GIRL BOSS INTERVIEW WITH VALENCIA BOGDANOVIC

The Girl Boss series aims to highlight the achievements of women just like you and me who are doing amazing things. Hopefully their stories will inspire you as much as they inspire me. This week we chat to Valencia Bogdanovic, a qualified cosmologist and content creator/blogger behind Style Your Confidence Now.

1. WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE DISNEY PRINCESS?

Pocahontas. She was a young woman who was strong willed, noble and had a lot of wisdom for her age. As this strong female figure she represented her people as an ambassador. And even though she was part of the minority she still stood up for what was important to her. Her character showed she was a person who listened to her heart and followed her path, even though it was a difficult one, she was not afraid of a challenge. This teaches young ladies to do the same and give them hope that even a female can lead and do so with love. As a young girl growing up this was very inspiring for me. She was also one of the first tinted Disney princess. I can still remember my parents taking my brother and I to the movie theatre to see this movie when it first hit the big screen. I was so excited and I enjoyed the movie thoroughly.

2. IF YOU COULD HAVE COFFEE WITH ANY WOMAN (DEAD OR ALIVE) WHO WOULD IT BE?

Most definitely Priyanka Chopra. Its on my bucket list to meet her. I would simply love to meet her one day, so if I could have coffee with her. That would be great and that’s because I find her so inspirational. Especially as an Indian woman, she has achieved so much in a male dominated industry. She has broken the glass ceiling and stereotypes that are attached to Indian women around the world, showing them that it can be done. I am most definitely about breaking stereotypes so her personality in that sense resonates powerfully with me. She is an example not just to young Indian ladies but to all young ladies, showing us that it is possible to achieve all we want too. Sitting with her and soaking up all of her inspiration and motivation would be such a dream.

3. WHAT ITEM OF CLOTHING MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE A #GIRLBOSS EVEN WHEN YOU’RE HAVING A HORRIBLE DAY?

For me clothing does not really define me as a girl boss, because I believe it all starts in your mind. Once you start thinking like a girl boss, you start behaving like one and it shows in your entire comportment and so anything you wear will just be the sprinkles on top of the cake. Honestly anything I wear is always planned out in my head even before I get one piece of the look, and once I create and put the look together it expressing exactly who I am and my uniqueness. So anything I wear always expresses my sense of style and edge and that makes me feel like a confident #girlboss. But if I’m having a horrible day, and if my brows and hair is on point, I feel real bad ass.

4. THE BIG QUESTION, DO YOU IDENTIFY AS A FEMINIST? WHY OR WHY NOT?

I’m most definitely a feminist. I am a woman and so it only makes sense for me to be a feminist, especially in this day and age. I am so grateful to be part of this era, where women all over the world are standing up for their female rights. This issue is more widespread than ever before. And as females we should be proud of this. We have come a long way as females, but we still have a long way to go and I want to make a difference in this present time so that the future women will have it easier or would not have to fight as hard as we did.

And yes even in this modern time women are still de-emphasized and disregarded, which is really sad. So yes I am a feminist, and I believe women can do jobs that men can, women can study what men can, a women can tell a man she loves him first, women can be CEO’s, business owners and a women can cook and change the light bulb, because why not?! But I must highlight, that at the same time I believe that a women can be all of this and still allow a man to love her and be her support in ways that a partner/husband should. I think allowing the right man to love you does not make you a weak female. In fact having a strong man who is also a feminist to stand by a strong women’s side makes things that much better. I just feel that the wrong conception of what a feminist really is or should be may be misunderstood. Yes we need to teach young girls to be strong and independent, but we should not be teaching them to not believe in love and allowing love in. There is a fine line that needs to be understood and taught as well.

5. YOU’RE A BIG ADVOCATE FOR GIRLS TO BE CONFIDENT AND FEEL COMFORTABLE IN THEIR OWN SKIN. HOW DO YOU FEEL SOCIAL MEDIA AFFECTS YOUNG GIRLS CONFIDENCE?

Yes I am. And sadly I feel that not only social media but also society, way before social media was around has put out a false sense of reality to young ladies especially, and this affects their confidence in a negative way. Also because social media has taken the world by storm and it is used so widely, and is easily accessible to young girls all over to see daily what a “perfect lifestyle, body, relationship, selfie” should be in the eyes of society. Social media is definitely negatively dictating to young ladies as to how they should look and portray their image. I also feel it has become a cloned or copy and paste society. Young ladies look up to celebrities or popular public figures for inspiration and its sad to say that it actually ends up being more pressure as to how to look than actual inspiration.

Young ladies are forgetting what is uniqueness because they are starting to give into society and actually start believe that their body shape/type, color of their skin, and so forth is not normal or desired or even socially accepted. Young ladies are lacking confidence because they feel they are unable to reach these beauty standards and this leads to a lack of self-love. So that’s why I believe that in the same notion, social media can be used to teach girls that they should accept who they are and love themselves despite what society says. They should also know that if they do not look like someone else, it does not make them any less beautiful, and actually the contrary. And that’s why I started my blog. I want to be able to reach girls with my platform and start changing mindsets. There are many platforms like mine out there like and so I do believe if we look in the right places, social media can be a great place to find positive influence and guidance. And it is up to us as influencers to highlight these platforms and share with our audiences so we can reach as many young ladies as possible.

