In short: Caroline Calloway is a social media 'influencer' who gained her fame through buying some followers, but then continuing to gain by creating stories about her adventures as an American student at Cambridge University in England. Her unique, almost mystical, and adoringly quirky style drew in many loyal followers, including me. She began a book deal, went MIA, cancelled the book deal, got clean from her adderall addiction, went viral as a scammer, and most recently had an old close friend write and publish and exposé about her. Caroline Calloway's past is fascinating and confusing and is what currently pulls in most of the activity on her instagram page. Her past is a vital part of who she is, but this is not why I continue to follow her, with post notification turned On.

Caroline strives to be as rawly human as she can on social media every single day, which is something we all struggle with in a society where we judge many peoples' lives based on their social media accounts. She shares her opinions and ideas about love and sex and friendship and grief and mental health. She is just as confident when talking about her father's suicide as she is when talking about her sexual relationships with herself and the new male model with A+ abs. This rawness scares people and makes people uncomfortable, but it is the perfect depiction of how complicated and intricate and beautiful we are as humans. Even if you may not agree with all of Caroline's opinions or choices, one must admit that she is showing the world that being confident in all the facets of your being is beautiful and good and healthy despite society preferring that you only show the aspects that they want to see in you.

Caroline will post if she's happy or if she's sad. She will post on the way to therapy or on the way to a party. A post for her dead father and a post for her most recent lover in California. A post about her love of art and a post about her ambition. Posts for the people she loves and posts for and about the people who judge her endlessly.

After following her for years, I met her in January at one of the events that people accused her of being a scammer for. I can confirm from my experience with her that she is, in fact, not a scammer. She is human just like me and you, she is kind and complex. Her passion is to share herself with the world and she does this through the art that she creates using social media and other mediums, such as paint, photographs, and cut up paper.

I began following Caroline for her stories because I aspired to have a life as adventurous as hers, but now I follow her because she inspires me to be confident in every part of me, to work for my dreams, and to not let the haters get you down (including the haters in your head). So, if you're looking for some inspiration to be as genuine as possible, to throw off the weight of society's eyes on your shoulders, then check her out.