Digital Girl Mag, or @digitalgirlmag on Instagram, is a virtual magazine created by Lily Haik ’22, Alicia Chu ’22, and Hailee So ’22 around two months ago, and has already amassed almost 400 followers. Haik first came up with the idea before winter break after being inspired by the Instagram account @allmyfriendszine, and the group chose to use Instagram as their platform for its easy accessibility.
“I’m always on Instagram, and coming home, I met this really cool girl who is part of a different magazine that did a similar thing in LA. So I sent my friends the magazine she was a part of, and I [said], guys, look how cool this is, I think we should make our own and bring it to Andover… Social media is so easily accessible to everybody, so instead of filling your feed with junk, why not fill your feed with important stuff,” said Haik.
Digital Girl Mag discusses taboo female topics, featuring a wide range of creators and showcasing different genres of art. The girls work to celebrate authentic and talented women by creating bright, colorful, Y2K-inspired posts. Previous posts have featured conversations with the people behind Instagram moodboard accounts, young entrepreneurs, and viral Exeter alumni YouTuber, Phoebe Weil.
“Our main aim was always just to empower women and show off these amazing girls and what they’re doing with their talents online and how they’re using it to better society…I really wanted to add colors and bring life to important topics and make it visually appealing, so people want to read it,” said Haik.
Though the group spends a lot of time designing their colorful posts, the star is still always the featured interviewee, and the young women they interview are always people they personally find empowering and inspiring. One of Digital Girl Mag’s first posts featured Alexandra Koch-Liu ’22, an avid dancer at Andover who appreciates the platform’s attitude toward female issues.
“[Digital Girl Mag] voices girls issues and problems we go through but it also encourages girls and empowers them. So I think it’s a great platform to give us a voice, give us power, and [give us] a place…to share our voices and opinions,” said Koch-Liu.
Through a series known as “Girl Talk,” Digital Girl Mag also addresses taboo topics in an attempt to discuss issues people may be uncomfortable seeing on their feeds.
“What we wanted to do was definitely tackle a bunch of issues that were stigmatized and needed to be talked about,” Chu said. “For example, periods, masturbation. It’s all stuff that people don’t really openly talk about, but it’s definitely something that needs to be talked about.”
In the future, the trio hopes to expand “Girl Talk” into highlighting topics such as OnlyFans and other controversial social platforms. They hope that no matter what project they take on in the future, they will always be able to share ideas with their community unfiltered.
“We have a bunch of upcoming ideas as well that are really interesting. Our main goal is not really to stick to a certain vibe or anything, but rather just to look into whatever we want… That’s the main goal: be unfiltered,” said Chu.
