Last week the Star Wars community was consumed with headlines of bullying and hurt feelings. The good news is that our community rallied together and condemned the thoughtless act of mockery and turned it into a teachable moment. However, amidst all of the negative headlines, something extremely exciting happened and I'd like to shine the spotlight on something positive in our community. (Of course I'm biased, but bear with me.) At Celebration VI, we had a Her Universe photo shoot for female Star Wars fans. Girls have been asking me for the past two years if they could be a Her Universe model. Her Universe is a brand for the fans and when the fans tell me what they want, I do my best to make it happen. So we were able to arrange a free photo shoot for any girl that showed up to strike a pose and have their photo taken by professional photographer Preston Mack.
Two and a half years ago, when I launched Her Universe, we had a lot of girls who were shy and almost scared to admit that they liked Star Wars. I had a small group of home-schooled girls who found my website and they all shared the same story, how they didn't know any other girls who liked Star Wars and they thought they were alone. Now those same girls have formed a large group called The Lakehouse Sisters and they are confident, shining examples of girls who are proud to be Star Wars fans and more importantly proud to be who they are!!! Ladies showed up from all over the world to have their photo taken and we have put all of the photos from the shoot in an album on Facebook. After last week's incident, I'd love to shine the spotlight on these photos and point out how lovely and beautiful ALL of the ladies look! The Star Wars community is doing so many great things and we should lift each other up with positivity when we have the opportunity. Encouragement goes a long way!
I want to say a BIG thank you to Mary Franklin and Preston Mack for making this shoot possible and also to Jorge, Stephanie, Savanna, Megan, Meghan, Rae, Brick, Tracey, Jason, David, Christine, Susan and Mama E for your help and for making everything run smooth!
May The Force Be With You!
Ashley :o
Please check out the rest of the photos by clicking here!
Ashley Eckstein is the voice of Ahsoka Tano on Star Wars: The Clone Wars and also the Founder of Her Universe, the first merchandise line made exclusively for female Star Wars fans! You can follow Ashley on Facebook and Twitter.
