Real Girl: Janelle

JanelleAge: 17  Grade: 12  Sign: Cancer

Faves: My favourites consist of many things. I love the colour blue and usually wear bright and happy colours to reflect my mood. My favourite TV shows are "Glee", "The Vampire Diaries", "Gossip Girl", "the O.C." and "Degrassi: the Next Generation". I’m not a picky eater, and I absolutely love trying new dishes from around the world. I love sushi <3 I also love to read books, my favourite authors are J.K. Rowling and classics like Jane Austen and Shakespeare. A few of my all time favourite movies are the "Harry Potter" series, "Titanic", and "Slumdog Millionaire", as well as the "Godfather" series and various old school Audrey Hepburn-esque ones!

Hobbies: The main hobbies I have are reading and doing various forms of art, such as drawing and painting. Movies are always a fun pastime for me as well! I enjoy shopping with my friends and hanging out having a good time. Spending time with my family is also a fun pastime because I have a big family and we're very close and try to get together as much as possible. I also love to travel and one of my ambitions is to travel the world.

School and Stuff: Since I like art and reading, I’m guessing you can assume that math and science ARE NOT my best subjects at all! I love art class and English, because those are my fortes. Now in my senior year of high school, I’ve taken mostly art classes, so I’m happy! This year I’m involved with my school's Social Justice Club and Choir. I’ve also been involved with the music department for all 4 years.

Personality: I’m a very modest person, but mostly what I hear from people is that I am a fun and free-spirited person who is always looking out for the needs of others. I’m not judgmental, and I love giving advice and lending a hand to those who need it. I’m empathetic and I wear my heart on my sleeve. I have a good group of friends and I respect everyone, I NEVER go out of my way to start drama with anyone. I’ve heard I am kind, funny, gentle and strong-willed. It’s usually very difficult for people to bring my mood down.

Life Challenge: Something I have struggled with throughout my life is bullying. Since I was a little girl I remember being teased and made fun of by the other girls; mostly for typical reasons such as clothes or looks. Boys have also been a big part of that drama! It’s gotten better significantly now but I’m glad I went through all that to be the person I am today. I think that a backup for being an artist as a career would be for me to be an advocate for bullying in order to help people. I know how it feels to be hurt and brought down by girls and boys. Being treated unfairly made me very sad at times when I didn’t want to be and sometimes I let it get the best of me and break down. Luckily for me I have a loving family who helped me realize I was the bigger person and only I had the power to stand up for myself. My friends knew who I was and they also stood up for me. I’ve learnt that no matter what, as long as you love and believe in yourself it won’t matter what everyone else thinks. As long as you do not get caught up in the wrong crowds and stay focused on the better things in life, you will be able to look back at the people who hurt you, and realize that they were obstacles put in front of you to make you the person you are. Instead of wasting time and energy putting hateful thoughts towards people, feel sorry for them, because they probably don’t have the outlook or guidance in their lives that we are blessed to have. Brush it all off and put on a smile (they’re contagious!), act like you don’t have a care in the world, and be confident! Believe it or not, if you act like you know what you’re doing people won’t touch you, it’s intimidating. Don’t forget, positive thinking attracts positive things!

Proud of: I’m proud of all the opportunities I’ve been given in my young life so far, such as living in the United States (Denver, Colorado) for 4 years, and having my parents take us to various places for travel. I’ve been to almost all 50 states in the U.S.A. and went to England and Scotland with my school for 2 weeks last March Break.

So Janelle: I always change my look, but never my hair! I’ve never died it and it’s always curly because straightening is too much of a hassle! I wear makeup but not excessively and not every day, mostly just lip-gloss mascara and a bit of eyeliner. I LOVE to sleep in, wear cool funky jewelry, and I have a unique sense of style. I always have a camera on me and I love taking cool pictures.

Cool fact about Janelle: In my ancestry on my mother’s side I have a great great great great grandfather that was the tailor for the British royal family, and his family grew up in the house right next to Shakespeare’s birthplace and home in Stratford-upon-Avon, England; which I visited over March Break on my trip. It has now been transformed into the Shakespeare Gift Shop. It’s cool to know my family originated from such a famous place!

Future: In my future I want to become an artist. I’m planning on going to college and then university for art and design. My dream job would be to work for Pixar or Disney as an animator or model design

Pet Peeves: My pet peeves are waking up early, chewing gum or food with your mouth open and offensive language.

 

Photography by Taryn Gibb
Casandra’s cover photography  by Taryn Gibb 
Makeup by Melissa Foster
Hair by stylists from Great Lengths Hair Gallery

Comment

Danika
Really good pic Janelle.. !
Auntie A
Congratulations on letting the world know how great you are! I am so proud of you for sharing what a strong, dedicated, hard working young lady can accomplish You are absolutely correct, happiness brings more happiness. Kindness is meant to be shared. Be the best you can be always!
Diana, age 49, Markham, Ontario
I just want to acknowledge that it takes a lot of courage to talk about bullying. I think there are a lot of girls (myself being one of them) that have been bullied. I am a creative soul as well and I notice that a lot of creative types experience bullying. I think creative types are more sensitive as well and bullies can sense that. I hope you keep you sensitivity for your art and realize that there is nothing wrong with you. Bullies have low self esteem. I am an adult and I called up my bully at age 45. She said to me that she was jealous of my creativity and felt that she was not as a good as me. She is now the head of psychology at a [place] so I guess she realized she needed help and studied psychology to help people instead of hurt them. I realize now that there is nothing wrong with me and that there never was. Your words inspired me to share from my heart. Thanks for making me realize that I am stronger from that painful experience today. :) Hugs. Diana

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