Two girls, one idea and 45,000 followers: the perfect recipe for a rad girl revolution. Victorian girls, Gariele Braaksma and Kayleen VanderRee are advocates of the outdoors who had an idea to unite and encourage women to get outside. They have successfully done this by creating the “Rad Girls Collective” (RGC).

Social media was their most powerful tool. An Instagram account they created a year ago has now gone viral, and is on its way to connecting 50,000 women worldwide. Kayleen never imagined the idea would become this popular. According to the founders, it started out as an outlet to inspire the local community of Victoria. Only later, when the page started to gain momentum through the popular hashtag, #radgirlslife, did they realize …show more content…
Kayleen realizes that all sorts of barriers exist for both men and women in outdoor recreation, such as time, money, and accessibility. Kayleen and Gariele noticed a few more barriers exclusively women face, which sparked the idea of RGC.

“In any sport, men often dominate and bring a new level of competition to that sport. There are many benefits to get outdoors and we want to create an inclusive outdoor community that women don’t feel intimidated or discouraged to be part of” says Kayleen.

With the onset of RGC’s success, Kayleen realized how powerful social media marketing can be, especially to women. The founders consistently worry that their page might unintentionally have negative affects on women. Kayleen remarks that women are constantly vulnerable to harmful connotations of beauty via social media, and because of this the founders want to remain mindful of how they use RGC.

“Our hope is to plaster Instagram with images of women pushing themselves outdoors with a smile on their face, enjoying life amongst non-judgmental Mother Nature. We want to recreate what is considered normal for women” says