6. WHAT QUALITIES MAKE A #GIRLBOSS I.E A CONFIDENT WOMAN IN CONTROL OF HER OWN DESTINY?

I am a firm believer that God is in control of our destiny, so first and foremost having a firm belief in him and trusting in His plan for us is very important. Being able to hear or look out for what He wants for us plays a big role in how we travel this journey of life. However our mindsets and actions can cause us to go off track at times and so for me the daily renewing of my mind is really important and to keep on reminding myself what are my goals and if you want to be a confident boss babe it firstly starts with you; self-love and acceptance. Once you have that you have confidence and you become unstoppable. No one is here to push us, you need to constantly push yourself and your limits. Stay authentic and true to yourself with an unyielding belief in what you stand for. Be strong, ambitious, assertive and don’t be afraid to be outspoken for the right reasons.

7. YOU’VE TRAVELLED A LOT OVER THE YEARS! HOW DO YOU THINK TRAVEL AND ESPECIALLY SOLO TRAVEL BENEFITS YOUNG GIRLS?

Travel, well travel is the worlds greatest institute of education. It really is, we learn things that we did not even learn at school. Travel teaches you so much about life and it shows us that there is something so much greater out there. It breaks stereotypes and causes the scales to fall off your eyes. Travel gives you clear vision on how you should really see the world. When you travel, you get to learn so much about other countries, the people, their history, culture, traditions and even different languages. Travel broadens your mindset and you find yourself no longer thinking with blinkers, but rather you begin to think and doing things outside the box, and you start to crave more for your life than just the ordinary. As you travel it allows you to find out more about yourself and what you really want for your life.

Solo travel makes you very independent, strong and it grows you in so many ways. There is something really empowering about solo travelling. You find yourself less reliant on others and you become a go-getter. Travelling makes your dreams more colorful and it gives you a zest for making your dreams a reality. Travel is also very healing because it makes you forget all of your problems. For me travel is essential, and it should be something each and everyone of us strive for. When you stay in one place all your life you become stagnated and instead of growing you begin to die. That’s why we should try make a life that allows us to travel. And hey you never know, you could find the love of your life thousands of miles away, like I did. And I must admit, once you start travelling, you never want to stop. Yes there is such a thing as a travel bug, its real people!

8. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE CITY IN THE WORLD AND WHY?

I have travelled quite extensively, and I do have more than one favourite for sure. But if I have to choose, it would be Santorini, Greece. Hands down, and by far one of my favourites. There is no words to describe this place. It has to be felt and experienced.

The whitewashed houses that cling to the cliffs, that were created by a volcanic eruption, create such beautiful architecture with breathtaking views and you get to witness stunning sunsets that are really magical as well as the blissful ocean. Not forgetting the delicious Mediterranean cuisine and laid back lifestyle. This place makes me so nostalgic and happy. I would definitely recommend for this to be on everyone’s travel bucket list.

9. TELL US A BIT MORE ABOUT YOURSELF?

Okay, so for those of you who don’t know Valencia Bogdanovic, I am an Indian woman from Durban, South Africa, born and raised here. I emphasize the ‘Indian’ a lot because most people are confused about my nationality, and I think that’s because of my name.

I am an internationally qualified cosmotologist, and I’ve been in this industry straight out of High School. So it’s been about 10 years now. This qualification allowed me the amazing opportunity to work abroad. I worked for Steiner, which is an on-board cruise liner spa company. I worked on two different vessels but the same luxury cruise liner for two year (Celebrity Cruise Liner). And it was during this time that I travelled extensively. During my last contract I met my husband, who is from Serbia (previously known as Yugoslavia). Hence where I get my surname from.

Fast forward a few years, and I decided to start blogging and begin my platform. It’s something I always wanted to do, but I always pushed the idea aside because of time. So I eventually decided to make the time and just start. The beauty and aesthetic industry has been my passion for the longest time, but slowly my passion for reaching out to young ladies, to build their confidence grew bigger. I never always had confidence myself and it is something I work on daily. Whilst getting through my low self-esteemed years I used fashion and style as my escape and so I wanted to share that with as many young girls as possible. I feel there are many girls out there that need to hear my story and who may be going through similar experiences. So this would be my goal ultimately and to be able to create a platform that impacts girls all over the world in a positive and healthy way. I want to be a voice of reason and I have a lot of plans for the near future, so all I can say is keep watching this space of Style Your Confidence Now. My dream is definitely to travel more. For a person who travelled so much to be in one place for a long time has been a big adjustment for me, especially after I’ve seen what’s out there, so I most certainly have plans to travel.