This Mom Has Created The Most Powerful Photo Book Of Everyday Girls

Strong Is The New Pretty is the definition of girl power.

Kate T. Parker noticed something when taking photos of her daughters — the most meaningful ones captured the girls being themselves: dirty, feisty, silly, sassy, angry, funny, and loud.

Kate T. Parker

To Parker’s eyes, these photos stood in contrast to the messages the media often sends to girls and women — that beauty is a particular hairstyle, size or outfit.

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"I wanted my girls to know they didn't need to pose a certain way, smile for the camera, or brush their hair to be beautiful. I wanted them to know that the images that captured their true personalities showed their beauty," Parker says.

Parker soon turned the photos of her girls into a series, then took the project one step further by photographing the unique strength of hundreds of girls from all over the country.

Kate T. Parker

The results of this wide-ranging project have now been turned into a stunning book, Strong is the New Pretty: A Celebration of Girls Being Themselves.

Kate T. Parker

Throughout the course of making the book, Parker was endlessly inspired by the girls she met.

Kate T. Parker

One thing she learned is that strength doesn't always come in one package.

Kate T. Parker

"Strength isn't always loud and feisty," Parker says.

Kate T. Parker

"Strength can be found in the face of a musician creating music because it is inside her."

Kate T. Parker

"It can also be switching tables in the lunchroom because your 'friends' aren't really your friends, or meeting a cancer diagnosis with unrelenting positivity."

Considering the current environment, Parker feels the book is arriving at a good time.

Kate T. Parker

"We have come a long way and won many battles, but women are still marginalized."

Kate T. Parker

"We're still told how to dress, or to be quiet, or to smile and be pretty."

Kate T. Parker

"It’s time we told our girls another message — that they are worthy and beautiful just as they are."

Kate T. Parker

"And that their worth doesn’t come from a hairstyle, outfit or size."

Kate T. Parker

Strong Is the New Pretty: A Celebration of Girls Being Themselves is available now.

Kate T. Parker