Curated by the Knowledge Team of ICS Career GPS
Education
Books to help young girls build a positive image
Excerpts from article by Ciarra Chavarria, published in NBC News
The journey to loving yourself isn’t always an easy one, especially for young girls. Faced with pressure from peers, society and even family, having a positive body image can feel elusive at best.
These 8 books will empower girls to celebrate their uniqueness, find confidence, and love themselves just as they are.
1. “I’ll Be The One” by Lyla Lee
Recommended age: 13-17 years
Korean-American K-pop super-fan Skye is pumped. She’s auditioning for an international TV show looking for the next K-pop star. The only problem is Skye is overweight. And in the world of K-pop, that’s a big no-no. Skye is determined to push back against the judges’ harsh comments, just like she’s been pushing back against her own mother’s comments about her weight her whole life, which might be enough for Skye to get closer than ever to her dream of becoming the first-ever plus-sized K-pop star.
2. “The Prettiest” by Brigit Young
Recommended age: 8-12 years
Eve never dreamed that she’d be number one on the list ranking the top 50 prettiest girls in 8th grade ― and she’s not so sure she likes the new and unwanted attention. Her best friend Nessa tries to be supportive, even though she knows that her size would keep her from even getting on such a list. And Sophie, well, Sophie knows she really should have been number one. But one thing all the girls agree on, whoever wrote that list has to be taken down.
3. “Karma Khullar’s Mustache” by Kristi Weintge
Recommended age: 8-12 years
Karma is freaking out. She’s just discovered 17 hairs on her upper lip, which is pretty much the last thing your average sixth grade girl wants to discover. As if that weren’t bad enough, in addition to her new mustache, Karma’s also facing a lot of other new experiences in her life. In this funny and smart novel, Karma sets out to face the challenges of adolescence head on and ends up realising that maybe new isn’t so bad after all.
4. “Love Your Body” by Jessica Sanders
Recommended age: 8+ years
This coffee-table worthy book presents body positivity through words and illustrations that appreciate all kinds of bodies and how each one is unique and incredible. The book also includes tools and activities to help readers love their own bodies and even includes mental health and other resources at the end.
5. “A Kid’s Book About Body Image” by Rebecca Alexander
Recommended age: 8+ years
Written by an author dedicated to anti-fat discrimination, the book lets young readers understand that no matter what you might sometimes feel, or what others might sometimes say, our bodies are amazing, and it’s OK to love yourself the way you are.
6. “Eyes That Kiss in the Corners” by Johanna Ho
Recommended age: 5-10 years
When a young girl notices that her eyes don’t look quite like her classmates, she looks to the generations of women in her family to show readers just how special her own eyes are. Her eyes are full of the culture and history of her family, they glow like warm tea, hope for the future, and look up when others look down. Through her family, the little girl cherishes what makes her so special. Its a stunning picture book that highlights the power of loving yourself.
7. “Not Quite Snow White” by Ashley Franklin
Recommended age: 5-10 years
Tameika knows she is a star. She is simple too. When she sees the audition notice for the first-grade performance of Snow White, she knows it’s meant to be. But even Tameika’s confidence is shaken when she hears other kids suggesting that she’s too big, too tall and too brown to be Snow White. With support from her parents, Tameika is reminded that she’s exactly who she is supposed to be and her confidence comes soaring back just in time to snag that role.
8. “Sulwe” by Lupita Nyong’o
Recommended age: 5-10 years
Sulwe dreams of having light skin like her sister, whose friends call her “Beauty” and “Sunshine.” But Sulwe’s skin is as dark as night, and no matter how she tries, there’s no changing it. One night, a shooting star appears at Sulwe’s window. It transports her into the story of two sisters, Day and Night, showing Sulwe that the world needs both light and dark, and that there is beauty in each one.
Career
How to find legit freelance writing jobs
Excerpts from article by Marc Andre, published in BusinesstoCommunity.com
With an increasing number of people looking to work from home, freelance writing is one of the most attractive options available today.
There are opportunities to write in all different industries or niches, so it’s possible to use your existing experience by writing about topics that you already know well.
It’s a business you can start without spending any money. There aren’t too many businesses that give you the opportunity to earn a six-figure income without the need to invest any money to get started, but freelance writing is one of the few.
Let’s take a look at some options to find such jobs:
1. Freelancing Websites
There are a lot of freelancing websites like Upwork, Freelancer and others that exist for the purpose of helping clients find talented workers. Each site functions a little bit differently, but in general, you’ll create a profile and then you can bid on jobs that interest you. You’ll face a good bit of competition for these gigs, so you’ll want to give the client a convincing reason to hire you, but the good thing is, there’s always work available on these platforms.
2. Choose a Niche
Choose a fairly broad niche at first like business, finance, health & fitness, travel, food & cooking, or some other major niche that could include a lot of different sub-topics. If you go too narrow or too specific, you may have trouble finding opportunities. Think about your own experience and skills. Maybe you have experience from a previous (or current) job that could be used.
3. Create a Portfolio Website
It serves as a hub for your business. You can provide information about the services you provide, a bio, testimonials from past clients, and samples of your writing. It also makes it easy for clients to contact you through a contact form or by listing your email address. Creating your own website may sound complicated, but it’s actually very easy thanks to WordPress. You can have a professional-looking website for just the cost of web hosting and you don’t need any technical skills to do it.
4. Build your Network
Connect with blog owners and editors in your niche as those are often the type of people who are looking to hire writers. Start connecting with people by leaving comments on their blog, sharing their posts through your social profiles, communicating with them on social platforms, and by writing guest posts for other blogs. Writing guest posts is often mentioned as a way to grow traffic to your own site. When you write for other blogs, whether you’re paid or unpaid, it’s a great opportunity to connect with blog owners and editors.
5. Prove your Worth
Don’t simply tell someone that you’re a writer, make it about them and show them what you can do and specifically how it will benefit them. Most clients who are hiring writers are interested in traffic to their website. One clear way to show what you’re worth is to prove your ability to write content that gets traffic. You can choose a keyword that you want to target, write an optimised article, and submit it for consideration. The quality of your article may be able to get the article to rank very well for your targeted keyword or phrase.
6. Pitch to Ideal Customers
The two keys to this are to:
- Find the right people to pitch to
- Create a quality pitch that gets their attention
In order to find the ideal customers, you need to have a solid understanding of your niche and exactly the type of clients that you want to work for. Don’t send the same generic message to lots of people. Take the time to get to know their business and find a way that you can help them.
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article mentioned above are those of the author(s). They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of ICS Career GPS or its staff.)
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