With an impressive number of international Vogue covers and campaigns for labels like Fendi, Versace, Calvin Klein and Gap, Adwoa Aboah is one of the world’s most photographed women. However, the stunning model, also seen on the top runways, is a fierce mental health activist too, and her latest digital initiative is all about using creativity to encourage “healthy, constructive and positive coping techniques” during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ghanaian-English advocate has launched the #CopingTogether, through Gurls Talk, her online community that empowers young women by broaching wide-ranging issues.
With so many people feeling lonely, unsettled and scared during self-isolation, the #CopingTogether campaign aims to help them manage their emotions, reflect, process and grow. It is hoped submitting pieces of art or writing to the website and staying connected with a global community will offer some much-needed help and guidance.
“These are uncertain times and I know that like me, a lot of you out there are feeling anxious and looking for ways to cope,” Aboah, 26, shared on Instagram. “To that end, and in the spirit of staying connected, Gurls Talk is launching our Coping Together initiative. I’m inviting you all to join me in submitting art, videos, photos, poetry, essays, journal entries, humour - anything that helps you process your emotions.”
Art, in all its forms, is an amazing and essential method of self-expression as it allows us to cope with and convey our inner feelings. Other celebrities like Emilia Clarke and Little Mix’s Leigh-Anne Pinnock understand this too and will be active contributors to the #CopingTogether campaign.
To submit, email your work, location, age and IG handle to [email protected] or tag them on Instagram (@gurlstalk) with the hashtag #copingtogether.
About Gurls Talk
The idea for Gurls Talk, which Adwoa Aboah co-founded with best friend Holly Gore, came in 2014 after she finished a stint in rehab for drugs, alcohol and depression, realising that not all girls are lucky enough to have the resources they need to get help. Aboah, who attempted suicide that same year, said Gurl Talk, where young females can freely talk about topics like relationships, art, sexuality, mental health, self-care and education, is everything she needed while she was at school. “It’s a safe place—without stigma, without shame—where we challenge the social norms,” she told Vanity Fair. The platform that welcomes everyone and doesn’t consider any topics to be off limits started as an Instagram account in 2015. It has grown to include a series of podcasts, hosted by Aboah and featuring compelling and inspiring guests, a website and global events.
As someone who has surmounted incredible difficulties, including treatment for bipolar disorder, Aboah is the perfect example of courage, possibilities and successful recovery as she gives talks in schools or answers girls who contact her for advice.
Mattel honoured the freckled beauty, who is often credited with helping to increase diversity in modelling, for her work through Gurls Talk and named her a Barbie Shero ahead of this year’s International Women’s Day. And as the London native told the Evening Standard, “this is going to be a lifelong project, we have so much to cover and still so much to do,” we’re pretty positive there will be many more accolades.
