New Year’s resolutions from inspiring young women

As 2016 draws to a close, our minds turn to the year ahead. What will the next 365 days hold? What are our plans? What are our resolutions? For these ten inspiring and influential women, it looks like 2017 is going to be a great year.

Jessica Smith, editor of The Student Situation

Third year Law student at Warwick, Jessica has written for The Guardian, The Independent, The I, and indy100. Her plans for 2017: “Probably to secure a graduate job! (If I’m lucky) and plan to complete my Law degree!”

Lucy-Neely Morgan, former Feminist Society President at Newcastle University

An amazing feminist, Lucy’s personal resolutions are as follows: “My goal for 2017 is to push towards acceptance of my mental health issues and stop seeing them as a personal failure. Mental illnesses such as depression are increasingly being experienced by women and girls, and it shouldn’t be an issue to be embarrassed about anymore”.

Tasha Jane Bishop, founder of The Pants Project

A truly inspiring first year at Oxford Brookes, Tasha’s The Pants Project is an initiative established to raise both money and awareness for issues surrounding fertility. Her resolutions: “Empower as many women as possible and to love myself wholly and celebrate my own uniqueness”. I also hope to turn The Pants Project into a bigger and better organisation, that reaches beyond helping those struggling with infertility”.

Urenna Okonkwo, founder of the Cashmere app

Urenna, a 24 year old financial adviser for high net worth individuals in London, has these plans for 2017: “Launch my luxury savings app ‘Cashmere’; do more charitable work through supporting more charities and mentoring young girls; be more active and exercise more”.

Millie Sansoye, writer and blogger at Not Your Average

A freelance writer and copywriter, Millie says these are her resolutions: “My biggest one is to find stability in 2017. To support a book which I’m currently writing, I’d like some reliable, long-term work. I’d also like to get fit. I had anorexia when I was a teenager and although I’m recovered, I feel a bit out of shape and not as fit as I used to be. Finally, I’m going to make an effort to tell everyone who I care about how much they mean to me more often. Life is too short!”

Khensani Mohlatlole, blogger at Glitter Daquiri

Talented South African Khensani’s fashion blog is always a pleasure to read. Her resolutions for 2017 are: “To spend more time on creative endeavours that are purely for myself (such as my writing and art), invest much more of myself into my business and school and to spend more time doing the things that scare me as opposed to thinking about them. I’m hoping 2017 will be more than just a year of realising things, I want to actualise things as well”.

Adele Pentland, blogger at Secret Hipster

A 23 year old student based in Melbourne, Adele’s blog showcases her eclectic style. Adele has big plans for 2017: “Write my first scientific paper: I graduated over a year ago and hope that in 2017, I’ll be able to share what I learned. Take (sensible!) risks: without taking risks, you don’t grow. Next year I want to be a little more open minded and say yes to new things. Take more photos: they say practice makes perfect, but lately I’ve been feeling things have been a little static and I want to change things up”.

Ashley Armitage, artist

Seattle-based artist, Ashley’s work is a celebration of womanhood and femininity. Associated with the likes of Petra Collins, Armitage’s photography is growing more and more influential. In 2017, she hopes to “Eat more pizza; watch more movies; say “yes” more – but also learn to say “no” more; do something creative at least twice a week; get enough sleep; and get a cat”.

Neve McNally, singer and YouTuber

A talented singer, musician, and poet – her spoken word videos, beautifully tackling tricky subjects, are amazing – Neve is both as eloquent a writer as she is captivating a performer. She says her resolutions are as follows: “To be more honest with myself and others, to have more fun, and not let boys tell me what to do.”

Ivs Arishah, owner of Saint V

Ivs is a 24 year old owner of makeup brand Saint V – a brand with absolutely incredible matte lipstick.  In 2017 Ivs wants to drive her brand forward and “Focus more on product formulas and their quality; improve packaging and marketing; expand with more products; travel for ideas and to learn about new ‘it’ makeup/fashion trends”.