do something like this in high school. I thought these opportunities would come in college. So I was super happy.

27:48 This is a duct tape skirt. I made when I was 8, look at that. That is an event. That doesn't even look like duct tape. Was like a Chevron. Sense, and you said that that was inspired by one of the challenges on Project Runway Project Runway. And then this year's prom dress. Okay. I do need to turn off the lights for this because this one, this one's pretty cool. This one is inspired by one of them day. Has dresses and the mat bal-27 Ellensburg. Oh, no, I remember that comes up, but it Loot and lost its charge. Now like the top lost its charge the top lights up. To.

28:31 Oh my goodness. For those of you who are just listening to this podcast, this dress that has been created has these beautiful sparkly LEDs. Underneath the, I don't know if it's crinoline or the, the upper Fabric and so you can see the patterning of the lace over top of it and it just looks like a star shower. It's just so beautiful. Yeah. Thank you. I definitely need to plug that in because Right outfit. Yeah, it's actually the fabric that has these fiber optics in it, and it's so hard to so, but I pulled it off. It was definitely a challenge. I did have to start over, which was not good. But I think every time I do a project, I always push myself, way harder, then, and I should, but I'm always happy with the results.

29:24 So, I totally think it's worth it even though it can sometimes be super stressful. Well, creativity is a fun thing because the sky is the limit here. It's really all about your imagination. So what are your plans for future? And you have goals to continue and makeup Artistry or fashion or both? I do. So I plan on attending a community college by me for my first semester, and then maybe switching over to the Art Institute or somewhere in the city. I live in Chicago. I do really want to study abroad. London and Paris would be My dream, I do plan on majoring, in fashion design. I would love to work for any big name brands and then hopefully have my own independent brand. I'll be working and selling my own clothes throughout all of it, but hopefully eventually I'll be able to support myself just with my own brand.

30:18 I would love to go to New York Fashion Week or any fashion. You make really that's like a dream or just to design for a celebrity at the Met Paul and I definitely plan on continuing. Continuing with makeup and social media as well because I love it. And I know that was the plan all along. That was the plan. Like the since I started social media. I was like, I want to do this for as long as possible because it's so much fun. And really I feel like a lot of designer Brands, especially a lot of the bigger ones. It's just kind of a label but you don't really know the person designing for that brand. So I want my customers to know me and know who I am and what I stand for. I want my rent, put a lot of emphasis on it.

30:58 The severity and, you know, show hissing models with different body types and disabled models and models like me to talk about their mental health and stuff. So I definitely want to represent all sorts of women in my brand because when we were little, we look up to these sorts of people. So I want people to see people like them being represented. Now, I think I saw somewhere where you refer to yourself as a spoonie, am I correct? Yeah. Yeah, I did. Tick-Tock, actually, that's how I find my fellow students. Damn. I'm sure that a lot of people don't know what a spoony is, but it was very endearing to me when I saw that because I refer to my son as a spoonie. He has a mitochondrial disorder, which renders him as having a lack of energy.

31:44 He had his body doesn't produce as much energy as others. And so, it causes him to be chronically tired throughout the day. And so, for those of you who don't know what a spoony is. It was really interesting because I think that the term was derived from A couple of girlfriends that were sitting in a diner. And one of the girlfriends wanted to know. Well, what is it like to have Lupus? Because the the other girl had lupus and she was pretty much saying well, you know, go to doctors. I have therapist. I do this and I do that but the other girls like no. No, what is it? Really? Like, what do you feel like? And so she grabs a bunch of spoons? And she said, Okay list, all of the tasks that you have to do during the day. It's like, okay. Well, I have to get up and wash my face. Okay. She took away a spoon.

32:24 Oh, I have to get dressed. Okay, that's another spoon. Okay, I have to To make myself something to eat. That's another spoon. And So eventually the spoons run out and so it's like you don't have enough energy to do the normal tasks that it takes to do every single day. And so that's where the term spoonie came from. And so everybody who has a lack of energy or understands that doing normal tasks during any given day, can be really exhausting. That's what the spooning Community is all about. That was perfectly explained, way better than I could have explained it now. Is there any advice that you give to Individuals, who might be hesitant to make a leap into their own business, or social media. Um, honestly just do it.

33:06 It can be really scary. Honestly. My advice is just go for it. Growing up. There were always just things that I really wanted to do and this is really crunchy. But so I'm a writer. I loved her II. Just right? For falling though. I don't really plan on doing anything with that and I just remember like my main character in my story, even though it was a fantasy story and she was off like fighting Monsters and stuff. She was really cool. And she was, you know, social-media influencer and a fashion designer and a makeup artist. I just Mariah and being like, I'm just basically writing the life that I want for myself. And I was just a little scared to make that first move on Tick Tock. It did happen a little bit by accident. I remember, I was in English class. I got an F on a test and I was a little salty about it. So I made basically a Tick-Tock just making like, a really bad joke about school and that one blew up and I had like 20. Hours at the time.

33:59 And I got to 1,000, which wasn't that much, but I think it just kind of motivated me to keep posting. And then quarantine happen. And over quarantine way more people were online. So I saw that as my opportunity. I was like, all right. This is my time to grow by summer. I was at 100K and I'm so happy. I went for it. Even though I was scared of what people I knew in real life would think seeing my videos. I thought they were just think I was weird, but I'm so happy. I went for it because it's really helped me gain a lot of confidence. So honestly anything you want to do. Do even though it can be scary and it can be hard to just put yourself out there or do something that's like different than the norm. Just do it. If it's something that you truly love, you'll be happy and if you realize that you don't like it, you can always just stop and that's okay, too.

34:45 What is your definition of beauty? Oh, wow. This is a complicated one. My definition of beauty. I would say it's not just physical appearance. Obviously. I think it's the person you are. Inside and out. I think, definitely, like your mental attitude, can reflect and your physical appearance. If you're confident, then you're going to look more confident. And I think you're prettier than like, I think the people who I think are very pretty are people who are really confident as well, and who seemed comfortable with themselves, even if they have imperfections. So yeah, I'd say definitely beauty comes from the inside out and so my definition of beauty would be like, yeah, how your qualities? On the inside manifest.

35:28 On the outside. Well, Elizabeth. It was such a pleasure to talk with you today. I want everybody to go on to tick tock. Follow Elizabeth Sidney. Her name is Elizabeth mavros, and you'll be seeing much more of her in the future.