At Refinery29, we spend every day of the year giving props to and uplifting the voices of women and underrepresented people. It’s in our DNA. This year, in addition to the stories we’re already telling for Women’s History Month, we had a special opportunity to collaborate with the folks at Messenger to design a sticker pack that celebrates women who helped change the game.
Social platforms create new product features all the time. Some impact your day-to-day, some go unnoticed. This sticker pack is simply a fun way to pay homage to women who speak up and stand up, women who go against the grain to help others, women who tell stories that others ignore. We’re hoping to inspire conversation around those who’ve paved the way in their communities.
It’s women like Celia Cruz, Lindsey Vonn, and Aurora James who uplift all of us by their words, their paths, their lives. Past and present, there’s no shortage of women to look to for inspo, and editors from across our global Refinery29 team chose those who inspire them personally.
Thatiana Diaz, Senior Editor of Somos told me: “Celia Cruz was an emblem of the Afro-Latinx identity at a time in which being Black was criminalized (and continues to be) within Latinx cultures. In addition to being an unapologetically successful woman in a male-dominated genre, she proudly claimed her Blackness throughout her Grammy-award-winning career, performing at music festivals in Zaire and singing songs like ‘La Negra Tiene Tumbao,’ which has become an anthem for many Latinx cultures.”
The custom sticker artwork was designed by a gifted illustrator named Jade Purple Brown and these stickers are available now so you can start repping the next time you open Messenger (but why wait?). I think you’ll be delighted by the range of women to choose from.
At Refinery, we’ve been talking a lot about “making room” and what that means and could mean in today’s world. We hope that you use these stickers not just this day or month, but at any moment you feel like you need to make room.
We thank all of these women for being them, doing them, and showing up.
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