Meet GenderBender’s Andrea!
We know a lot of our followers are big fans of the inspirational IG account GenderBender so we wanted to take a peek behind the curtain and find out more about the wonderful human behind the account!
Meet Andrea (she/her) from Toronto in Canada!
We caught up with Andrea, to find out more about what drives her, what her passions are and what the inspiration was behind GenderBender.
Tell us about what motivates you in your daily life… what are your passions and why?
“Life in and of itself motivates me. Living everyday authentically me, soaking in the life around me, the fresh air, people and places, and learning about everything I can through people and connections with others. Running is my passion. It pushes me beyond my physical being by connecting me with other parts of myself. In my life I’ve experienced dark times and times where I struggled with mental health and feeling as though it was hard to connect and find purpose. In pushing through that and fighting to reclaim the life I no longer wanted to take for granted, I was invigorated to re-connect with people and share the idea that life is something beautiful that you can cultivate for yourself. Because of the disconnect I felt and struggled through, and the time it took me to feel passionate about myself and my self love, I feel that what I am most passionate about is authentic connections with people and inspiring them to be passionate about and proud of themselves. I am passionate about diversity and finding beauty in everyone.”
You seem like a very active person; what are your favourite ways to unwind?
“Definitely a glass of wine after a long day, and laughing with people. I love to laugh and make those around me laugh. It helps me to decompress and re-fill my cup when I feel supported in a safe environment with people who love and support me and contribute to my inner peace. I’m able to unwind and get in touch with myself when I can get outside and be free, enjoying nature and grounding myself.”
What was your inspiration behind GenderBender and its amazing message?
“GenderBender came about when I was coming into my own and accepting myself as an out lesbian I often was called androgynous, and at the time in my life, I didn’t understand what it meant. It didn’t resonate with me and I felt it was something that “other”ed me and objectified me. Oddly enough, I googled androgynous, and Gender Bender popped up, and I was like YEAH…that IS me. I often thought about others, and maybe they would be able to relate to the term as well. Forming GenderBender was a way for me to reclaim my label as not something that people prescribed to me, but something that I resonated with as who I could be that was something fluid and something I defined for myself and also for others that were part of a community unknown to me that i yearned to connect with All I want to do is spread a message of being who you are-how you are no matter who you are. Just humans being who they are and feeling acceptance.”
Tell us about how it started and how you’ve grown it to where it is today.
“It started after I learned to love the term Gender Bender. I wanted to connect with other like minded individuals who maybe thought and felt the same way. Feeling like if they dress a certain way, and present a certain way through personal expression and freedom to be, they could bend genders. I signed up with IG and was not intentional about making it into something bigger. It seemed to me that there was a gap obviously and it resonated with people. I post people who I feel like have something to share and show them they are loved, respected and supported. There is no red tape, it’s accessible to everyone. If people are kind and open and appreciative of the community, I post them . People’s appreciation for something that’s for the queer community - I respond to everyone because I feel they deserve the same time and respect they’ve extended.”
If you could give our followers any advice or words of wisdom what would they be?
“Love yourself. Give yourself permission to be exactly who you are. Live with kindness, and passion for who you are, and who you are becoming. And also extend that kindness and need for expression of genuine authentic self to others- help me to maintain and grow the type of community that the world needs so much more of.
Through facing adversity in my own life and maybe doing less, it’s obvious that the page being noticed now and this community still holding strong, the fact that my followers and myself included, have found partners and friends and connections through this online page, speaks to the resilience that a community and safe space can hold in people’s lives. When you give people a space to cultivate community, there is a resilience that becomes the grounding force that holds it all together and at a certain point that’s what takes over and sustains the growth…I want to share my gratitude for the opportunities that have been presented to me throughout my life, that were made possible in part through the capacity for community building that I’ve cultivated in myself.”
Thank you SO much to Andrea for answering our questions and sharing with us. We think that people like you are precisely what the world needs so much more of and we are grateful for this community that you have cultivated.